macOS unable to open any non-Apple application • Hacker News Board

Re: macOS unable to open any non-Apple application

#491

Post by webvictim » Fri, Nov 13, 2020, 12:58 AM UTC

27182818284 wrote: post #155

read_if_gay_ wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I started panicking mildly thinking my drive was failing or something. And just before this, I finally managed to fix Spotlight pegging one core at 100% constantly. Next thing, I reboot into a laggy system. macOS is my favorite OS, but the shit I put up with... it's basically an abusive relationship at this point.

Same. Panic attack. Thought the SSD was dying. I ran Disk Utility diagnostics and started coming up with plans to reformat and restore as a last resort. Apple folks in this thread, this was terrible

I genuinely thought the same thing. I opened my MBP and it was sluggish, felt like it was dead. Browser wouldn't load, Zoom wouldn't load, I rebooted and the same problems persisted. I honestly thought the hardware was giving out.

I almost cannot believe the actual cause. Absolutely awful experience.

Re: macOS unable to open any non-Apple application

#492

Post by JAlexoid » Fri, Nov 13, 2020, 1:02 AM UTC

AsyncAwait wrote: post #290

elmo2you wrote: post #202

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 ima…

And I keep hearing how Linux is a toy whereas macOS 'just works'.

The new MBP that I just got got befuddled by my bluetooth mouse (Razer Mamba X), to the point that it was literally unusable for a few hours...

While OSX was demanding that I identify a bluetooth keyboard... I don't have a bluetooth keyboard at all.

OSX is buggy and getting less and less usable. I'm finding myself working on Ubuntu and Windows more, than OSX these days.

Re: macOS unable to open any non-Apple application

#493

Post by warkdarrior » Fri, Nov 13, 2020, 1:04 AM UTC

Symbiote wrote: post #451

phs318u wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking as an ex-Google user and an ex-Apple customer (still tied to Apple Music and iCloud for family phones), I'd compare Google to Russia - not particularly benevolent, a bit chaotic/random, citizens tend to shrug and accept their lot. Apple is more like Singapore, slick, seemingly benevolent, citizens honestly question why the rest of the world isn't run the same way. EDIT: I'd add another way in which Google is…

I like that. I think it makes Linux some sort of United States: users like the principles, but almost all use one of the 50 major implementations, which tend to have small differences. When defending any perceived shortcoming, they will point to a different implementation without the particular flaw, or argue that the feature is not only unnecessary but undesirable. Many outsiders are uncomfortable with the unwaverin…

Which Linux distribution has the most guns? Asking for a friend, of course. :P

Re: macOS unable to open any non-Apple application

#494

Post by redisman » Fri, Nov 13, 2020, 1:09 AM UTC

barumi wrote: post #441

redisman wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> macOS is my favorite OS, but Ain't that the truth with every OS. I use Windows for gaming, PopOS for work on my desktop and MacOS for work on my laptop. The amount of weird issues is about constant.

> The amount of weird issues is about constant. But linux is free both as in free beer and in free speech, windows required you to pay the Microsoft tax to use, and lastly macOS required you to pay a premium on hardware.

True. Linux is the best value and the best developer experience IMHO - unless you need commercial software that is Win/Mac only. Even then you can virtualize which is safer too. I can also easily get a Darcula theme OS-wide for Gnome so..

Re: macOS unable to open any non-Apple application

#495

Post by eric_h » Fri, Nov 13, 2020, 1:09 AM UTC

sroussey wrote: post #479

AngusH wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple, for some reason, didn't advertise this change very widely, so it isn't precisely an informed decision. Like so much of the modern security activity, it doesn't seem to be fully thought out, nor was the possibility of failure considered. Or maybe such failures were considered and then dismissed? I don't know.

It times out and the app runs, so the failure mode was considered. They may move to edge servers instead of centralized datacenters now though...

> the failure mode was considered

Considered but not tuned. I've never noticed any delay launching or using software that doesn't require an internet connection while not being connected to the internet. (I definitely did notice slowdowns today - Zoom in particular which I tend to quit out of when I'm not using it because I don't trust it one bit but am compelled to use it for work)

Seems like apple was accepting connections for the signature check but were unable to actually service the connections, leading to the timeout/failover.

