There are a lot of things that Apple just straight up tells you you can’t do – I don’t use a Mac often enough to make a list, but I can tell you that running apps made by people who aren’t giving Apple $99/yr for code signing was recently added to it – and using MacOS means being okay with that.
You don’t need code signing though. Just hold option when you open the app the first time and you’re never bothered about it again. Like the other person said, give us a list of things you can’t do on Mac, that you can on Linux.
Did you read the page you linked to? You can still run unsigned code. You have to review it in the system settings, but you’re not blocked from doing it. I’m doing it right now on the latest version of Sequoia…
Use a different desktop environment
Uninstall OS components that I don’t need for a lighter weight system
Valid, but these are things the vast (and I mean >98% VAST) amount of general computer users are not capable of understanding and should not attempt regardless.
If you care about privacy on any OS, you should be using a local firewall—something you can do on macOS. I use Little Snitch, which absolutely can block traffic to Apple’s domains.
Run 32-bit apps after Apple ended support for them
This is the single most annoying thing about macOS. I’ll give you that. However, that being said, I haven’t actually run into an issue with it in the last two years.
Play video games (the MacOS version of Steam is a joke and everyone knows it)
Similar to others have said, I daily drive my MacBook for basically everything except playing games. I do still play Minecraft, or any (usually smaller) games that I can install on my MacBook natively, but I play most games on my desktop PC—in fact that’s about all I use it for these days. Funny enough, that hasn’t changed since years ago when I used Linux Mint on my laptop and Windows on my PC.
Take my laptop or desktop to a repair service that isn’t sanctioned by Apple, or (horror of horrors!) replace the components inside it myself
I work at a small, locally owned, computer shop. We order Mac parts and install them all the time. I’m literally doing a MacBook Air screen replacement tomorrow morning, and we’re not AASP. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
these are things the vast (and I mean >98% VAST) amount of general computer users are not capable of understanding and should not attempt regardless.
That’s the problem, isn’t it? It’s actually fine that you can’t do this, because the average user is too stupid to be able to do it safely. That’s the Apple ethos. That’s their justification for disallowing sideloading on iOS, however flimsy it may be. I don’t care that my grandma doesn’t know what doing this would mean. I’m not my grandma, dammit. I own the computer, let me do whatever I want with it!
I use Little Snitch, which absolutely can block traffic to Apple’s domains.
That’s another thing I should’ve added to my list: find basic system utilities, like a drive cleaner, firewall, or alternative terminal emulator, that aren’t paid products.
I work at a small, locally owned, computer shop. We order Mac parts and install them all the time. I’m literally doing a MacBook Air screen replacement tomorrow morning, and we’re not AASP. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Has Apple finally pulled their head out of their ass and removed parts pairing? This is great news!
It’s actually fine that you can’t do this, because the average user is too stupid to be able to do it safely
Yeah, this is what I hate about Apple second most, right after their marketing and competition strategies.
But to be fair, it makes sense: they don’t want to satisfy everyone, only just enough to crush competitors, and if you (and I) don’t fit it’s your (and my) fault.
Option click is still possible, it just works slightly differently. I literally did it yesterday on my Sequoia work system.
use a different desktop environment
Fair, I think this is one of the worst parts of the Linux “ecosystem”, as it completely fucks anyone that doesn’t know to use whatever the “current hotness” is, but I understand a lot of people like it.
uninstall OS components…
Like what? You mean like running without a login screen or do you mean uninstalling something like systemd?
be absolutely certain…
You can do that with plenty of network scanning apps, and you shouldn’t be doing that on device anyway. Not sure how Linux would stop that when you could install a bad package, or run apt update on something that has had a supply chain vulnerability.
run 32 bit apps
Fair. I haven’t needed this since about two months after Apple made the change, because Apple sure does a good job of getting developers to update their code, but I’m sure there are still some apps people wish worked that never updated.
play video games
Yeah video games on Mac are terrible, no argument there. Literally the only reason I still have a windows computer. Soon as they force 11, I’m switching back to a Linux desktop, but honestly I’m not looking forward to it.
take my laptop
You can do that now and you could before, Apple just didn’t like it and they made it as hard as possible. I agree it’s a shit policy, but I’m mostly asking about the operating system here. For example you could be running a hackintosh.
