> Dropbox has been willing to get their hands dirty in their pursuit of user-friendliness since day one, especially on the Mac¹.
Where Apple is providing zero of the APIs you typically find on more open platforms, like Linux and Windows.
Can't say I blame them. The other option would be to have a completely user-hostile installer and we all know how well they fare with the general public.
Installation these days has to be one click, or nothing at all. Otherwise you've lost your user.
> The other option would be to have a completely user-hostile installer
I'm unconvinced that a horrible installer is the only alternative, but even if it were, you are asserting that you see subverting OS security mechanisms and intentionally ignoring user intent as somehow not user-hostile?
From my perspective, DB was kinda nifty when it first came out. The gap has been filled by commodity software for folks who can deal with self-hosting, so I'm personally happy. For other people, everyone and their pets wants to offer us all seamless hosted storage; there's no need for a glorified rsync service to be this creepy, evasive and intrusive.
> Otherwise you've lost your user.
I remain unconvinced that the various actions linked in the above were all required for a nifty install experience. Indeed, some of them are only required for forcing "features" on users that many have repeatedly indicated they don't want, after that all-singing, all-dancing install experience is over.
Which, turns out, is a great way to lose your user.
Where Apple is providing zero of the APIs you typically find on more open platforms, like Linux and Windows.
Can't say I blame them. The other option would be to have a completely user-hostile installer and we all know how well they fare with the general public.
Installation these days has to be one click, or nothing at all. Otherwise you've lost your user.