> But Mac has always been a platform for freedom and control.

My impress has always been the opposite: MacOS is "opinionated", and the user can either accept the Apple way of doing UI or can take a hike.

MacOS has offered token customization, such as allowing the user to change the color of menu bar highlights, but any substantive change required 3rd party intervention, which would inevitably cease to function at the next upgrade.

These days the OS is even more locked down, making it all but impossible to modify OS files.