The future of the Mac ecosystem

[sgtaylor5]

I've just had the strangest dream, and it matters here.

I was trying to describe how I felt, how I wanted to be free and express myself. I was trying to remember and I literally couldn't remember or think for myself. I was told I wasn't supposed to be a writer; I was supposed to fix computers, and that's it. The outside processes were too strong and they took over. That's what I was thinking; their thoughts.

I'm trying to understand that dream and I had a realization. My subconscious was expressing something - The Mac ecosystem is getting too security-focused and that's stifling independent developers from developing. (I've been doing a lot of thinking about this for years now.)

I'm not a programmer, but I've been a serious thoughtful hobbyist in Windows, Mac and Linux computers since 1987. I've run a successful one-man computer repair and consulting business full-time since 2012 (I'm still eating!). I've read tons and I've absorbed much about the state of the computer industry over the years.

Whole classes of software can't be written anymore (data recovery software) because of the T2 chip (Terminator 2?) which is the hard drive controller. I've heard here that it's impossible to recover data if the hard drive crashes, because it's encrypted. Isn't there a way out that Apple knows, or is the data trapped inside? Whose data is it, anyway??

The Full Data Access notification requirement in Mojave is another problem that developers are struggling with. How do you tell people what to do to enable something that's unfamiliar? It makes the user think that your software is inherently unsafe because a security protocol is being initiated. There is a real threat that the user may think installing your software is too difficult and risky and they'd quit installing it entirely!

I've seen that happen over and over with the Windows 10 UAC prompt: "Do you want to allow this software to continue?" equals "No" for most of my customers, even when they had initiated the program installer themselves!

There has to be a balance between security and usability in a personal operating system, otherwise the computer is essentially a green-screen terminal into a mainframe and we, the users, own nothing, not even our own data we create.

Developers are going to quit writing certain classes of software entirely if this goes on. And the availability of proper API's is another question I hear developers discuss, which I am not qualified to mention further.

Is this what Apple wants? I don't really think so, but if they keep being reactionary to security problems, even though the MacOS is inherently safer than other operating systems, then that's going to happen anyway.

They need to take a step back and think.

Thanks for listening; I'm going back to bed (it is 3 am here), and I'll revisit this thread this afternoon.

 

[0989382]

I think their vision is that everything will be backed up online. Today, I can't back my Mac up to iCloud like I can my iPhone, but my data certainly is safe on iCloud. It won't take much more for full backups to be made this way. It benefits Apple for me to pay them monthly for more data storage too, so they're going to keep doing it I would guess.

I think there's a port on the MBP that allows only Apple to pull data off of the logic board when SSD failure happens. But that's no good for the everyday guy or independent repair guys.

I think the ecosystem and appeal of Apple is only getting greater and will continue. Sadly, the Mac probably isn't what they see sticking around in 10-15 years. I love the Mac and I know they're doing a better job lately with delivering on great Macs, but that still doesn't mean they've ditched their vision for the post-PC "iPad" era either..

You make pretty much all valid points. I think the average consumer or year-on-year MBP upgrader probably doesn't know that much about the T2 for it to prevent them from wanting to buy it. Even the glitches / bugs it had at the start doesn't seem to have dented interest, nor the keyboard fiasco..

 

[sgtaylor5]

Thank you for responding; I thought I had been ignored.

I've just downgraded my late 2013 MBP to High Sierra, because I don't need the Project Catalyst programs. The extra frameworks and underlying software make my computer run just a little bit harder. I want my computer to last.

Backstory: My pastor moved down to southern Arizona, and the 100 degree plus heat made his graphics chipset on his 2012 iMac start to go bad, and I couldn't help him. He had to buy a new iMac. That was on my mind too.