Document: WM-077                                                 P. Webb
Category: Operating Systems                                   2025.11.14

                              macOS (2025)

Abstract

   Trying to make the best of things

Body

   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:

   

   #!/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. 🕸️