You can do that with plenty of network scanning apps, and you shouldn’t be doing that on device anyway. Not sure how Linux would stop that when you could install a bad package, or run apt update on something that has had a supply chain vulnerability.
If you’re willing to consider supply chain vulnerabilities when considering whether someone is spying on you, who’s to say there’s not a supply chain attack against Wireshark that hides the malicious traffic?
For example you could be running a hackintosh.
Aren’t hackintoshes virtually dead with the latest release of MacOS?
Soon as they force 11, I’m switching back to a Linux desktop, but honestly I’m not looking forward to it.
I don’t know when you last used Linux, but I can virtually guarantee that the new user experience is better than you remember it being. The last time I had a driver issue with anything apart from my graphics card (and that was easily resolved) was roughly ten years ago. As for the new user experience and just getting everything set up without using the terminal, confessedly, I’m an Arch user, so I’m a bit out of touch with the newbie side of the Linux distro world, but from what I’ve heard, Bazzite makes the transition fairly painless.
I’m a pleb, barely literate in computers, just pretty okay at finding things I need on Google and blindly copying commands. Like I’m obviously extremely tech literate by the standards of the wider world solely by virtue of having a home server that runs things I use, but it’s still using unraid because I’m an idiot who needs a helpful community space and forum so I can search how to fix problems confident that other idiots have also broken the thing the same way I did and I will find step by step directions on how to unfuck it
All that said, when it came time for my roughly annual reinstall of Windows just to clear house, they threw up an ad for Windows 11 and it pissed me off so bad I googled “gaming Linux”, made a bootable USB of Garuda (I like the bird logo and didn’t know what “Arch-based” meant except that it would make me a superior human) and within 15 minutes of getting mad I was installing, and it’s just worked out of the box since
Like whenever you connected Bluetooth headphones to the MacBook, they started Music app. The official solution to stop this was to reboot in safe mode and rename Music app, because it was baked in so hard, or install third party software to prevent Music from starting. That’s not to mention that I don’t need Music app at all and would uninstall it but it will get restored back.
It looks like this behaviour changed somewhere in 14, as I no longer see Music starting, but it worked that way for longer than it should, really.
Upd: can’t find the support thread where they offered this solution, so it must’ve been not the official one. Officially you didn’t even need a solution because it’s not a problem.
Hmm that’s really weird. Thank you for the example, but I wonder if that was just on your computer or something. I’ve been using Mac for work computers since 2016, and my Bose QC-35s never once have caused the music app to open. Or any app for that matter. I’ve had my headphones since 2016 and been using them on every Mac since then and haven’t seen that behavior.
That’s a bit weird thing to assume if you have only your machine to check, and I have only mine, so both of us are exactly one case to encounter. But since there are numerousquestions and articles about this, it’s maybe not only on my machine.
It is possible that it’s not tied to an OS version, because I have switched to a different MacBook, too, and it may have been this what stopped music from launching.
I have had 4 different Macs in that time and currently have three that I do not have that problem on. One of the comments on that post points out that it’s not supposed to do that. It really does sound like a very small portion of users are affected by that. I will say that none of my current or former coworkers have ever had that happen (I’ve seen them on video calls put on headphones and it didn’t launch anything), so I’m very inclined to think this was unintended behavior affecting your device. That’s not to say it wasn’t a problem for you, I completely understand shitty Mac bugs ruining things. For example one that won’t let my computer go to sleep because the monitor it is connected with continually wakes it back up. It’s specifically a Mac issue, and only affects a very small fraction of a percent of users.
Does macOS have namespaces? Can you modify the kernel? An equivalent to Linux Security Modules? ConfigFS? FunctionFS? I haven’t used it in decades so genuinely asking.
