I do wonder why Apple chooses not to lock down the Mac to just Mac OS like all their other hardware? I'm sure the sales from people who intend to run something other than MacOS look like a floating-point error on the scales Apple operates.
You replied to your own question. Locking down the system for 3 users worldwide and making sure it stays locked is not worth the effort.
Just not publishing the specs is enough to delay so much the effort that those machines are out of warranty and have depreciated so much by the time they are supported that they aren't competitors to the mac ecosystem anymore.
I don't think it is possible to have a locked down development machine. You have to be able to run arbitrary code on a development machine so they can never lock it down like iOS is.
There are plenty of other ways they can be less open and hackable than Linux but it can never get to the point of the iPhone.
That’s a reasonable take. The never part seems strong though.
If I may offer a slight consideration? “arbitrary code vs arbitrary signed code”.
What’s realistically stopping Apple from requiring all code and processes be signed? Including on device dev code with a trust chain going back to Apple and TPU / Secure Enclave enforcement
They don't because it's a floating-point error now. But with the continued enshitification of MacOS, it likely won't be in the future, and they just may lock it down. But being so hostile to the hacking community would do more harm than good, so I doubt that they would do so even if Linux use on Macs grew to >1%.
prmoustache|1 month ago
Just not publishing the specs is enough to delay so much the effort that those machines are out of warranty and have depreciated so much by the time they are supported that they aren't competitors to the mac ecosystem anymore.
adastra22|1 month ago
musictubes|1 month ago
There are plenty of other ways they can be less open and hackable than Linux but it can never get to the point of the iPhone.
wamatt|1 month ago
If I may offer a slight consideration? “arbitrary code vs arbitrary signed code”.
What’s realistically stopping Apple from requiring all code and processes be signed? Including on device dev code with a trust chain going back to Apple and TPU / Secure Enclave enforcement
yencabulator|1 month ago
zer0zzz|1 month ago
https://x.com/XenoKovah/status/1339914714055368704?s=20
yonatan8070|1 month ago
intrasight|1 month ago
saagarjha|1 month ago