Lack of iCloud, Airdrop etc is not a bug, it's a feature

[mectojic]

... I'm referring to using a Mac that runs Snow Leopard or earlier. It was a simpler time, where you weren't bogged down by non-syncing iCloud accounts, tearing out hair because Airdrop isn't working, and none of those silly "Notifications" and Reminders, that continuously try to dictate how you use your Mac, rather than offering you the peace and quiet you want by default.

Perhaps it's just a relief to know that Apple can't shut down any features on me. Snow Leopard feels (mostly) complete – Lion onwards, not so much, because you've got broken Airdrop, broken Facetime, broken iMessage, etc etc. Your apps are always linked to someone's servers.

That's why having none of those things is a feature, not a bug. It amuses me how often Airdrop, on modern Macs, fail to communicate with each other. When I get on Snow Leopard, I feel peaceful – while I guess I'm always feeling a bit dirty, or a bit on edge with modern MacOS. There's always some notification saying "MacOS is ready to update tonight", or Screen Time, or some other useless thing. And don't get me started on the "Recent" Folder – how on earth people started to think it would be easier to manage your files if they're always being tossed around in different orders of use, I don't know.

Not sure where I was going with this, but I guess I just wanted to share.

 

[Amethyst1]

I fully get your point but I have disabled everything you mention and my macOS Mojave is also quite peaceful.

• no AirDrop
• no App Store
• no AutoSave
• no FaceTime
• no Handoff
• no iCloud
• no iMessage
• Notifications muted ("Do Not Disturb" from 0:00AM to 11:59PM)

 

[eyoungren]

... I'm referring to using a Mac that runs Snow Leopard or earlier. It was a simpler time, where you weren't bogged down by non-syncing iCloud accounts, tearing out hair because Airdrop isn't working, and none of those silly "Notifications" and Reminders, that continuously try to dictate how you use your Mac, rather than offering you the peace and quiet you want by default.

Perhaps it's just a relief to know that Apple can't shut down any features on me. Snow Leopard feels (mostly) complete – Lion onwards, not so much, because you've got broken Airdrop, broken Facetime, broken iMessage, etc etc. Your apps are always linked to someone's servers.

That's why having none of those things is a feature, not a bug. It amuses me how often Airdrop, on modern Macs, fail to communicate with each other. When I get on Snow Leopard, I feel peaceful – while I guess I'm always feeling a bit dirty, or a bit on edge with modern MacOS. There's always some notification saying "MacOS is ready to update tonight", or Screen Time, or some other useless thing. And don't get me started on the "Recent" Folder – how on earth people started to think it would be easier to manage your files if they're always being tossed around in different orders of use, I don't know.

Not sure where I was going with this, but I guess I just wanted to share.

I'm a bit different…

Since 1985 and my first BBS I have done everything I can to be 'connected'.

PowerPC Macs with no iCloud/iMessage? No problem, a jailbroken iPhone with an iMessage tweak and a Fluid app on the Mac and I've got the Messages app.

AirDrop isn't necessary with any of my Macs/PCs because they are all plugged in to my home network and drives are shared. Need to get something off my iPhone/iPad - Dropbox.

I'm fully capable of ignoring things I don't wish to engage with for however long I wish to. So a silent environment tells me something's gone wrong with my phone or my home network.

A lot of people trying to remove distractions. I'm trying to remain connected.

 

[mectojic]

A lot of people trying to remove distractions. I'm trying to remain connected.

Interesting take, and I respect it. You do know all the workarounds to keep everything working perfectly, and that is very admirable – certainly one way to utilise old hardware to its fullest.

Actually, discovering various workarounds myself was an important step to this 'peace' – having a home server for file transfer, relying primarily on email for communication, and changing all my documents to RTF (for most compatibility). All of this did improve my workflow – but it all still kept me off 3rd-party services, as much as possible.

I'm actually curious about your iMessage on PPC. Do you have a guide for doing that?

 

[eyoungren]

Interesting take, and I respect it. You do know all the workarounds to keep everything working perfectly, and that is very admirable – certainly one way to utilise old hardware to its fullest.

Actually, discovering various workarounds myself was an important step to this 'peace' – having a home server for file transfer, relying primarily on email for communication, and changing all my documents to RTF (for most compatibility). All of this did improve my workflow – but it all still kept me off 3rd-party services, as much as possible.

I'm actually curious about your iMessage on PPC. Do you have a guide for doing that?

I've spent my life with technology mainly trying to make do. There are moments where I'm current for a time, but a lot of it's been trying to do modern stuff with older hardware.

What's funny is that pre-Internet I was mostly current. I guess because there was no chasing upgrades/updates as much as there is now.

