Malware on macOS isn't prevalent. There is no market for anti-virus vendors on macOS, and Apple have been repeatedly tightening the approval process for macOS software. Gatekeeper only ever gets more aggressive, not less. Meanwhile videocall software is widespread, it's rapidly become a necessity for a large part of the world's population. I wouldn't be surprised if on macOS it's now in second place as a category behind web browsers.
No.
What Apple should, MUST do as quickly as possible, is understand and react to what developers here are trying to tell them - the usability of macOS software installation is terrible and no, the App Store is not an acceptable alternative. macOS software install UX is worse than Windows. It's worse than Android and iOS. It's better than Linux but that doesn't say much.
If Apple want to end these practices, they need to deliver:
1. Genuine one or two-click install of software from the web, without the App Store being involved and without requiring sandboxing, allowing install scripts and for signed/notarised software, without any security popups. DMG style installs require drag and drop AND device unmounting, which isn't especially discoverable and hardly used on mobile platforms so some users can't figure it out (hence the reliance on PKG files).
2. Removal of the scary popup that Safari shows when a user clicks a non-http URL.
Desktop software on macOS relies on these techniques because measuring the ratio of number of downloads to number of successful app starts shows that far fewer people make it through the process than they should, for instance, fewer than on Windows. This is a bit of an open secret in the desktop software world for many years now; Google for instance has detailed data on the problem. Each click you add causes the success rate to drop and macOS requires far more clicks than is justifiable. Additionally, the web server trick Zoom uses is because otherwise some non-trivial proportion of Safari users just automatically click cancel on the security popup when a web page tries to open a meeting, without even reading it. They don't understand what they're being asked or why, but figure if Apple want to double check with them it's safer to say no. Then they fail to join a meeting and if they're an important participant, that means the meeting fails for everyone.
Note that this usability problem is Safari-specific. On other platforms and browsers such workarounds aren't needed.
People need to stop giving Apple the benefit of the doubt here. Videoconf firms aren't doing this extra work because they're malicious or incompetent or because they inexplicably like doing work. They're doing it because otherwise a lot of Mac users fail to achieve the task they set out to do, and that hurts the usage of the video platform. It's ultimately Apple's problem to fix.
> the usability of macOS software installation is terrible and no, the App Store is not an acceptable alternative. macOS software install UX is worse than Windows. It's worse than Android and iOS. It's better than Linux but that doesn't say much.
Sounds questionable in all the parts.
Mac: Just click-mount an installation disk image and drag an app icon to the Applicationss folder - isn't this a perfect install UX? If an app installed this way wants to handle some URLs it should declare that in its metadata. No app should be allowed to modify files outside its dedicated directories unless modifying those files is its actual mission.
Linux: just type "sudo apt install app_name" - what can be more handy?
Windows: let every app you install do anything it wants with all the system files, leaving traces after uninstallation is a norm.
The only problems with iOS are it removes a user's right to program his own device freely and demands too much money from 3rd party devs.
Linux doesn't work that way for the software outside the repo, you either have to go find a deb/rpm and install it using another tool, or god forbid the thing you need needs another repo, which only works on x minor version of the OS in this distro and will cause the other widget you installed from the distro's provided repo to break because dependencies are different. AppImage/Snap are both trying to fix this, but for now it still sucks.
On the Mac, the whole "drag an app to the trash to delete" thing has always been a lie, since most applications spew things in ~/Library, /Library, and other app support directories, which means you miss lots of stuff that AppCleaner has to find. It's still a terrible experience, and if you don't know that then downloading a new copy of the app won't fix anything because all of its preferences and extra files are in a directory you didn't think to clean out because its hidden by the system.
Just click-mount an installation disk image and drag an app icon to the Applicationss folder - isn't this a perfect install UX?
No. Please do set up a usability test in a lab and watch people try.
You will find:
1. Many users struggle with unusual mouse/trackpad movements like drag and drop, right clicking. That's why the Mac theoretically has a one-button mouse.
2. The instructions for what to do differ between DMGs and usually consists of a single arrow if present at all. This isn't clear enough to communicate "drag and drop" to people.
3. If the user figures out or has been shown that they have to drag and drop, they may then be confused when it appears nothing has happened, or by a small dialog that appears and then quickly disappears. It's now not clear how to actually start the app. Nothing appears in the dock, the app itself doesn't start. Launchpad made this better some years back because now there's at least a button to push to show you all apps and let you search for them iOS style, but the user has to realise they haven't started the app.
