Mac OS X 10.8 restricted to App Store, signed apps by default

[+Warwagon MVC]

Mac OS X 10.8 restricted to App Store, signed apps by default

Well, this is a surprise. Several websites have a preview up of Apple's next Mac OS X release - it's called Mountain Lion, and continues the trend of bringing over functionality from iOS to Mac OS X. Lots of cool stuff in here we've all seen before on iPhones and iPads, including one very, very controversial feature: Gatekeeper. Starting with Mac OS X 10.8, Apple's desktop operating system will be restricted to Mac App Store and Apple-signed applications by default (with an opt-out switch), following in Windows 8's footsteps.

Several large websites, such as Engadget and The Verge, have published previews of Apple's next big Mac OS X release. Mountain Lion brings yet another load of iOS features to desktops and laptops, in the continuing drive to unify Mac OS X and iOS. Let's start with the most controversial feature.

http://www.osnews.com/story/25619/Mac_OS_X_10_8_restricted_to_App_Store_signed_apps_by_default

[Motoko.]

I'm bothered by the fact that fresh installs from the latest release will be nonexistent

[John S. Veteran]

ugh

Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion can only run Mac App Store or Apple-signed applications by default. There is a master switch to switch between App Store-only, App Store+signed, and unrestricted (the current behaviour). In addition, you can force-install an application even if it violates the master switch.

However, this is all temporary, something to smooth us over.

In Mac OS X 10.9, the master switch and force-install will be ever harder to find or relegated to CLI commands - after which it is removed completely.

[Alladaskill17]

I'm bothered by the fact that fresh installs from the latest release will be nonexistent

Surely we will be able to burn and mount an .ISO or something?? I'm not too knowledgeable.

[Quillz]

I just installed Mountain Lion Preview 1, and it seems that by default, Gatekeeper does *NOT* disallow downloads from anywhere:

I haven't changed any settings in this panel at all yet, so it would appear I would manually have to enable Gatekeeper to only allow App Store downloads.

[PyX]

I don?t have many problems with that myself, as an end-user. The only thing I use that can potentially be filtered away from the App Store is Transmission.

But as a developer, sharing 30% of my profit to Apple is unacceptable.

[#Michael]

I'm bothered by the fact that fresh installs from the latest release will be nonexistent

I highly doubt this. As with Lion that is downloaded from the app store you can extract the install_esd.dmg from it and burn it to a dvd. From that it becomes a bootable dvd for fresh installs. One can only guess at this point that ML can be similar.

[Elliott]

I just installed Mountain Lion Preview 1, and it seems that by default, Gatekeeper does *NOT* disallow downloads from anywhere:

Did you update from Lion? I saw the same thing in my Security & Privacy panel, but I figured that was just because I upgraded.

[Shadrack]

I'm bothered by the fact that fresh installs from the latest release will be nonexistent

Huh? What are you reading that indicates this? The current Lion installation can be a "fresh install" and not an upgrade. You can copy the DMG to a DVD, or just use the recovery partition Lion sets up and no DVD is required. From the recovery partition you can do a complete wipe and "fresh install" so long as you have access to the Internet (the recovery partition itself is tiny, and does not have the OS X Lion install media so it downloads what it needs from the App Store and installs it for you).

The various installation methods that Apple has provided are smooth and give you the option to upgrade or you can format your drive and "fresh install". I don't see why they would ever go back to a system like you have with Windows "upgrade" versions requiring that an early Windows version be installed prior to the upgrade. There is no reason for them to take a large step back in doing this. What they are doing is moving away from optical media and I say: Thank God. Optical media needs to go away IMHO.

[Rudy]

I don?t have many problems with that myself, as an end-user. The only thing I use that can potentially be filtered away from the App Store is Transmission.

But as a developer, sharing 30% of my profit to Apple is unacceptable.

You will be able to apply for a free account and get a certificate to sign your app so anyone can run it. If at any point you release a piece of "malware" they'll revoke your certificate and all your apps will stop running.

I find it a good mid point between security and being able to run whatever you want

[Quillz]

Did you update from Lion? I saw the same thing in my Security & Privacy panel, but I figured that was just because I upgraded.

Nope, did a completely clean install on an external hard drive.