Well, let's start with the places I take issue with:
> OS updates are non-events
Big Sur and Catalina have been the most disastrous updates in MacOS history. I'm not really sure why you'd choose now to highlight their notorious stability and ease of use. Ask any sysadmin who had a fleet of Macbooks during this update cycle: it was a nightmare and a half. Failing that, ask them about Catalina. They might run and hide under the table, a lot of them are still a little skittish about the word.
> I don’t know why you say that there is no package manager. This is demonstrably false.
Brew and Macports both suck. If you use Linux on a daily basis, then you're well familiar with what a good package manager looks like: apt and Pacman are both good examples. The amount of software on either of those platforms default providers makes Macports and Brew look like a pathetic joke. Add in the lack of extensibility offered on them both, the lazy Macports development cycle, Brew's half-correct installation philosophy and how out of place they all feel on MacOS, and you've got yourself a package management system that is just about as helpful as 'make install'ing it yourself.
> The old coreutils are the result of GPLv3. Latest versions are one command away with your package manager of choice.
The ball is in Apple's court then. If they want to brag about being a real Unix system, the least they can do is ship modern Unix tools with their OS. Ironically, MacOS is the least compatible Unix system around.
> If you’re alluding to the Little Snitch thing, it had nothing to do with VPNs, and has been fixed AFAIK.
No, I'm referring to the fact that Apple gives divided their networking API into privileged and non-privileged systems as of Big Sur. Now, Apple can designate certain developers (and themselves) a way to circumvent any custom network filters when sending data.
> Honestly, your points sound like third-hand complaints you’ve heard in an echo chamber. It’s fine if you don’t want to use the OS, but then you don’t need to comment either.
I mean, the M1 Macbook Air is sitting in my desk as we speak. I've also run MacOS on my beloved Thinkpad(s), but even the magic of a touchscreen Mac couldn't really persuade me to like the operating system. My guff is well founded, I think: as the most valuable company in the world, Apple has an obligation to provide at least some level of modularity in their ecosystem. Otherwise, the precedent they set will continue to influence every market we can conceive, until our concept of "ownership" is poisoned to mean a subscription service. It's driven by greed, and makes me sick. It always comes at the cost of the user, and the declining greatness of MacOS is a perfect example of how Apple's hunger for money is poisoning their product line.