Note that if you use the App Store there's a sort of animation that (if the user sees it) suggests the app has been deposited into the launchpad. But you don't get that with out-of-store installs.
4. If the user isn't very familiar with this DMG process they may double click the app to start it from the DMG itself, which will look like they successfully installed it (because the app starts) but which may (a) break the app in subtle ways if it expects to be able to write to its own directory, (b) confuse the user when the folder disappears along with the downloaded file button in their browser, thus giving no obvious way to get back to it, except via a realisation that the window which popped up was a folder despite not looking like one and thus could be perhaps relocated via the Finder, unless you rebooted in between in which case maybe not.
Bizarrely and against all rules of good UX design the right thing to do isn't the simplest action that appears to work, but rather, several more steps in between.
5. If they do manage to drag it, find it in Launchpad and start it, very likely they won't realise they're supposed to "eject" the DMG to get rid of the prior copy, even though nothing is actually being physically ejected anywhere. They may also be confused by the presence of two icons that should be equivalent but aren't. If they do know they're meant to eject/unmount it there's nothing obvious to let you do that, for instance there's no button labelled "Eject", but rather you're meant to find the icon for the DMG on the desktop (which is covered), realise it's an icon that represents the window you saw earlier although in the absence of a branded icon there's no indication of that, be mystified by the strange metal object in the icon (who has seen a real HDD these days?) and then realise you're meant to start dragging it again to the trash can, which magically turns into an eject symbol? Or you could try using the Finder, in which case the sidebar entry for the DMG is going to be under "Locations" in a scrollable area that doesn't have scrollbars, and no visual indication it can be scrolled, and the icons next to the name of the app don't indicate what they do, and if your Finder is set to use e.g. tree mode then clicking it shows a view totally different to the one you saw earlier!
The entire UX is something only a UNIX hacker could ever think makes sense. Unless you have a really solid grip on filesystems, nested folders, mount points etc this whole thing is just totally mystifying and a lot of pointless busywork too.
Some Mac apps have code that detects when the user has made these sorts of mistakes and will offer to move the app to /Applications for them. It's intended to partly work around these usability problems, but ultimately, a PKG is still much better especially for videoconf apps where the standard way to start them is via the browser and not by finding an icon in Mission Control.
Windows: let every app you install do anything it wants with all the system files, leaving traces after uninstallation is a norm.
Mac apps leave stuff behind all the time too because they don't have any uninstallation procedure. On Windows it's at least a bug in the uninstaller which could be fixed. On macOS it's a fundamental design issue with the OS itself.
I'd beg to differ on that. If anything, I'd bet MacOS is now be the platform with the most malware (adware specifically).
I've had to check laptops from wife and step family (all apple users) in the past year and they all turned out to be infected with a truckload of mac adware, that they only noticed after it replaced their homepage browser or spammed unending popups on the desktop.
While browsing for help on safari, pages were filled with ads and popups trying to send you more malware. That is, when pages are not right away sending you some executable files (just like pages sending you .apk on android devices). MacOS is as unsafe as everything else nowadays.
> 1. Genuine one or two-click install of software from the web, without the App Store being involved and without requiring sandboxing
I disagree with this. Why is going via the app store a bad thing? The app store is the solution here. Zoom should be able to tell apple "Hey I'd like to handle zoom://" links, and clicking one will redirect you to either zoom or the app store (without the source of your link knowing where you ended up), where you can have a one click install.
I also firmly disagree with the concept that sandboxing shouldn't be enforced. There is _no_ reason for any software (particularly software like Zoom, Webex, Slack) to have unfettered access to my machine,
No company that has a choice is going to pay Apple their tax. That's why the MacOS sure is always going to be the same as the Windows store: a home of loser apps. Since another install procedure is available, only losers will use the app store. Ergo, any software available through the app store is a loser app.
And yet Microsoft Office is available via the macOS App Store, alongside venerable packages like Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, Logic and Final Cut (Apple-owned software), the Omni suite of software, Autodesk software, Pixelmator, etc.
The App Store has problems, but all apps there being "loser apps" is not one of them.
You can't pay for Office through the App Store though, you have to activate it with a personal or corporate Office 365 account. If you bought a perpetual license, I believe you have to go get it through Microsoft regardless.
