The iShittification of the Mac platform continues ... I predicted this a long time ago when Apple released its first Mac mini with soldered SSD. Then the ones with security chip. And now we have soldered RAM + SSD behind a custom SoC that can only run macOS (yes, it is a macOS only system despite the PR of "ARM Linux / xBSD on M1+" because all these are crippled version of OS that cannot fully exploit the hardware because there are no literature on it for system developers, and they have to literally reverse engineer at a slow pace to make the OS run on it).

As the hardware iShittification continued, macOS too was also being slowly stripped of features to ensure Apple controlled your data and what you could run on it. Support for independent Kernel extension (outside of Apple's control) was removed mainly to cripple existing independent Application Firewall and virtualisation software. Apple-made OS APIs for these were integrated to the newer macOS and offered as replacement to ensure Apple controlled how Application Firewalls and Virtualisations should / would work on macOS. (Such restriction on the kernel extensions for independent system developers is also meant to prevent support for other filesystem, like ZFS for example - the OpenZFS project is maturing fast on Linux, Windows and macOS and can be a game changer as its usage has the potential to "free" our data from a closed and controlling ecosystem, to be used on any platform of our choice.

Whether you are a developer or a user, a "consumer relationship" with Apple feels like a relationship with a controlling and abusive spouse who repeatedly gaslights you that you are imagining things and are the one at fault because "you just don't understand them".