I've used my MacBook without an Apple ID for years and it works fine. When you install a fresh copy of MacOS, they don't force you into bullshit hoops like having to disconnect your WiFi or running some bat script just to get the option for a local account back. No, it just asks for a login and provides a button to skip it. You knows the exact same thing Windows used to do, but doesn't anymore.

I'm not sure what you mean by pretty dang unsupported. Everything I use the MacBook for as a software developer works great, no Apple account needed.

Agree. The only thing you need one for is the Mac App Store, but most software is either not on there to begin with or is also available directly from the developer's website (other than Safari extensions, which are mostly Mac App Store only). But not only does Apple not force you to sign in with an Apple ID, if you do it doesn't take over your account (i.e. Windows makes your email address your username and you sign in to Windows with your Microsoft account password). Allowing password reset with your Apple ID and uploading your FileVault key to iCloud are both optional (and they ask you instead of it being opt-out). And you can also choose to sign into just Apple Media Services (App Store, iTunes, etc), leaving iCloud signed out (or you can use different accounts for each).

When you set up a new mac or install a fresh copy it asks you to sign in/create an account once, you click no and it never asks you again.

It then asks you if you want to enable siri, you press no and you never see it again.

>If I recall correctly you can't install anything from the app store on an Mac/iPhone without an Apple account.

You can download Xcode using their site instead of the App store, but you still have to login to download the file. I guess there isn't anything preventing you from running the installer downloaded from another user's computer. Still as a developer you can install the command line tools through the terminal and then code in non apple languages without the app store.

I'd argue most users install standard applications (since this is a computer and not an idevice) which provides you a clear path to using the computer without ever having to make an account.

That does not answer your question, but i'd push back and say that Apple accounts dont really intrude on the user like Microsoft accounts do. You dont need to use it to login, you don't ever see it other than the app store or the setting menu, you can disable icloud and not even use that. Most importantly though like I mentioned there is still a path to avoiding it completely.

This is night and day difference from Windows where this entire thread is full of all the tricks Microsoft plays and really, people here are justifying registry hacks as if thats normal. Its not.

Mac is slowly probably following Microsoft, not the other way around. If Mac sinks into the nonsense that is Windows I'll have to go back to Linux (and eternally hate my life forever maybe after ~30 years of my life revolving around computing, I will rather give up computing than go back to Linux).

> Technically you can use an iPhone and Mac without an Apple (iCloud) account but it's pretty dang unsupported

That was the status quo on Windows Home. But there's a big difference between "pretty darn unsupported, expect random breakage in things like the M$ Store" and "we'll stop allowing you to do it at all".

If you don't use the app store, you can still install the xcode command line tools with the xcode-select command. I didn't bother signing in with an Apple account on my personal Mac.