"FreeFileSync is damaged and can't be opened"

[camner]

I just upgraded from macOS Monterey to Ventura, and FFS no longer opens.

Screenshot 2023-09-27 at 3.52.31 PM.png (196.48 KiB) Viewed 2004 times

I redownloaded the Donation Edition and reinstalled it, but I still get the same error message. I am running FFS 13.0.

Any thoughts about how to fix this?

[camner]

Aaah...never mind! It was a security issue. Apparently FFS is not from a "known developer," and instead of giving a straightforward error message to that effect (the way previous OSs did) in Ventura Apple just says the app is "damaged." On the Privacy and Security section of System Settings I had the option of "Open anyway." Bah, humbug!

[xCSxXenon]

It amazes me how popular Apple still is when they are the most anti-consumer and anti-convenience developers ever... smh

[Zenju]

It amazes me how popular Apple still is when they are the most anti-consumer and anti-convenience developers ever... smh

Apple's audacity and indifference is mind-boggling. The wording of their error messages is brazen and ludicrous:

FreeFileSync is damaged and can't be opened. You should move it to the Trash.

Translation: The download time attribute of the package was lost during the OS update. In other words, we, Apple, fucked up, (but would never admit this). Therefore we cannot verify the file's origin. So let's just lie to the users and tell the package is "damaged" when it's really not, and to add insult to injury, tell the user to throw the installer into the trash, because "fuck the developer", we're Apple and get away with whatever we like on our platform.
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Similarly: viewtopic.php?t=10285

The installer encountered an error that caused the installation to fail. Contact the software manufacturer for assistence.

Translation: We, Apple, assume developer time is absolutely worthless, so let's shift blame, and insinuate the problem is caused by the developer's app and let them do the support work for free. Also, we give so little shit about this problem, that we cannot be bothered to show a single error code or message. Let's waste as much developer time as we can, because: Eff them for using a manual installer and not paying our App Store ransom!

[camner]

It amazes me how popular Apple still is when they are the most anti-consumer and anti-convenience developers ever... smh

I agree wholeheartedly that Apple is “anti-consumer, and anti convenience." I would only quibble with describing it as “the most“…

It seems to me that there is a pattern that we see repeatedly, not only in the tech world, but very prominently in the tech world. A company starts out making products or providing services that really are breakthrough, and really help consumers. They are successful to the point that over time they are able to establish themselves as a quasi-monopoly. At that point, they start using their market dominance to maximize profits, and at that point the interest of consumers (and developers, in the case of Apple) be damned.

The history of Tech provides a number of examples. Back in the 80s and early 90s, Microsoft so dominated with their OS that they could, and did engage in all kinds of anticompetitive behavior that made it virtually impossible for anyone else to compete successfully in the browser space.

Do you remember the days when google really was a good search engine which discreetly put a few ads on the right side of the screen? Today, pretty much no matter what you search for, the results you get are dominated by ads for something or another, and you may have to go several pages deep to actually get the information you want, if you can find it at all. Google’s sole reason for existing, it seems, is to get consumer, eyeballs on ads, for which Google is richly rewarded.

For many years, searching for something on Amazon actually took you to products that were closely related to what you searched for. now, on Amazon, you can use an incredibly narrow search, tailored to what you really want, only to be presented with a large number of “sponsored“ listings for items that may be totally unrelated to what you searched for. They, too, are using the consumer as a way to earn ad revenue.

Unfortunately, when these companies get so big and so dominant, it is very difficult for anyone else to break in to the market, Unfortunately, when these companies get so big and so dominant, it is very difficult for anyone else to break in to the market, so since the price to the consumer of a banding, the anticompetitive company is at best, inconvenience, and at worst, and inability to accomplish what they want. An example of this is “the company formerly known as Twitter.“ How many times have I read recently about folks who say that they really want to quit Twitter, but it’s the only platform that has the reach that they need?

The European Union is much more aggressive than the US in trying to regulate this kind of anti-consumer behavior, but to be honest, I have no idea whether that is actually effective or not. One example of possible effectiveness is that the EU required that phones have a USB-C charging port, and so Apple finally implemented that with the iPhone 15. But then, I’ve read, apparently they provided a crippled, USB-C port, which they certainly didn’t need to do.

[xCSxXenon]

You are correct! As soon as I said that, I remembered the feature-creep that Windows 11 is experiencing, painting Microsoft in the same light. I despise feature-creep and forced "innovation", leading to bloat and products that do everything 'kind of' and nothing well