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AppStore Preferences can be unlocked by a local admin with any bogus password

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Re: AppStore Preferences can be unlocked by a local admin with any bogus password

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If some of the Linux distros would start trying to look like MacOS instead of constantly aping Windows, then switching would be a lot easier. That's been the big reason I've never really taken to Linux. The GUIs all look like Windows with a skin. Where's the innovation?

This is not true in general. Linux Desktop UIs like Gnome 3 have taken a lot of criticism precisely because they have not been copying Windows and have deviated considerably (due to patent concerns). Of course, there are some fringe "garage effort" Linux distros that don't care about patents and do just give some part of the community what they want. As for innovation, Linux desktop UIs had virtual desktops and windo…

> This is not true in general. Linux Desktop UIs like Gnome 3 have taken a lot of criticism precisely because they have not been copying Windows and have deviated considerably

The criticism towards Gnome 3 is due to the reduced usability, customizability, constant breaking of backwards compatibility (especially when it comes to parts that allow customization), treating the desktop like an overgrown tablet and a general tendency of its developers to treat their users like they don't know what they are doing - if not outright ignore them. For examples, check out Reddit's /r/linux whenever anything towards Gnome is posted to get an idea of what people are actually saying about it (both positive and negative).

> (due to patent concerns). Of course, there are some fringe "garage effort" Linux distros that don't care about patents and do just give some part of the community what they want.

Sorry, but this phrase is incredibly loaded. Are you affiliated with Gnome? Let me try to break it down:

"due to patent concerns" - this is textbook FUD that tries to present Gnome as a project that cares about patents (why would Gnome care about patents any more or less than other projects?) and create the impression that other desktops do not care. Moreover it implies (but doesn't explicitly say so that it can be denied later on) as granted that patents are indeed a concern for an open source desktop environment to the point that not only it is worth mentioning but actually Gnome making an active effort towards avoiding patents by redesigning their UI.

"there are some fringe "garage effort" Linux distros" - implying that any distribution that does not share Gnome 3's concern (assuming they exist and isn't just an excuse) is a fringe and garage effort. BTW i've noticed this with several Gnome developers: they tend to downplay anyone and anything that doesn't fit in their worldview as unimportant (for fun, try to ask them about Wayland and X11 and suggest that Xorg will continue to exist after -say- 5 years - some cannot even fathom the idea that even if all Xorg developers lose their senses, others can fork the project and continue its development just like the Xorg devs forked XFree86 and just like XFree86 was forked from X386).

"that don't care about patents" - again the implication that patents are something that Gnome alone cares about and that only unimportant, fringe garage effort distributions can ignore them, but Gnome - being the big and serious project that it is - has to abide by the patent masters and...

"just give some part of the community what they want." - ...being unable to give to the community what they want. Although i have to say, i like the backhanded "some part" here and the implication that it is only a small part of the community that wants something better.

Of course the entire phrase is based on the assumption that a) patents matter so much that Gnome has to design their UI around them and that b) everything else that does something closer to what the users actually want can only do it because it is fringe and unimportant. Both being false of course since there are tons of other efforts that are as important as Gnome while giving to users all sorts of options - with KDE being the obvious elephant in the room, but also with efforts such as Cinnamon, Budgie, elementaryOS/Panteon, etc. Also avoiding working on stuff because they might be patented (and honestly, most of the stuff users want - like a desktop, icons, a start menu, etc - are things that even if they were patented would have their patents expired by now - again assuming these patents are even valid and enforceable) is a fool's errand since patents exist for pretty much everything and the best an open source project can do is simply ignore them unless someone comes after a project at which point you can try to change the specific part that is a problem. It isn't like anyone can even kill a project or anything, otherwise even Linux would be dead.

Honestly i dislike this sort of "implied mudslinging" towards a ton of other projects and efforts, trying to paint them in a negative way in an attempt to both give excuses for why Gnome is the way it is today and downplay not just the concerns of its users but the users themselves as unimportant.

Try to avoid it please. I don't know if you are a Gnome developer or just an overenthusiastic user, but attacking every single other project that isn't Gnome on nebulous and arbitrary grounds is not the best way to make a good impression.

Re: AppStore Preferences can be unlocked by a local admin with any bogus password

#163

This does not help at all for the drubbing that macOS High Sierra has been getting recently. Long term OS X users have been waiting for a Snow Leopard like release, but it seems like Apple isn’t taking as much care as required on security and stability on the Mac. Something has to give — either Apple’s organizational structure needs a change or Apple needs to abandon certain things completely instead of releasing sub…

I'm also a long-time Mac user, but I've really had about enough of this. Between the seemingly constant stream of security problems and the dumbing down of OSX (MacOS, whatever), I'm not sure I'm willing to pay a premium for this product anymore. At the same time the Apple seems to be dropping the ball, some of the more noob-friendly linux distros are starting to look very attractive. And while Apple still seems to h…

1Password was also an important app for me, but after they moved to a service, I switched to keepass. 1password was a great app done right, but keepass is much more extensible (while being quite ugly) and with all the recent "security debacle" I'm happier with an open source solution.

