I went from pre windows operating systems -> Slackware -> Apple as my main squeeze in 2001 since it was based on BSD -> And in 2026 I'm back to Linux full time. Apple's Intelligence is so bad, their operating system SO BLOATED, and their products SO LOCKED DOWN, they no longer fit my digital needs. Good bye Apple, I really don't miss you.
Apple continues to lock down things I need, there isn't a good package manager (NO! Brew sucks.) and terminal stuff just breaks across upgrades.
Also it doesn't really work does it, because Firefox can still do a DNS lookup, from a DNS server, which is just an IP.
These permissions are clearly all-or-nothing, or else they wouldn’t work.
Clearly not, as it took me weeks to figure out. I don't think macOS informs the application that it's being restricted, so Firefox can't really tell me that somethings up. Now I get that macOS can really do that either, otherwise users would be spammed with "This application tried accessing the network", but there should be some feedback mechanism that informs the user that something is probably wrong. Maybe there is and I've haven't found it.
What APIs is Firefox using? If it's using the Unix/POSIX-y stuff, I don't think there's a way for that kind of feedback. Not sure about the Objective-C/Swift APIs.
Is this a mac user thing? "Apple should know better than to trust the configuration the users try to set" lol
Asking who to blame is simplistic and unproductive, the right question is what to do. As a user, obviously that involves things like updating your understanding of the network stack and the many different places config is stored. I was commenting from a UI designer’s perspective, because I am one and I find that more interesting.
I think Linux for consumers has been historically quite bad at this, and Apple has at least recently also been bad at it. “You’re holding it wrong” is the same mistake.
What was Firefox's error message?
macOS does have local network access logging:
log show --predicate 'subsystem == "com.apple.networkextension"
OR eventMessage CONTAINS[c] "local network"' --info --last 1hSafari of course get 'local network' access automatically, with no permission asked of the user. Special treatment for Apple's own apps of course.
Windows - you make one setting change somewhere, you forget about it. Half year later boom.
Linux - you make one setting change somewhere, you forget about it. Half year later boom.
My Chromebook has so few settings. Just the bare minimum of control panels and switches to get things running, and so few preferences to set and tweak and fiddle all day with. It was really the #1 reason I chose Chromebook over a Windows notebook at my last purchase.
I was just so relieved to be done with the endless riding-herd on my system like a Windows or Linux admin. I don't run Apple, no, but I can't imagine it is any less complex. My Android too suffers from so many bewildering settings, and most of those are the per-app tweaks that we simply can't keep up with.
On ChromeOS I can be certain that day by day, week by week, I won't need to drop to a shell, open up preferences, or tweak a bunch of settings just desperately trying to get something else working. And when I set up a new system, there won't be that daunting, arduous setup (albeit ChromeOS settings are not stashed in a Google account yet...)
It is much like my apartment. It pains me to read homeowners going over their endless woes of DIY and self-maintenance, and how much it costs to call in a guy to fix stuff; even my parents do this. A good landlord simply keeps everything working for me. Something breaks, I call it in, it gets fixed and we carry on. And no endless tweaking, installing, landscaping, gardening, fixing stuff around the house.
In my youth I tinkered endlessly with computers. I loved breaking them and repairing them. I learned all the internals and acted as professional sysadmin plenty of times. But in my old age and retirement, I just want a system that works, and that won't screw with me. The "Just Works" trophy has been passed from Apple to ChromeOS.
macOS automatically revokes these permissions even after you set them, requiring you to re-approve.
Stock price aside, I’ll be happy using them when everyone moves on
What does it mean for you for a product to be 'locked down'? Mac OS has amazing range of customizability, with endless options to change it with APIs and third party apps. So far I didn't encounter behaviour I don't like and wasn't able to change. What is your list? Or it means something different for you?
And what does "bloated" means for you? I understand what it means in regards to Windows. It constantly gives me options I didn't ask for. Like when I press Start button I feel like I am at the Time Square with ads and stuff I didn't ask for yelling at me. I don't have such expericense with macOS. And apple intelligence fits right in - if you don't ask for it it won't show itself.
And if there is a way to stop Mac OS from spamming hidden dot-underscore files everywhere, I haven't found it yet.
Given the "endless options to change it" as you said, where is the option to turn that off?
...Ok there is bliss... and the pain of having to use MS365 through the browser which "just doesn't work" [tm] (constant log-outs, you're logged out but you don't get an error until 5 minutes of wondering where chats are going, you're a guest in an org but that works 20% of the time in 20% of browsers, etc, etc , etc)
If the desktop-mode on GrapheneOS (Android 17) would have a bit less papercuts that would be a nice platform for my MS365 stuff, but is suffers from stuff like the keyboard taking half my ultra-wide in some apps, and poor window management. It's really is close to being a viable work env imho though. That'd be so cool... The dream since Ubuntu's Convergence...