Interconnecting all my computers (and a server) has always been my thing since I discovered how to do it. So that came before third party services and those were simply leveraged to make my workarounds actually work.

I'm also Gen-X, the latchkey generation, so being alone taught me long ago how to ignore distractions and only pay attention to what I wished to.

As to PowerPC/iMessage/jailbroken iPhone, basically it's this. You jailbreak your iPhone, you install one of the iMessaging tweaks, put the iPhone on your home WiFi and then use a browser to connect to the IP address of the iPhone. The tweak displays a GUI that allows you to use iMessage/SMS through the iPhone.

You put that browser in a Fluid instance or a FoxBox and you have a Messages app on your PowerPC Mac.

I was doing this up until 2019-2020 when I got an Android phone for a year and an Intel Mac that actually can use Messages natively. I mention this because at that time I still had my old 6s+ running iOS 9.0.1 jailbroken. One of the old tweaks I'd used was only functional up to iOS 8. So I was using a second, less capable tweak with the 6s+.

Below is all I can find on the subject doing a quick search. Apparently I was leveraging my iPhone 4 (which has iOS 7 on it) to do this at the time I posted.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/faking-messages-app-on-powerpc.2170098/

 

[Slix]

... I'm referring to using a Mac that runs Snow Leopard or earlier. It was a simpler time, where you weren't bogged down by non-syncing iCloud accounts, tearing out hair because Airdrop isn't working, and none of those silly "Notifications" and Reminders, that continuously try to dictate how you use your Mac, rather than offering you the peace and quiet you want by default.

Perhaps it's just a relief to know that Apple can't shut down any features on me. Snow Leopard feels (mostly) complete – Lion onwards, not so much, because you've got broken Airdrop, broken Facetime, broken iMessage, etc etc. Your apps are always linked to someone's servers.

If you were using Snow Leopard (or nearly any version of Mac OS X before it) when it was current, you would have had internet connected apps with notifications enabled too. Using these systems now is actually more limited than it was when it was new for these reasons. I used to have iChat, Mail, iDisk, Back to My Mac, and things like the iTunes Store running back when Tiger-Snow Leopard were current. None of those things aside from local iChat and Mail work anymore. I don't see this as a positive thing, because as @eyoungren mentioned, I want to stay connected.

That's why having none of those things is a feature, not a bug. It amuses me how often Airdrop, on modern Macs, fail to communicate with each other. When I get on Snow Leopard, I feel peaceful – while I guess I'm always feeling a bit dirty, or a bit on edge with modern MacOS. There's always some notification saying "MacOS is ready to update tonight", or Screen Time, or some other useless thing. And don't get me started on the "Recent" Folder – how on earth people started to think it would be easier to manage your files if they're always being tossed around in different orders of use, I don't know.

Not sure exactly what you mean here with things never working. I use AirDrop and rarely have issues. Also, nearly every one of those features can be disabled if you desire. I don't use the Recents folder at all. You're welcome to keep using macOS in these ways you want to.

Also, regular software updates used to happen for older versions of Mac OS X too, when they were current. That's not a recent change.

 

[B S Magnet]

If you were using Snow Leopard (or nearly any version of Mac OS X before it) when it was current, you would have had internet connected apps with notifications enabled too. Using these systems now is actually more limited than it was when it was new for these reasons. I used to have iChat, Mail, iDisk, Back to My Mac, and things like the iTunes Store running back when Tiger-Snow Leopard were current. None of those things aside from local iChat and Mail work anymore. I don't see this as a positive thing, because as @eyoungren mentioned, I want to stay connected.

The connectivity aspect of Snow Leopard and earlier wasn’t troublesome. If anything, Apple pioneered this connectivity for everyday use from the moment they embraced IEEE 802.11b in ’99.

Many of the connected features found in Snow Leopard lived on for several iterations following — several of which, even if re-devised iterations, live on to this day.

The aspects of macOS which have become tough to appreciate are: A) a complete embrace of the software-as-a-service appliance model to collect user data (which also underpins the gateways of social media platforms), and B) the steady iOSification of macOS to centre usability and on-screen components around glass interfaces (even as macOS is used on hardware which lacks that interface).

As to whether one wants to stay connected — however that connectedness comes about — is something which deserves a conversation around what that “connectedness” means, individually, as it’s gonna mean something different and distinct to different folks. In other words, one’s TikTok is another’s Messages, is another’s irc, is another’s Signal, is another’s FPS MMORPG, is another’s email, and so on.

