---
title: macOS (2025)
date:  2025-11-14
tags:  apple, desktop, operating system
tldr:  Trying to make the best of things
---

Apple’s macOS is in its Windows Vista era.

You’d think that the people in charge of design at Apple would remember the
Vista era. After all, the point of the "I’m a Mac" commercials[1] was to
ridicule Microsoft and their shitty operating system. Oh how the
turns tabled.

I’ve observed widespread dissatisaction about the state of computing in my
circles and it appears as if the Year of Desktop Linux is upon us. But I’d go so
far as to redeclare it as the **Era** of Desktop Linux. From my friend elle[2]’s
explorations with Linux to Valve announcing the Gabecube[3] (an open‑system from
a major company btw), and the prevalence of people empowered by 3D printing and
increased affordability of components to creating their own cyberdecks, it seems
like a great change is afoot.

I’m obsessed with the idea of user choice and customization so I’ve been working
on the technical feasability of such for systemSOFT[4].

Imagine if (nearly) every component of your operating system could
be swapped.

Take time, for instance; the default component would have your standard AM/PM or
24 hour configurability. Maybe you could even toggle adherence to Daylight
Saving Time.

Maybe you’re sick of the status quo so you swap it with Swatch/internet time.
But then, what would the Date Modified column look like in your directories? Or
you could mix and match.

Components would be required to have a CLI and API endpoints. GUI optional.

Anyhoo, more thinking is required to imagine what a "post‑desktop" interface
would look like. A personal data lake as the underlying store with epheremal
windows optimized for the content within, when you need it, is what I’m trying
to envision.

---

A few weeks ago I was trying to change icons on macOS via IconChamp but it
doesn’t work on macOS Tahoe. After doing some digging, I came upon a CLI called
fileicon[5] that allows for customizing file/folder icons. I then created a
script to recursively change all folder icons in a directory:

```sh
#!/bin/bash
# brew install fileicon
# chmod +x icons-in-folder.sh

if [ -z "$1" ]; then
  echo "Usage: $0 /path/to/folder [/path/to/icon.icns]"
  exit 1
fi

TARGET_DIR="$1"
ICON_PATH="${2:-/Users/netopwibby/Icons/DESKTOP/Mantia/Forstall Folders/Plain — Folder.icns}"

find "$TARGET_DIR" -type d -print0 | while IFS= read -r -d "" folder; do
  fileicon set "$folder" "$ICON_PATH"
done
```

You’ll have to change `ICON_PATH` to the **absolute** path of the default icon
you wish to use. I’m using the wonderful Forstall Folders[6] by Louie Mantia.
Also, this process is slow going but hey, at least I can kinda get the
functionality of IconChamp! That being said, you could probably replicate its UI
and easily wrap this script in a GUI. Maybe I’ll do that, who knows.

Thanks to damien[7], I learned of an app called Mousecape[8] that changes your
cursors[9] on macOS Tahoe!! Never heard of this app before. Unfortunately, the
default cursor doesn’t change for me but all the other ones do. YMMV

I would love if there was a way to replace Finder but that’s such an integral
part of macOS that it’s not possible. However, I’ve been trying to spend more
time inside of Marta[10], a native file manager for macOS. The only thing I
don’t like about it is that it only has list view and I have to restart the app
sometimes (because of Finder operations not reflecting in Marta).

---

I’m not giving up on MacBook but my Mac Studio is gonna be replaced with a Linux
box after I get a NAS to transfer all my stuff off it. The discomfort I feel
about using products of tech companies is offset by the work myself and others
are doing to make things better, a little bit at a time. I’m looking forward to
getting comfortable with Linux and dogfooding my computing hardware concepts. In
the meantime I’m just tryna make do with what I got. 🕸️

---

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=i'm+a+mac+i'm+a+pc+vista
[2]: https://ellesho.me/page/website/now/#serial-experiments
[3]: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/hardware
[4]: https://systemsoft.works
[5]: https://github.com/mklement0/fileicon
[6]: https://lmnt.me/blog/icons/forstall-folders.html
[7]: https://social.erambert.me/@eramdam/115511297442666179
[8]: https://github.com/AdamWawrzynkowskiGF/Mousecape-TahoeSupport/releases/tag/PreRelease-v01
[9]: https://primmr.dev/projects/wii-pointer-cursors
[10]: https://marta.sh