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MacOS sometimes leaks traffic after system updates

(mullvad.net)
400 points dulvui | 8 comments | 16 Oct 24 08:37 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
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thisislife2 ◴[16 Oct 24 11:58 UTC] No.41858057[source]▶
> In this scenario the macOS firewall does not seem to function correctly and is disregarding firewall rules ... Some examples of apps that do this are Apple’s own apps and services since macOS 14.6, up until a recent 15.1 beta.

This is not new - every time I update macOS, some of the system settings are changed to default including some in the firewall. And I have to painstakingly go through all of it and change it. Also, the few times I've reinstalled or updated macOS, I've always noticed that it takes longer for the installation if your system has access to the internet - so now I've made it a practice to switch of the router while installing or updating macOS or ios. (With all the AI bullshit being integrated everywhere in Windows, macOS and Android etc., I expect this kind of "offloading" of personal data, and downloading of data, to / from AI servers to keep increasing, especially during updates, to "prepare" for the new AI features in the newer OS updates. No internet means the installer is forced to skip it for later, saving you some valuable time, and hopefully you get to change the default setting before it starts up again. Whatever the claims of AI processing done on the Mac or iDevices itself, some "offloading" to their servers, will still happen, especially if the default settings - which you can change only after the OS is installed - also enables analytics and data collection.)

(More here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26418809 and on this thread - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26303946 ).

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hypeatei ◴[16 Oct 24 12:34 UTC] No.41858347[source]▶
> I've made it a practice to switch of the router while installing or updating macOS or ios.

Why are you still using those OSes? That seems like a lot of work for something you paid for.

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vundercind ◴[16 Oct 24 13:56 UTC] No.41859079[source]▶
Because all operating systems are terrible but the rest are so incredibly bad that Apple’s are still by far the best, once you add up time saved by features and capabilities and subtract time lost to pain-in-the-ass brokenness.

(Two decades on DOS/Windows home series and NT, at least for gaming and sometimes work, twelve years with Linux as my main desktop OS, started on Android for smartphones, before finally giving Apple a fair chance around 2011 or 2012… because I was issued a MacBook at work and was doing dual-platform mobile dev—FWIW I was rooting for BeOS back when it was still a thing, it was great)

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baq ◴[16 Oct 24 15:33 UTC] No.41860293[source]▶
IME macOS is easily the most broken and user hostile from a professional developer perspective. Maybe I haven't been using it enough, only 2 years.

The hardware is amazing though and no other OS can predictably wake the laptop when opening the lid and not wake it when it's closed, which is kinda a deal breaker for a laptop, so I still use it. Not particularly excited about it, would prefer a Linux laptop if it could sleep reliably. (Seen pictures of a framework laptop with a kernel panic after wake, and I was seriously considering getting one.)

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1. iknowstuff ◴[16 Oct 24 15:45 UTC] No.41860443[source]▶
it’s very cohesive and stable by comparison to Windows. It’s beautifully designed compared to KDE. It’s most similar to gnome.

if you’re the kinda guy who sees it as user hostile, I’d wager it’s because you refuse to learn the macOS/gnome paradigm and demand things to be how they were on your windows pc 30 years ago.

what os/dwm do u use

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2. baq ◴[16 Oct 24 16:42 UTC] No.41861118[source]▶
I'm not talking about how it looks - I don't care. I can find settings I need when the system implements them no problem.

I'm talking about the gimped OS underneath the eye candy:

- docker sucks compared to native Linux (obviously) and WSL2 (less obvious)

- I have to install BetterDisplay (props to the dev btw, great tool) just to make my perfectly good 25x16 144Hz monitor not look like shit

- I have to install a tool to invert my mouse scroll wheel

- I have to install a tool to manage windows in a sane way (sequoia only just started to know how to do that but it's a looong way ahead)

- I have to install a tool to have multiple things in the clipboard

- Sequoia broke the system firewall and it's still not fixed in 15.0.1 (my mac is enterprise issued and it has all the fancy security apps you've all heard about)

I ran out of time to keep going, these are what I'm running into daily. Fortunately there are tools, but every major macOS release breaks some of them.

3. ActorNightly ◴[16 Oct 24 18:23 UTC] No.41862087[source]▶
>It’s beautifully designed

I hope you understand that when you say this, its pretty easy to see that you are solely in the ideological camp of liking Apple, not a rational one.

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4. consteval ◴[16 Oct 24 18:43 UTC] No.41862334[source]▶
> it’s very cohesive and stable by comparison to Windows

That's an incredibly low bar. Windows 95 is cohesive and stable as compared to Windows.

> It’s beautifully designed compared to KDE

It's beautiful. Designed? I don't know about that. In my experience, it takes significantly less clicks, swipes, or keypresses to perform action in KDE as opposed to pretty much everything.

I consider that good desktop design, because these are tools. Less work = better tool.

> It’s most similar to gnome

Yeah, and Gnome is awful IMO. Some things just can't be done without installing extensions. The workflow is very "my way or the highway". Seemingly simple actions require submenus of submenus. The UI design isn't dense enough, so a bunch of info is just missing.

> refuse to learn the macOS/gnome paradigm

The difference here is I can easily replicate what macOS and gnome have going in KDE. Because KDE is flexible, and those aren't. Why would I though, when I can instead abuse KDE for efficiency gains in workflows? I'd much rather do that.

5. iknowstuff ◴[17 Oct 24 00:12 UTC] No.41865194[source]▶
i’m talking about consistent HID, proper negative space, consistent padding and margins, copy etc rather than visuals. It’s more science than art.
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6. newdee ◴[17 Oct 24 09:03 UTC] No.41867721[source]▶
Pot. Kettle. But just Linux for you, right?
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7. ActorNightly ◴[17 Oct 24 20:51 UTC] No.41873659{3}[source]▶
And im talking about the fact that there are people who are perfectly comfortable using tmux and vim, + browser window for most of their work, or something similar like i3wm. They can say that its the best possible UI layout, and their argument is just as valid as yours.

Except they don't claim it as science.

8. ActorNightly ◴[17 Oct 24 20:57 UTC] No.41873719{3}[source]▶
Its not about pushing anything alternative as "the best". Its about saying that you prefer Mac OS based on your personal preferences and not trying to make up bullshit objective reasons for it like they are fact of the world, which Apple users tend to do A LOT, and I don't really understand why.

Like I use Windows solely, because I need to run CAD programs, I like to Game, and I use WSL2 for development purposes, and I prefer having everything in one place. But Im not going to make up reasons why its the "best" because it does all of that.