Until you need to install an app through the App store. Even a free app will refuse to install without an iCloud account. Frustrating when you want something with a verified source, for me it was Wireguard, and don't want to build it locally.
WG has MSI/EXE installers for Windows:
* https://download.wireguard.com/windows-client/
Not sure why they can't pave PKG/DMG files for macOS. As an open source example, MacPorts uses PKG:
* https://www.macports.org/install.php
On my work laptop I don't think I've installed anything from the Mac AppStore (Xcode is available from AppStore and (last I checked) as a downloadable XIP too.)
Do you have an example of needing to go through the app store? There's apple's apps, I guess.
If they can apt get on Ubuntu, they can likely brew install on macOS.