Re: AppStore Preferences can be unlocked by a local admin with any bogus password

#164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually put the blame on Agile. A few years ago there was a noticeable increase in the frequency of point updates at the expense of quality. In agile, testing either (a) relies heavily on automation or (b) only tests that particular story. In highly complex systems that's often not sufficient and rarely do security teams for example involve themselves on a per story basis. Personally I think the industry as a whol…

Well, more specifically the issue is that unit-testing alone is not enough. At some point you have to test the entire system as a whole.

I don't think agile practices preclude running regression suites throughout the development cycle.

Re: AppStore Preferences can be unlocked by a local admin with any bogus password

#165

This does not help at all for the drubbing that macOS High Sierra has been getting recently. Long term OS X users have been waiting for a Snow Leopard like release, but it seems like Apple isn’t taking as much care as required on security and stability on the Mac. Something has to give — either Apple’s organizational structure needs a change or Apple needs to abandon certain things completely instead of releasing sub…

The yearly release cadence doesn't seem to be good for software quality of iOS or MacOS. iOS 11 is one of the buggiest releases they've had in a long time. A year really isn't very much time to develop, test and debug a new operating system release.

Re: AppStore Preferences can be unlocked by a local admin with any bogus password

#166

This does not help at all for the drubbing that macOS High Sierra has been getting recently. Long term OS X users have been waiting for a Snow Leopard like release, but it seems like Apple isn’t taking as much care as required on security and stability on the Mac. Something has to give — either Apple’s organizational structure needs a change or Apple needs to abandon certain things completely instead of releasing sub…

I'm also a long-time Mac user, but I've really had about enough of this. Between the seemingly constant stream of security problems and the dumbing down of OSX (MacOS, whatever), I'm not sure I'm willing to pay a premium for this product anymore. At the same time the Apple seems to be dropping the ball, some of the more noob-friendly linux distros are starting to look very attractive. And while Apple still seems to h…

On top of all these the touchbar, the new, ridiculously large trackpad and the loss of magsafe are a step back in UX from previous iterations of the MBP. I can't realistically switch to a platform that doesn't run Sketch but I used to look forward to new Apple hardware and I can't say that's true anymore.

Re: AppStore Preferences can be unlocked by a local admin with any bogus password

#167

This does not help at all for the drubbing that macOS High Sierra has been getting recently. Long term OS X users have been waiting for a Snow Leopard like release, but it seems like Apple isn’t taking as much care as required on security and stability on the Mac. Something has to give — either Apple’s organizational structure needs a change or Apple needs to abandon certain things completely instead of releasing sub…

> Something has to give — either Apple’s organizational structure needs a change or Apple needs to abandon certain things completely instead of releasing sub-standard products that aren’t expected from it.

Or you know, apple users can start acting like concious beings with agency, and start buying better products. It's not like there is a lack of choice out there. If you absolutely hate M$ Windows, dell has a laptop that ships with Ubuntu now. Vote with your wallets.

Re: AppStore Preferences can be unlocked by a local admin with any bogus password

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the other ultrabooks are 16:9, right? It's so hard losing that extra screen real estate, you really get used to it after a while. I'd rather even go 3:2, but the options there are only the Surface Pro or Pixelbook.

3:2 is the best. It drives me fucking insane that all the laptop manufacturers have capitulated to the idea that everyone's spending time watching movies on their laptops more than anything else, which strikes me a complete nonsense but I suppose it must be true, otherwise they wouldn't make that decision... I hope.

I bought my sister a surface laptop to use for school, and the very first thing she said was “How do I watch Netflix?”

Re: AppStore Preferences can be unlocked by a local admin with any bogus password

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Snow Leopard like release This was the last good MacOS in my opinion. Starting with Lion they removed Expose, and they removed the workspace grid and replaced it with that shitty Mission Control rubbish. I hated I couldn't down-grade (or really upgrade depending on how you look at it) my Lion laptop back to Snow Lepord. It was so unusable I actually went back to Linux and tried a bunch of different tiling window ma…

In fairness, I also hated Mission Control at first. I'd sure hate going from the (High)? Sierra version back to Expose now, though.

The first couple release of Mission Control were total ass, the window grouping pissed me off to absolutely no end. I don't know when they fixed it since I missed Yosemite and El Capitan, but they finally brought back the old-style expose layout for windows at the very least which makes me much happier.

Now if only they would put full screen on a separate button again, I HATE that the zoom button was been hijacked and I have to hold down option just to zoom a window. Why can I not change the default behavior? That would be a nice compromise at least.

Re: AppStore Preferences can be unlocked by a local admin with any bogus password

#170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So which team might have screwed up here? Is this a UI issue or a backend/system library issue? What about the previous root account unlock issue?

I actually put the blame on Agile. A few years ago there was a noticeable increase in the frequency of point updates at the expense of quality. In agile, testing either (a) relies heavily on automation or (b) only tests that particular story. In highly complex systems that's often not sufficient and rarely do security teams for example involve themselves on a per story basis. Personally I think the industry as a whol…

I am absolutely agree with you. Agile is not silver bullet and people just don't get it. Also many times it is executed very wrongly.
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