If I remember correctly you have to do some funny business to change things in the root directory too?
They’re completely different operating systems, there will of course be differences. In my experience Linux definitely gave more freedom to do whatever you wanted though. It’d be a bit disingenuous to argue otherwise. They serve different purposes, and that’s ok.
But oof repairing things on those logic boards… Everything soldered on makes the hardware a nightmare. I swore off Mac after trying to get one repaired. Had to trash the whole logic board and lose everything. I think that design is almost criminal tbh.
Huh? What do you mean?
There are a lot of things that Apple just straight up tells you you can’t do – I don’t use a Mac often enough to make a list, but I can tell you that running apps made by people who aren’t giving Apple $99/yr for code signing was recently added to it – and using MacOS means being okay with that.
You don’t need code signing though. Just hold option when you open the app the first time and you’re never bothered about it again. Like the other person said, give us a list of things you can’t do on Mac, that you can on Linux.
I’ve never had a real answer asking that question…
Try this one on for size
As of MacOS 15.1 Sequoia, that is no longer possible.
In answer to your question, though, off the top of my head:
Did you read the page you linked to? You can still run unsigned code. You have to review it in the system settings, but you’re not blocked from doing it. I’m doing it right now on the latest version of Sequoia…
Valid, but these are things the vast (and I mean >98% VAST) amount of general computer users are not capable of understanding and should not attempt regardless.
If you care about privacy on any OS, you should be using a local firewall—something you can do on macOS. I use Little Snitch, which absolutely can block traffic to Apple’s domains.
This is the single most annoying thing about macOS. I’ll give you that. However, that being said, I haven’t actually run into an issue with it in the last two years.
Similar to others have said, I daily drive my MacBook for basically everything except playing games. I do still play Minecraft, or any (usually smaller) games that I can install on my MacBook natively, but I play most games on my desktop PC—in fact that’s about all I use it for these days. Funny enough, that hasn’t changed since years ago when I used Linux Mint on my laptop and Windows on my PC.
I work at a small, locally owned, computer shop. We order Mac parts and install them all the time. I’m literally doing a MacBook Air screen replacement tomorrow morning, and we’re not AASP. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
That’s the problem, isn’t it? It’s actually fine that you can’t do this, because the average user is too stupid to be able to do it safely. That’s the Apple ethos. That’s their justification for disallowing sideloading on iOS, however flimsy it may be. I don’t care that my grandma doesn’t know what doing this would mean. I’m not my grandma, dammit. I own the computer, let me do whatever I want with it!
That’s another thing I should’ve added to my list: find basic system utilities, like a drive cleaner, firewall, or alternative terminal emulator, that aren’t paid products.
Has Apple finally pulled their head out of their ass and removed parts pairing? This is great news!
Yeah, this is what I hate about Apple second most, right after their marketing and competition strategies.
But to be fair, it makes sense: they don’t want to satisfy everyone, only just enough to crush competitors, and if you (and I) don’t fit it’s your (and my) fault.
Option click is still possible, it just works slightly differently. I literally did it yesterday on my Sequoia work system.
Fair, I think this is one of the worst parts of the Linux “ecosystem”, as it completely fucks anyone that doesn’t know to use whatever the “current hotness” is, but I understand a lot of people like it.
Like what? You mean like running without a login screen or do you mean uninstalling something like systemd?
You can do that with plenty of network scanning apps, and you shouldn’t be doing that on device anyway. Not sure how Linux would stop that when you could install a bad package, or run apt update on something that has had a supply chain vulnerability.
Fair. I haven’t needed this since about two months after Apple made the change, because Apple sure does a good job of getting developers to update their code, but I’m sure there are still some apps people wish worked that never updated.
Yeah video games on Mac are terrible, no argument there. Literally the only reason I still have a windows computer. Soon as they force 11, I’m switching back to a Linux desktop, but honestly I’m not looking forward to it.
You can do that now and you could before, Apple just didn’t like it and they made it as hard as possible. I agree it’s a shit policy, but I’m mostly asking about the operating system here. For example you could be running a hackintosh.
