DHCP is a small part of network configurations. Enterprise, education, government, they all need Network Locations. Moving from one network to another, where proxy configs are different, 802.1x certs are required, VLAN tagging, and many more need to be reconfigured every time you roam onto another network. This is especially needed now people are hybrid working - you'll need the VLAN and proxy configs when in the office, and off when working remotely.
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Apple Removes Network Locations Feature in macOS Ventura
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I use network locations all the time! I've got setups for home, various offices, going completely offline, and more. It's going to be really annoying if there's no easy way to pre-configure and switch things like search domains, static/dynamicIP addresses, 802.1x certificates, and service order. 
Back in the Mac OS 9 days, the location manager could even change the default printer and some other stuff!
Back in the Mac OS 9 days, the location manager could even change the default printer and some other stuff!
The bizarre and unfriendly settings for my daughter's university made the use of this feature mandatory if you wanted to use wifi elsewhere!
No idea what is gained by it going.
No idea what is gained by it going.
No need to include two entire copies of the article's content with your post - we can all read the original article.
Uh, perhaps you've never bothered to look at the Network panel in System Preferences? It's literally the first thing there, front and center.
What I mean is - it’s not exactly clear what it is. I’ve seen it thousands of times over that last who knows how many years, but I never understood it meant creating a new profile of sorts to set up different network configurations. I just assumed it meant it was automatically picking best network and I just… left it at that.
That’s disappointing. I use it very often whenever I connect to my cabled network vs WiFi, to switch to a profile which marks WiFi interface as inactive to really make sure everything goes via cabled interface.
The normal Automatic setting is quite bad. Regardless of what Service Order I select (Thunderbolt Ethernet -> WiFi), it either doesn’t respect it, is buggy, or I don’t understand what it’s meant to do.
My use case is:
* be on WiFi network at home and connected to my local NAS via SMB
* Plug in to 10Gb/s home network via a Thunderbolt adapter
* even though my Service Order is to always prioritise Thunderbolt Ethernet, macOS keeps the session open on the WiFi interface. Not only that, it’s doing a bunch of other crap still via the WiFi interface and not respecting the service order (can check via nettop)
* Imagine my surprise when, even after plugging in, my upload to NAS was going at 50MB/s when it should be going at around 1GB/s.
* one option is to simply turn off WiFi, but the network tools are so bad that they often just totally forget my predefined settings if the location profile is Automatic.
* Best option I found is to normally use the Automatic location, and when I plug in to my cabled network, switch to a location where I mark the WiFi interface as inactive.
The normal Automatic setting is quite bad. Regardless of what Service Order I select (Thunderbolt Ethernet -> WiFi), it either doesn’t respect it, is buggy, or I don’t understand what it’s meant to do.
My use case is:
* be on WiFi network at home and connected to my local NAS via SMB
* Plug in to 10Gb/s home network via a Thunderbolt adapter
* even though my Service Order is to always prioritise Thunderbolt Ethernet, macOS keeps the session open on the WiFi interface. Not only that, it’s doing a bunch of other crap still via the WiFi interface and not respecting the service order (can check via nettop)
* Imagine my surprise when, even after plugging in, my upload to NAS was going at 50MB/s when it should be going at around 1GB/s.
* one option is to simply turn off WiFi, but the network tools are so bad that they often just totally forget my predefined settings if the location profile is Automatic.
* Best option I found is to normally use the Automatic location, and when I plug in to my cabled network, switch to a location where I mark the WiFi interface as inactive.
Or you could use Keyboard Maestro to make the changes for you, using location as a trigger for which one to choose.
MacOS has been invaded by 2 different factions: the iPhone/iPad group who want to make MacOS resemble iOS, and the linuxheads who think that everyone should do everything using only the command line.
Since internet access (over Wi-Fi, Cellular networks or, sometimes, LAN) with automatic configuration and a DHCP has become the norm. Select wireless network, enter password, hit OK - and you're done and fully configured - that's reality.
I can totally believe that - cause we're not living in the age of dialup connections anymore. And enterprises are using MDM/configuration profile settings - not manually adjusting stuff in system preferences or telling their users to do it.
I've definitely seen it on Linux.
And if you made a poll, there's hundreds of "best features" that would rank ahead of it.