App Stores have a lot of problems that push developers away from them:
1. Apple have a history of convoluted review processes and arbitrary rejections. It has a terrible reputation amongst devs.
2. Thanks to unpredictable reviews you can't time when a new upgrade becomes available to coincide with e.g. website changes, emails.
3. The App Store can't upgrade apps whilst they're running.
4. App Store 30% standard cut is far too high when a developer could sell direct from their website and pay 2% or less to a card processor.
5. The App Store UX is itself pretty bad. There's no flexibility or ability to customise how your app appears.
6. Devs are forced to allow app reviews and ratings although they may not wish to have that e.g. because users use reviews as a way to request support instead of an actual support system, but you can't reply.
7. App Stores often create problems for corporate or managed desktop deployments.
8. For software that is billed, despite exhorbitant fees their billing engines can be primitive. For instance even years after launch the Windows app store had no ability to do bulk discounts or other kinds of completely normal retail strategies. I don't know if it does these days, but I do know of an app developer who shipped via the WAS and whose business was badly hurt by Microsoft's lackadaisical attitude towards basic features like that. They could have sold big into education but couldn't get much traction because there was no way to offer reduced rates to schools.
9. App Stores enforce random policies unrelated to the core mission of app distribution. For instance the Mac App Store is extremely vague about to what extent plugin mechanisms are allowed. Good luck implementing an IDE or browser in the MAS; you'll always be living in a grey zone. It also forbids any kind of custom licensing mechanism or copy protection, so when Apple's is insufficient you're SOL and requires all languages to be in the same bundle yielding huge downloads (=lower conversion rate due to failed downloads). Those are just implementation limitations but you aren't allowed to do better.
Basically, Apple don't have a good track record of creating an excellent developer experience with their app stores. On mobile they forced devs into it against their will. On desktop where backwards compatibility prevents it, devs have nearly universally rejected app stores ... even when an app is in it, it's common for websites to direct users to their own distribution points.
Thank you for being the voice of reason here. The fundamental issues are with Apple and macOS, not vendors trying to make sure everyone who downloads the app can install it.
Malware on macOS isn't prevalent. There is no market for anti-virus vendors on macOS, and Apple have been repeatedly tightening the approval process for macOS software. Gatekeeper only ever gets more aggressive, not less. Meanwhile videocall software is widespread, it's rapidly become a necessity for a large part of the world's population. I wouldn't be surprised if on macOS it's now in second place as a category behind web browsers.
No.
What Apple should, MUST do as quickly as possible, is understand and react to what developers here are trying to tell them - the usability of macOS software installation is terrible and no, the App Store is not an acceptable alternative. macOS software install UX is worse than Windows. It's worse than Android and iOS. It's better than Linux but that doesn't say much.
If Apple want to end these practices, they need to deliver:
1. Genuine one or two-click install of software from the web, without the App Store being involved and without requiring sandboxing, allowing install scripts and for signed/notarised software, without any security popups. DMG style installs require drag and drop AND device unmounting, which isn't especially discoverable and hardly used on mobile platforms so some users can't figure it out (hence the reliance on PKG files).
2. Removal of the scary popup that Safari shows when a user clicks a non-http URL.
Desktop software on macOS relies on these techniques because measuring the ratio of number of downloads to number of successful app starts shows that far fewer people make it through the process than they should, for instance, fewer than on Windows. This is a bit of an open secret in the desktop software world for many years now; Google for instance has detailed data on the problem. Each click you add causes the success rate to drop and macOS requires far more clicks than is justifiable. Additionally, the web server trick Zoom uses is because otherwise some non-trivial proportion of Safari users just automatically click cancel on the security popup when a web page tries to open a meeting, without even reading it. They don't understand what they're being asked or why, but figure if Apple want to double check with them it's safer to say no. Then they fail to join a meeting and if they're an important participant, that means the meeting fails for everyone.
Note that this usability problem is Safari-specific. On other platforms and browsers such workarounds aren't needed.
People need to stop giving Apple the benefit of the doubt here. Videoconf firms aren't doing this extra work because they're malicious or incompetent or because they inexplicably like doing work. They're doing it because otherwise a lot of Mac users fail to achieve the task they set out to do, and that hurts the usage of the video platform. It's ultimately Apple's problem to fix.