> This screen shot shows the login screen. It displays a graphical list of users that can login on this system. (Interestingly Windows XP does something similar)
> Being based on BSD Unix, MacOS X inherits many useful unix features such as real security and user accounts.
> This means that, for example, you can create a special account for someone else to play games and don't have to worry about them deleting system files, accessing your personal files, or changing system setting.
> This can be somewhat confusing to users who are used to having complete control over their systems in earlier versions of MacOS. To do things like install software you must be logged in as the Administrator. While this can be annoying it prevents users from accidentally messing up their system or from malicious programs or viruses that could otherwise infect the system. There is also a hidden "root" account that has slightly more privileges than the Administrator, but this is rarely needed.
Reading this now in 2023 it seems laughably primitive, but I remember the mass confusion at the time! Very similar thing happened with Vista. When old people like me pine for the simpler days of yore, it's hard to imagine just how much simpler those times were (mostly in a good way!)
I love modern Linux and use it on my family PC and it's great having full multi-user tooling for my kids to have their own spaces with no root, but I do fondly remember the days before user accounts were a thing on your PC. Not to mention how open and interopable things were. Those days don't come back
What we were just barely starting to grasp then was that, among the “other users” we need to be protected from, were the software vendors themselves.
In other words, I am not a single user; the combination of me and various groupings of binaries are the user, and they must be carefully isolated. And now, it turns out I want still another layer of protection too (e.g. multiple browser profiles/containers).
Back then, most people were still on dialup internet. It was still relatively rare that software would record everything about us and report all of it to HQ. We used to call software like this “spyware”, which isn’t really a word that even exists anymore.
The idea for the need for something like Qubes OS would’ve been completely alien.
Yes great point and very true. I don't think we have complexity for complexities sake, there are real problems we are solving. It's sad that we have to protect ourselves from software vendors, but you're right we absolutely do. The simplicity of the past was based on something that is no longer (probably never was but that's another discussion) true, which is that code the user is running is running with consent of and on behalf of the user.
What kind of interoperability are we talking about? Not between platforms, surely? Because I don't remember that being in good shape up until maybe 15 years ago.
> Being based on BSD Unix, MacOS X inherits many useful unix features such as real security and user accounts.
> This means that, for example, you can create a special account for someone else to play games and don't have to worry about them deleting system files, accessing your personal files, or changing system setting.
> This can be somewhat confusing to users who are used to having complete control over their systems in earlier versions of MacOS. To do things like install software you must be logged in as the Administrator. While this can be annoying it prevents users from accidentally messing up their system or from malicious programs or viruses that could otherwise infect the system. There is also a hidden "root" account that has slightly more privileges than the Administrator, but this is rarely needed.
Reading this now in 2023 it seems laughably primitive, but I remember the mass confusion at the time! Very similar thing happened with Vista. When old people like me pine for the simpler days of yore, it's hard to imagine just how much simpler those times were (mostly in a good way!)
I love modern Linux and use it on my family PC and it's great having full multi-user tooling for my kids to have their own spaces with no root, but I do fondly remember the days before user accounts were a thing on your PC. Not to mention how open and interopable things were. Those days don't come back