Apple might completely take over end users' computers
nibblestew.blogspot.com
nibblestew.blogspot.com
I mean really there isn’t a more polite way to sum up this nonsense. To anyone going straight to comments, do yourself a favour and skip it.
My suspicion is that we won't see Apple go completely down this road, because it would kill an entire market for their computers that currently helps them sell systems, and that's those of us who are developers that like the experience of the OS for development.
Let's say Apple does go down the path this article lays out. It would kill the machine in the science community, b/c no unsigned programs? No, Apple needs to encourage that, for the brand. "Most powerful machine, the M1, best for scientific computing", would they want to kill that brand?
If we do assume that Apple goes down that path, then it would definitely kill the platform for developers, scientific computing, school. I might even stop recommending it to family, which I currently do (b/c it lowers the instances of people calling me for help). I don't think they'll go down that path.
I used a MBP as a phd student and postdoc for scientific computing and at the time ~2010-2015 it was fantastic for that, all my peers thought so as well. At conferences/seminars, there would just be a sea of macbooks with a few linux machines scattered around.
That is definitely starting to change - not by choice, more like people are being squeezed out due to the increasingly restrictive nature of the OS.
I haven't run into an issue with the "App Store and identified developers" yet, tough I assume I will at some point. But I actually don't mind that as a means of helping prevent some malicious software from running on my machine.
That's not to say I'm not worried Apple will lock it down more, but I think that would really kill the platform, right now it feels like an ok balance.
Least of all that Apple could've done this at any point in the last decade or so i.e. by creating an Apple VPN and forcing all Macs to use it.
1. Web apps offer a workaround to the App Store and its restrictions. Therefore, they need to be blocked.
2. Start by requiring WASM to be signed by Apple.
3. Build out WASM functionality to be comparable with JavaScript.
4. Refuse to add new features to JavaScript.
I don't think it would work because I think users would notice performance degradation from Day 1 of the policy. Ironically, it could expose users to a number of security risks. But for macOS users, the Web would start to suck all around. That's the goal, but I think the immediate response would be a fire sale of Mac hardware.
Surely if a pen is mightier than a sword, than a keyboard is a mass destruction tool. Apple you can do it! with your 16 core neural engine, I'll never type the wrong thought again.