I have no emotional attachment to any brand, and I suspect that you are projecting your own attachment by saying so. I simply want tools that take orders rather than give them. I want a system that gives me so much freedom that it will let me sudo rm rf myself. That is important to me on a pragmatic level (not an emotional one) because it is useful enough to me that it is non negotiable.

The usual line after this is "then just don't use Apple," and you'll be happy to learn that I don't and probably never will regardless of what changes they make. I am just baffled by the comments in here defending their behavior. Why subject yourself to this? Of all the brands to get attached to, why the one that makes it so obvious that they're milking you for every dollar they can get? If that answer is that you genuinely can't avoid getting malware unless you are physically prevented from doing so preemptively, then so be it, but I don't get it otherwise.