Not sure exactly what you mean here with things never working. I use AirDrop and rarely have issues. Also, nearly every one of those features can be disabled if you desire. I don't use the Recents folder at all. You're welcome to keep using macOS in these ways you want to.

The amount of front-loaded work one must do to disable and/or block all those features increases with each version of OS X/macOS which moved toward the OS migrating toward SaaS — prepared for such with the release of Lion, but implemented with Mountain Lion. The “purchase” of macOS now isn’t to pay Apple for the next major version OS, but to Objective Development, for the latest version of Little Snitch, and the time needed to get macOS working with as few disruptions as Snow Leopard requires setting up a mess of rules (which, mercifully, a lot of time can be saved by making a backup of your LS rules, to migrate into the next version alongside one updating to the next major macOS version).

A close friend of mine, a software developer and cinematographer who’s used Macs since the Color Classic in her childhood, refers to the way Apple have been steadily engineering macOS as a data collecting platform foremost, disguised as an internet appliance — and the quiet removal of under-the-bonnet features over time — as promoting “brain worms”. In other words, it’s an approach which reduces macOS and the devices running it to nothing better than enhanced disposable consumer appliances designed to run SaaS — not comprehensive systems with thorough documentation and/or open source community involvement with all levels of end-usage in mind.

Also, regular software updates used to happen for older versions of Mac OS X too, when they were current. That's not a recent change.

The documntation with those updates were once much less opaque and vague than they’ve been these last several years. I recognize Apple wanting to hold their cards close, but over time, this estranges the connection between the work they’re doing under the bonnet and the transparency of reporting the whys and hows of those changes to the folks who use them the most: the end-users.

In the end, I prefer industry standards over proprietary walled gardening, but shareholders expect a quick ROI.

 

[MrCheeto]

Peace is exactly how I've always described what you're saying here.

I compared it to video games years ago, now it's taking over EVERYTHING! My fridge, my TV, my thermostat, even my damn lights! It's becoming a battle to find things that are not oozing with bluetooth wifi QR voice-activated hashtag slime.

When I want to play IntelliVision, I select a game cart, load it in, and press ON. The game is instantly ready. Best of all, I'll never be surprised because the game I'm playing today is the same as when it was flashed in the 1980's in every single way. It will always be just as I remember it.

When I want to play Xbox...OH boy... 430MB download? I just updated with a 1.3GB download yesterday! Why does the game look different? They've retro'd features and gameplay OUT of my copy! Great, now the game is four-years-old and nobody is playing online. Now the servers have been shut down permanently. Bye Bye, game I used to be able to play.

Snow Leopard still has annoying App store notifications and nags for updates. Leopard is where it's at. It's a quiet home, unmolested and undisturbed. It's always just like I left it and it's never going to change. There are even features that have been broken since 10.6 that, to this day, have never been resolved.

You're not alone. I'll hold onto TouchID until every last phone model is literally not supported for voice communications at all.

 

[B S Magnet]

Snow Leopard still has annoying App store notifications and nags for updates. Leopard is where it's at. It's a quiet home, unmolested and undisturbed. It's always just like I left it and it's never going to change. There are even features that have been broken since 10.6 that, to this day, have never been resolved.

I have not dealt with App Store notifications in Snow Leopard because I’ve never used the App Store in Snow Leopard. The only notifications from Apple I see appear are for Software Update notifications, back when they were current/new updates, and/or I’m setting up a Mac with Snow Leopard, from fresh install (and Software Update displays the combo updater(s)).

Mind you, the copy of 10.6.8 running on two of my Macs — including on the A1261 I’m using to post this — come from the same, 10.6.0 OEM install source from an early ’09 MBP purchased new from the Apple Store, 4 September 2009 (just a week after Snow Leopard went on sale), and built upon, non-stop, up through all the updates as they were released. Although “App Store…” appears in the Apple menu, I never ping or open it.

There isn’t, as with post-SL iterations of OS X, a Notifications System Pref pane, either (though I have a mess of third-party panes amassed over the years):

Also, note above what’s missing: one can even remove unwanted Apple pref panes in SL without bringing down the whole system (as is the case with later iterations of OS X/macOS which shipped exclusively OTA).

 

[redheeler]

AirDrop is a pretty useful feature, not to share files with other people but between my different devices. When it works, which is about 75% of the time. So there’s a 3 in 4 chance that it will…

iCloud I care less about, those “Your iCloud storage is full” notifications are more of an annoyance if anything because 5 years ago I decided not to pay for a premium plan until they finally offer a decent free tier. Still waiting…

 

[MrCheeto]

I've been using simple network file sharing across dozens of Macs. IIRC, I was even sharing files from my 2008 MacBook to my G3 iMac back in that day.