I honestly like the idea of signature checks on software that give me some confidence that the code that is running is the code that it claimed to be when it was published/installed and has not been manipulated via some other vector.

Whether apple is the appropriate steward of that system is certainly up for debate, but certainly other companies that run app stores have similar systems and similar risk. It certainly doesn't seem obvious to me what a secure, anonymous, performant and federated system to solve such a problem would actually look like.

Re: macOS unable to open any non-Apple application

#496

Post by brailsafe » Fri, Nov 13, 2020, 1:12 AM UTC

Symbiote wrote: post #222

Aperocky wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just sad that we don't have the corresponding form factor in a similar laptop. The biggest draw of mac: 1. slim, light 2. long battery life. 3. track pad. That's all I want, but nobody else offers it on the same spec, the difference is even bigger with M1.

It is strange how many people will sacrifice so much for free speech and the right to bear arms (like tolerating school shootings and foreign interference in elections), but offer them the "freedom OS" and they'll pick the slightly better trackpad. Does no one here have principles?

Fuck yes I'll pick the slightly better trackpad. To a point anyway. Sitting for upwards of 8 hours a day typing code can be a depressing life trap to find yourself in. If every time I touched my trackpad I cringed because it feels like sandpaper, works like shit, and might not even have good first party driver support, only to be consoled by the the thought that I could install Windows on it if I wanted to, I'd probably not be too satisfied.

I have an expensive chair, that I could only really get fixed by the company that made it. I could have a shitty chair that hurts my ass, messes with my posture, costs 1/12th the price, that I could sit in and re-assure myself that I'm free to get commodity parts anywhere I want, but I'd prefer not to do that unless I had no choice.

Re: macOS unable to open any non-Apple application

#497

Post by sooheon » Fri, Nov 13, 2020, 1:13 AM UTC

Aperocky wrote: post #147

skuthus wrote: post #134

Wow this is a huge cluster - threw a complete wrench in my work for almost an hour. Is this what we should be expecting from Apple going forward?

Apple want to be the closed garden, this will eventually happen. tbh, I'm a huge fan of macs but only really because I use it as a client/screen.

What do you use as the server and what do you run on it?

Re: macOS unable to open any non-Apple application

#498

Post by akoncius » Fri, Nov 13, 2020, 1:13 AM UTC

tshaddox wrote: post #472

Swizec wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an Apple user of 10 years: I had no idea macos phones home like this.

That's one potential issue, if you have privacy concerns. But the real problem here is that there's a blatant bug in the phone-home code that causes apps to crash if Apple's servers have a problem.

simply doing “if server does not respond, don’t check anything” would be bigger flaw in design because that would mean just modify hosts file to localhost or something and the security check would be worked around.

Re: macOS unable to open any non-Apple application

#499

Post by sneak » Fri, Nov 13, 2020, 1:14 AM UTC

jlokier wrote: post #280

brundolf wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about you, but hashes of the binaries I run don't exactly reveal any sensitive personal information about me. That said, obviously they should have much more graceful degradation in place for when something is wrong with the service.

I run Tor browser occasionally. That fact alone is sensitive personal information about me. It makes me stand out. Someday it might be held against me. I already expect the ISP to detect my Tor traffic. But I didn't expect Apple, of all companies, to have a detailed audit trail of every time I've ever opened it, to the nearest minute.

Don’t forget that client IP geolocation gives coarse location, so they have your timestamped track log, too.

Big Sur prevents Little Snitch from blocking these system level connections, and these OS apps will also bypass any configured VPN.

Re: macOS unable to open any non-Apple application

#500

Post by Yabood » Fri, Nov 13, 2020, 1:15 AM UTC

Its even worse, after Apple's service recovered I was left with what seemed to be a corrupted installer/updater that kept throwing "An error occurred while installing the selected updates" when I clicked on the upgrade now. I had to boot in recovery mode, run "csrutil disable" so I can delete the update directory from Library/Updates.