If you’re willing to consider supply chain vulnerabilities when considering whether someone is spying on you, who’s to say there’s not a supply chain attack against Wireshark that hides the malicious traffic?
Aren’t hackintoshes virtually dead with the latest release of MacOS?
I don’t know when you last used Linux, but I can virtually guarantee that the new user experience is better than you remember it being. The last time I had a driver issue with anything apart from my graphics card (and that was easily resolved) was roughly ten years ago. As for the new user experience and just getting everything set up without using the terminal, confessedly, I’m an Arch user, so I’m a bit out of touch with the newbie side of the Linux distro world, but from what I’ve heard, Bazzite makes the transition fairly painless.
I’m a pleb, barely literate in computers, just pretty okay at finding things I need on Google and blindly copying commands. Like I’m obviously extremely tech literate by the standards of the wider world solely by virtue of having a home server that runs things I use, but it’s still using unraid because I’m an idiot who needs a helpful community space and forum so I can search how to fix problems confident that other idiots have also broken the thing the same way I did and I will find step by step directions on how to unfuck it
All that said, when it came time for my roughly annual reinstall of Windows just to clear house, they threw up an ad for Windows 11 and it pissed me off so bad I googled “gaming Linux”, made a bootable USB of Garuda (I like the bird logo and didn’t know what “Arch-based” meant except that it would make me a superior human) and within 15 minutes of getting mad I was installing, and it’s just worked out of the box since
I think that’s enough for most of things, really. I’m supposed to be a power user, but I just do the same: google whenever I need to do something
Like whenever you connected Bluetooth headphones to the MacBook, they started Music app. The
officialsolution to stop this was to reboot in safe mode and rename Music app, because it was baked in so hard, or install third party software to prevent Music from starting. That’s not to mention that I don’t need Music app at all and would uninstall it but it will get restored back.It looks like this behaviour changed somewhere in 14, as I no longer see Music starting, but it worked that way for longer than it should, really.
Upd: can’t find the support thread where they offered this solution, so it must’ve been not the official one. Officially you didn’t even need a solution because it’s not a problem.
Hmm that’s really weird. Thank you for the example, but I wonder if that was just on your computer or something. I’ve been using Mac for work computers since 2016, and my Bose QC-35s never once have caused the music app to open. Or any app for that matter. I’ve had my headphones since 2016 and been using them on every Mac since then and haven’t seen that behavior.
That’s a bit weird thing to assume if you have only your machine to check, and I have only mine, so both of us are exactly one case to encounter. But since there are numerous questions and articles about this, it’s maybe not only on my machine.
It is possible that it’s not tied to an OS version, because I have switched to a different MacBook, too, and it may have been this what stopped music from launching.
I have had 4 different Macs in that time and currently have three that I do not have that problem on. One of the comments on that post points out that it’s not supposed to do that. It really does sound like a very small portion of users are affected by that. I will say that none of my current or former coworkers have ever had that happen (I’ve seen them on video calls put on headphones and it didn’t launch anything), so I’m very inclined to think this was unintended behavior affecting your device. That’s not to say it wasn’t a problem for you, I completely understand shitty Mac bugs ruining things. For example one that won’t let my computer go to sleep because the monitor it is connected with continually wakes it back up. It’s specifically a Mac issue, and only affects a very small fraction of a percent of users.
Does macOS have namespaces? Can you modify the kernel? An equivalent to Linux Security Modules? ConfigFS? FunctionFS? I haven’t used it in decades so genuinely asking.
If I remember correctly you have to do some funny business to change things in the root directory too?
They’re completely different operating systems, there will of course be differences. In my experience Linux definitely gave more freedom to do whatever you wanted though. It’d be a bit disingenuous to argue otherwise. They serve different purposes, and that’s ok.
But oof repairing things on those logic boards… Everything soldered on makes the hardware a nightmare. I swore off Mac after trying to get one repaired. Had to trash the whole logic board and lose everything. I think that design is almost criminal tbh.