MacOS has been invaded by 3 different factions: the iPhone/iPad group who want to make MacOS resemble iOS, the the linuxheads who think that everyone should do everything using only the command line, and the Windows-heads who think that every niche and arcane needs to have its own GUI setting built into the operating system - and don't you dare take away anything that's been sitting there for 20 years.
Yes, a DHCP-provisioned WiFi environment is the most common thing one might find, but it's absolutely not the only environment out there, and Apple has had a good history of supporting things that professionals needed, like good/easy support for a wide variety of networks. I've made good use of this feature in the past, working in widely divergent networking environments. Supporting only the most common default screams, "dumbing down the fully capable professional setup to consumer level", asking users to contact their (presumed) support department rather than being able to adapt to the environment on their own. It's a loss. Might not be the most problematic change ever, but it's annoying and doesn't seem like it's buying any huge benefit in trade (one less dropdown, in a preferences menu that most will never look at).
Sure, or more realistically, there is often only 1 that completely dominates. Windows completely dominates the desktop, with macOS a minor player. Linux dominates internet servers, and completely and utterly dominates super computers. Android for mobile, although iOS is significant, especially in richer countries.
But we've also seen over and over again that the dominant platform can get complacent and get knocked off the shelf. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking IBM, Blackberry, and Nokia for a start.
As a Mac and iPhone user, I love them, and hate them. I love the user friendliness. And I love the power user capabilities of macOS with it being built on *nix underneath, and having access to the *nix terminal command line. But I find it constantly frustrating how each successive release of macOS removes some of the power features. I don't know if it is meant to "protect" the non-power users from themselves, or if it's pure control freakiness, or if it's simply laziness to have to maintain such features, or if those features are being removed into a paid-for product. Whatever it is, it's exasperating. And iOS, sheesh, the walled garden is super annoying. As is the complete lock down and removal of access to the most basic of the underlying *nix features. For example, even a decent file system FFS. And it mostly just gets progressively worse, year after year.
And what are the alternatives. Windows, not thanks. Linux, sure a decent power-user option, but clunky and lacking in many ways. Android, gah, I tried it, but it's mess.
All it will take, is some nerdy billionaire, or his nerdy kid, who has similar thoughts, and puts together a dream team to create an alternative, with all the great things about the Apple hardware-OS combination, but without the locked down, control freak, profit greedy, annoyances. Maybe throw in genuine care about the environment, rather than empty virtue signalling, with genuine repairability and upgradeability. And boom, Apple suddenly has a big problem, and has to start cutting its profit margins, and killing its most greedy practices to simply survive.
Yet more cripling of Mac OS to dumb it down to the level of iOS.
I hate iOS.
Way back when I bough my first iPhone - the iPhone 5 - a lack of configurable network profiles was one of my initial complaints as I needed different profiles for home vs work. My previous three Nokias on Symbian OS could do it...
I hate iOS.
Way back when I bough my first iPhone - the iPhone 5 - a lack of configurable network profiles was one of my initial complaints as I needed different profiles for home vs work. My previous three Nokias on Symbian OS could do it...
it is the linuxheads who want people to use the command line for everything including using command line to configure a GUI. Recent Microsoft certification training includes doing many more things in Powershell. In their enterprise products, there are things that require using Powershell. No, I don't see how "Windows-heads" are any different from linuxheads.
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The same complaint has been made about the internet since AOL unleashed the hordes upon it.
Don't forget one of Steve's stated objectives was to make a computer for everyone.
There was definitely a golden age of computing that has long passed. Reddit was excellent at one time.
This is just a pattern, it happens over and over, this is at least the fifth wave.
But yeah, it's getting progressively worse.
There has to be some balance, somehow. We can't just say only the elite are allowed to use the Internet, as much as we might like to and are certain that we ourselves would make the cut.
The problem is largely corporatism right now, and I agree with you that Stallman was indeed essentially right. But he's an extreme example, there's got to be a middle ground.
This is demonstrably untrue given the output of iStat menus, but whatever, keep defending Apple's iOS-ification of macOS.
Actually, imagine to securely set up your home network and then go to work or use vpns: this feature is definitely what you need not to mess up things with your network settings. A life saver.
Unless anyone believes it’s enough to access a wifi network and be safe… no kidding!
Conversely, I used it today (before seeing this thread). I've submitted feedback asking it to be retained in OS 13, and I encourage any other users of the feature to do the same.