Yes, I'm agreeing that Apple will/is driving away discriminating customers.
Apple is well aware that most of its recent customer growth, and almost all its future customer growth, is in iOS and similar walled gardens.
The Mac users are proving to happily accept greater restrictions on ability so long as their preferred tools continue to work. You state as much yourself: running unsigned software is surprising to you; as though that should be considered abnormal behaviour. Consumers of Mac products will happily accept greater restrictions if they can be convinced it brings quality; whether or not it is successful in doing so.
Apple can't just increase market share in the PC market, they have to do it with a walled garden? Pretty cool that you know where future growth is gonna come from before it happens.
Again, and for the final time, there has not been any restriction on ability. You can still run the things you've always been able to run. You just have to go through a warning first. That is not a restriction on ability. You know Windows does similar now, right?
Running unsigned software is not surprising to me at all. Running so much unsigned GUI software that it becomes restrictively annoying... is absolutely surprisingly. I guarantee you I run a lot more unsigned GUI apps than the vast majority of users, and it's still such a minor inconvenience I barely notice.
I didn't say they _have_ to use a walled garden; I'm claiming that they know how lucrative that approach is and how submissive their consumer base is, and so are likely to choose that path to pad their revenue.
It's not even a particularly bold prediction; it is completely in-line with their whole product tragectory.
You will accept OSX turning into iOS, and call it innovative, powerful and unburdened; because that's what Apple will call it.
Apple is well aware that most of its recent customer growth, and almost all its future customer growth, is in iOS and similar walled gardens.
The Mac users are proving to happily accept greater restrictions on ability so long as their preferred tools continue to work. You state as much yourself: running unsigned software is surprising to you; as though that should be considered abnormal behaviour. Consumers of Mac products will happily accept greater restrictions if they can be convinced it brings quality; whether or not it is successful in doing so.