macOS unable to open any non-Apple application

Sincerely and without any intention to troll or be sarcastic: I'm puzzled that people are willing buy a computer/OS where (apparently) software can/will fail to launch if some central company server goes down. Maybe I'm just getting this wrong, because I can honestly not quite wrap my head around this. This is such a big no-go, from a systems design point of view.

Even beyond unintentional glitches at Apple, just imagine what this could mean when traffic to this infra is disrupted intentionally (e.g. to any "unfavorable" country). That sounds like a really serious cyber attack vector to me. Equally dangerous if infra inside the USA gets compromised, if that is going to make Apple computers effectively inoperable. Not sure how Apple will shield itself from legal liability in such an event, if things are intentionally designed this way. I seriously doubt that a cleverly crafted TOS/EULA will do it, for the damage might easily go way beyond to just users in this case.

Again, maybe (and in fact: hopefully) I'm just getting this all wrong. If not, I might know a country or two where this could even warrant a full ban on the sale of Apple computers, if there is no local/national instance of this (apparently crucial) infrastructure operating in that country itself, merely on the argument of national security (and in this case a very valid one, for a change).

All in all, this appears to be a design fuck-up of monumental proportions. One that might very well deserve to have serious legal ramifications for Apple.

People chose to use Apple because it seems like a benevolent dictatorship.

And frankly, a benevolent dictatorship is basically the best government you can have, as long as you're part of the "in-group" who doesn't push boundaries, doesn't cause trouble, and supports the supreme ruler, Kim jon... cough* Apple.

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The problem is that no matter how good the dictatorship might be today, it will eventually bite you. You will either develop a need that isn't addressed, or they will change the rules so you are no longer able to satisfy an existing need.

We're seeing this now with Google - Their motto was literally "don't be evil" for a long time. And during that golden period their users loved them. But as Google has shifted from "don't be evil" to "Make lots of money" people are starting to shift away.

Apple is still in the golden phase, but I'm not really convinced they're going to be there much longer.

> Apple is still in the golden phase, but I'm not really convinced they're going to be there much longer.

The honeymoon is already over. A post like yours would have got several downvotes up to less than two years ago. I noticed that honest critics to Apple are tolerated now, since at least about one year ago.

I actually agree with you (and as someone who's been complaining about Apple for a looong time, I have the posts with the downvotes to show you're probably right), but I don't think HN is representative of the general populace.

I also still consider Apple's PR game to be top notch. Which is why so many folks are talking about loving the Apple app store in the thread about the recent Epic case that also popped up today. Although I'll note it's interesting that originally those threads seemed about evenly divided on the topic, and currently the pro-apple, pro-dictatorship voices seem to be getting mostly downvoted.

Regardless - I'd strongly recommend everyone out there to consider free and open software, on devices that you own (and you don't own a device if you don't have root access). Open source just keeps getting better - We happily re-implement the ideas and products generated by these companies, but we care about you - not the bottom line -because we are you.

I remember there was a bug on the App Store that cause some issue on certain games. I posted on the thread "Why not buy this game on Steam instead. It costs the same, doesn't have this issue, and you benefit from the game working on Windows/Mac/Linux at no extra charge. You also get proper trophy support, cross platform multiplayer etc..

I got a bunch of 'Why on earth would I do that. I love the app store and will only ever have Macs.'

Steam has its own set of issues where they control what you get to play, and when.

I feel like I've "bought" a ton of games through Steam, and now that my kids are a bit older, they want to play some of them. Unfortunately they can't play different games at the same time - even with Steam's family sharing. When one person plays a game, it locks the whole game library.

GOG all the way.

> When one person plays a game, it locks the whole game library.

You can get around this by running steam in offline mode.