The Threat to the Mac: The Growing Popularity of Non-Native Apps

I just checked and I don't have a single app installed from Mac App Store. It always felt weird to go through spaghetti of prompts to get basic functionality available. I'm happy with apps like 1Password, Fantastical having their own autoupdate functionality. I'm happy that I don't need to think about having some apps on Mac App Store, and some someplace else (Docker or Microsoft Office aren't even available on Mac App Store).

So yeah, choosing between using `brew cask` and Mac App Store — former clearly wins.

Even Apple can't be bothered to make quality Mac apps for all their software. There is no News app for the Mac, nor a homekit app. And the Mac App Store doesn't feel like a native app to me.

However, it doesn't really bother me. I'm extremely happy using macOS. Hardware is excellent as well. Companies hawking their wares without decent client apps, like Slack, don't get my sympathy. I'll use it when I must, and the minute that need drops away, then it's gone from my system.

I have never used the Mac app store. I didn't use or want to use the itunes store, either. Apple's steady march toward sandboxing and mobile-os-like software control feels paternalistic and annoying; it makes the platform less interesting. It's my machine, not Apple's, and I don't care what they think I ought to do or not do with it.

I still have a Mac mini on my desk at home, but I stopped wanting to "upgrade" its OS a few years ago, because each new release just seemed to have more flashy crap bundled in for Apple's benefit and not mine. It has felt more and more like a sales funnel for services I don't want to use, and wouldn't want Apple to provide even if I did want them.

When that Mac dies, I doubt I'll replace it; that will be the first time in over thirty years that I won't be regularly using at least one Mac at home or work.

The rise of the web app is basically what allowed OS X to be at all competitive with Windows, since more and more software was being written for the browser as the platform. If it weren't for the web, OS X would not have become a viable platform. I feel like the fact that browsers freed us from this OS dependence is underappreciated.

I never really felt why I should log in to download free apps. I hate how software has to implement their own update mechanisms when there's a native alternative solution built in to the OS.

Which is a shame since I love using package managers on Linux.

> ...it might as well not exist, because the only remaining thing that would distinguish it from other desktop OSes is iCloud integration.

This is truly scary when one of your weakest products (features) is supposedly your main differentiator.