
How Apple's operating systems mistreat the user - superasn
https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/malware-apple.en.html
======
rich_sasha
...and yet, how popular are Linux phones and laptops compared to Apple?

The list is of course right (perhaps up to fine details) but misses the point.
Apple products, and same for Android, are utterly usable without a degree in
Linuxology. You don't shake in trepidation whenever you do an upgrade. You
also don't just install random stuff from enormous Git repos that cannot
possibly be scrutinised for security details. You don't get core dumps just
because you selected an exotic option in config.

I like Linux, but I don't have 10 hrs/week just to keep it running. It's just
not an option, and Apple products will do.

Having been forced to use Microsoft products again recently, I think the
analogy doesn't extend to Windows though. I'd take Linux products over MS any
time. Windows is awful.

~~~
jcelerier
> You don't shake in trepidation whenever you do an upgrade.

I really don't know a lot of people who feel confident doing a macOS update.
The thing borks everything so often it's not even a meme, just a fact of life
so people I know tend to be super careful with it and only update when the
apps they use start dropping compatibility for older OSXes (or when they buy a
new mac :-)).

~~~
sbuk
Sorry, but this is just not adding anything. I have run fleets of Macs before
and borked installs are rare to say the least. To suggest it’s a meme is
simply ridiculous. As to app compatibility, similar things happen on Linux.
From years of experience managing servers, unmet dependencies with package
managers and unsupported/no-longer supported libraries are a daily fact of
life.

I’m not going to deny there are issues with the Mac (or iOS) platform, there
clearly are, but let’s keep it honest. While we’re at it, let’s keep it honest
about other platforms too.

------
kirstenbirgit
Sure, there's a lot of things wrong with Apple's operating systems. I would
love for them to be more open, and the ability to install non-signed apps on
my iPhone (although they've added all the features I used to jailbreak for.)

But what's with the weird tone? iMonsters? 10 year old news articles?

And why's it so bad that other applications can do malicious stuff on your
computer? Shouldn't the author be _happy_ that there's still enough openness
on the Mac for this to occur? Isn't that what they want?

------
pfranz
> In MacOS and iOS, the procedure for converting images from the Photos
> format[1] to a free format is so tedious and time-consuming that users just
> give up if they have a lot of them.

[1] [https://support.apple.com/guide/photos/export-photos-
videos-...](https://support.apple.com/guide/photos/export-photos-videos-and-
slideshows-pht6e157c5f/mac)

This (and a bunch of others) seems poorly sourced. It looks like Photos.app
behaves the same as Aperture.app and many others. Your Library is a special
folder. Your original photos are kept in whatever format they were originally
taken in and all organizationational and library metadata are in a series of
sqlite databases that are logically organized. I would be happy to see an open
source photo library app structured the same way.

If you want original files, copy them out. If you want changes or metadata,
dig through the databases. If you want "baked out" images, bulk export from
Photos.app.

Modern iPhones will capture HEIF and HEVC photo and video, but it's not like
they're secret or proprietary file formats. Apple switched away from JPEG and
MOV because those formats are less efficient and cannot support modern
features--much better than CR2/NEF raw formats other camera makers use.

~~~
cmsj
HEIF/HEVC aren't completely open formats though, AFAIR. I'm pretty sure
there's some kind of patent royalty involved in some things people might want
to do with them. That alone makes them incompatible with GNU's ideals, such as
they are.

~~~
pfranz
That's true, but that's an argument about the iPhone and not Photos. On the
iPhone, there's literally a switch to instead save as jpg/h.264...which do
have their own patent problems (there have been various successful patent
collections on jpeg and h.264 is subject to the same MPEG LA group HEVC is).

------
hyko
“The Dropbox app for Macintosh...” seems like a very lame overreach.

~~~
reallydontask
The way you mention this, it makes it sound as if this is the worst that Apple
does.

Another way of looking at it, is that if it's allowed for dropbox it could be
allowed for other apps.

End of the day it's your decision whether you want to still use an Apple
device, assuming you have the choice, after knowing the potential problems
with it.

~~~
pfranz
But this wasn't "allowed" or endorsed by Apple. It was a third-party company
doing something underhanded. Is there some reason Dropbox would be more
trustworthy on Linux?

I think the "lame overreach" hurts the credibility of the argument--even if it
has merit.

~~~
cmsj
Apple actually worked against Dropbox a few times in recent years, and added a
bunch of APIs for annotating files in Finder, to stop Dropbox from
monkeypatching it.

More recently Dropbox has started using a kernel extension to support its
SmartSync feature, which will soon be stymied, as Apple makes it more
convoluted to load third party kexts in Big Sur.

------
kotutku
"Apple plans to require that all application software for MacOS be approved by
Apple first."

I'm ready to leave MacOS if this becomes reality (no way to install apps
outside of Apple Store). So so far it's pretty easy to install custom apps and
grand them root permissions.

~~~
cmsj
There's no "if", notarization has already happened. As of a few months ago,
macOS Catalina warns users if an app hasn't been notarized.

It's the latest step in a multi-year effort to make macOS a little less of a
wild-west of software, but as with all the previous steps, it's pretty trivial
for knowledgeable users to override - you just right click on an app and
choose "Open" and you can bypass the signature/notarization checks.

------
new_realist
Please, no more propaganda from GNU. It’s biased and misleading. I get the
feeling that they had the budget to buy fake news on Facebook, they would jump
at the chance. They’re the Breitbart of fundamentalist software proselytism.

~~~
systemvoltage
Instead of being humble, they’re seeing the world as their way or the highway.
It’s incredibly naive, arrogant and inconsiderate.

~~~
cmsj
I'm not sure why y'all are surprised by this, it's been the GNU/FSF schtick
for _decades_ and it's not going to change ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

