On the third DI Day, I am parting ways with Apple’s proprietary Maps app and switching to CoMaps as an alternative.1 After two confirmation prompts, the app was quickly removed from the phone. Screenshot of removing the Apple Maps app on iOS For quite some time, I have been frustrated with Apple, not just in terms of privacy and digital independence. It is also the steadily declining user experience. As an iPhone user since 2007, I was originally convinced by thoughtful details and clean design. Today, I see the same lack of care and the same aggressive data collection as with other big tech companies. Read more

From time to time I can’t avoid using Chromium. Of course without wanting to give it access to the system’s keystore. But what does Apple offer me to choose from every time I start an application: Is there a lack of capacity for the “Never allow” or “Always forbid” button? Of course not - not offering them is a deliberate design decision. Defect by Design and Default! Read more

Part II - Please Refuel and some new Bumpers Just in time for the new year, the revived Apple Macbook Pro with Debian from the first part is back on my desk. It served well in December. Now, it’s time for a pit-stop: Would you refuel and change bumpers, please? Battery Replacement after 12 years I was way off the mark with the expected endurance: I wrote something about 1.5 hours last month. Well this may have been 7 years ago when I last worked with it. Today the battery doesn’t last for even half an hour. Over Christmas at home on lockdown this is not a problem, though it is a nuisance as it was carefully but clearly pointed towards me. Read more

Rescue-Ops before Christmas Eve What is the worst-case scenario right before Christmas during a Corona Lockdown? Let’s leave zombie apocalypses, too little toilet paper or slow internet connections aside for a moment. Right! A broken laptop. Exactly such a call for help came to me this afternoon from my own circle of friends. I was asked if I had a spare notebook available shortly. Coincidentally, yes. An old mid-2009 Macbook Pro 13" has been hanging around in the corner for years. Too valuable to be thrown away, technically perfectly okay, but unfortunately no longer supported by Apple. There she is again, the planned obsolescence1. Read more

What a pity, this is exactly the scenario I first expected for Microsoft. But I’m not really surprised that Apple is now ahead, what happened? The ocsp.apple.com server was apparently down and/or unreachable between yesterday and today1. Unfortunately macOS tries to reach it every time an app is opened to check if a certificate has expired2 or an app has been retracted or some more magic. Of course this is not transparent, closed-source and therefore not verifiable. Read more