TIL. I thought this was just so that all apps are in one place for ease of access. When I first tried OS X in the form of hackintosh around 2009, most apps were already distributed in dmgs with "drag to install" so I just thought it's a very neat, Apple-ish way (ugh Windows install wizards) and assumed it's always been like that. Older PPC Macs were basically never really a thing where I'm from.
Now I remember seeing these weird long paths pointing to weird places with the word translocation in them — never really dug into the why. I've also seen apps ask to move themselves to /Applications when launched from ~/Downloads.
Anyway, with all these Gatekeeper changes, it's almost as if Apple doesn't want non-app-store apps at all.
> Anyway, with all these Gatekeeper changes, it's almost as if Apple doesn't want non-app-store apps at all.
Of course that's their idea, The Mac Store has been a moderate failure, so now they are pushing people into it slowly more and more every release.
As Apple and Microsoft (with their Windows Store) have learned, if there's a real choice between an app store and a standard install, nobody will pick the app store. They cannot promote it naturally, they have to push it through by force.
Well, then people have the choice of not updating because why would I if the only change that's noticeable brings more restrictions. I'm on Mojave and I don't really feel like I'm missing on anything. Both Mac OS and Windows are more or less feature-complete at this point.
Heh, I actually prefer the app store version wherever I can download it, because I like not having to think about updates; I let the software updater do it. Is this an uncommon attitude?
Developers care a lot about updates, your average user does not. For them, an update means there's a chance the app isn't going to work like it used to be.
People went as far as disabling all windows updates manually.
Also as a second point, you can totally have a software updater without an app store.
Apps did start doing this before, definitely. I always felt they were arrogant in assuming they deserved a spot in my Applications folder. I should be able to put the app wherever I'd like. At the same time dmgs seem backwards-looking since disks were "old" technology so why use an image format for them? So I was personally against distributing my software this way, but Apple forced my hand with the Gatekeeper app translocation change.
Apple themselves ships some software, like the non-Mac App Store versions of Xcode, as xips (signed zips), but for some reason decided 3rd party developers cannot use these.
Apples recommendations are in the "Shipping your Signed Code" section of this tech note:
Now I remember seeing these weird long paths pointing to weird places with the word translocation in them — never really dug into the why. I've also seen apps ask to move themselves to /Applications when launched from ~/Downloads.
Anyway, with all these Gatekeeper changes, it's almost as if Apple doesn't want non-app-store apps at all.