> If the latest product seems good, buy it. If not, don’t.
There is another aspect to this though. As a user of an ecosystem, you're committed in many ways. As Apple or Microsoft or Google releases a new version of their operating system you're going to run that on hardware you already own. You're going to run software that you already own on that the OS. And you're doing to use skills and knowledge of that software to accomplish something useful.
In some ways it doesn't matter if the product is good or bad -- you're pretty committed. You're going to be willing to suffer some pain because the alternative is too difficult and too expensive. The only thing you really can do is complain.
To be honest I sometimes feel that my aversion to getting looked into an ecosystem is actually a detriment in some ways. I have a horrible mishmash of apps and programs and nothing integrates really well long term (story of life on a Linux desktop, really). Maybe life would really be better if I just hand over control and become a true believer!
I used to go through phases where I would try this. I gave Windows + WSL a shot. I gave embracing the Apple ecosystem a shot. I gave GNOME a shot. I gave KDE a shot. I was even crazy enough to give ChromeOS as my daily driver a shot. And so on and so forth.
I found every single time that it just wasn't worth it. There was always some critical failure that was either completely underlooked or a 20 year old bug/shortcoming that had every patch to fix it rejected. I genuinely don't understand how people tolerate the dogshit being forcefed to you on all of these controlled platforms. People say that everything is getting worse, and it's true, but it's also true that you're actively choosing to use the things that are getting worse.
I've eventually settled on NixOS and XFCE so I can tweak things to my particular needs while also benefiting from an army of unpaid labor continually improving nixpkgs and other flakes. This setup isn't perfect, but I've optimized for maximal comfort & utility while exerting minimal effort & time. Things really only break when they're self-updating under the hood, which thankfully is rather rare in nixpkgs.
I love how contradictory this comment is. "There was always some critical failure... this setup isn't perfect... things really only break when..."
Everybody has different needs and something you don't care about on Windows or Mac or Gnome might be critically important for someone else.
There's nothing contradictory here. Not once do I say that I've found the best solution. I merely reached a point where more effort & time spent on this problem will only give me a worse solution. And of course this is merely for myself and everybody has different needs. I never claimed otherwise. The crux of the issue is that we all disagree on what's good and bad, what's necessary and pointless, and too many people are just willingly accepting what's being given to them even if it's worse by their own metrics.
I used to use i3. Even now I've mostly moved to Cinnamon via KDE (which I abandoned as Plasma made my laptop fans spin too much, maybe user error? I never solved it) I haven't "settled" on anywhere and never really felt either was good enough to commit to. Obviously you don't have to commit, but you end up kind of unmoored. Especially as a lot of GNOME apps seem somewhat lacking so I often end up using, say, Okular or XReader rather than Evince, or CuteCom rather than whatever the GNOME serial terminal is. And I also gave up on vim as an editor so I don't really even have a "home" editor other than VS Code which is just kind of default. Plus a bunch of Windows only industrial and East Asian software the only works via a VM which is pretty clunky.
I used to use Macs at work and while I never really loved the experience (and certainly not that of fiddling with kernel drivers) and write keenly felt the metaphorical guards watching from the towers, it really did feel like a thought-through experience for a normal computer user.
I've tried this on various platforms (Microsoft, Linux, Apple)... the only one that does it the least worst is Apple. And you get a bunch of other stuff with it, too. Linux is nigh impossible, and the feeling I get with Microsoft is I'm being exploited.
I’m a long time Apple user. But I never do anything that locks me into Apple in a way that makes me dependent on Apple. I could move to Linux tomorrow and everything I depend on would be fine. There’s no Apple service I actually need.
I think Google and Android is worse in this way. The backup Android I had years ago forced me to login with my Gmail or I couldn’t use it. My old iPhone happily runs without being logged in. I just lose the cloud features. Whatever.
That may be true for you but it's not true for many people, like me.
I have twenty years of iPhone data, eg messages, apps, etc. I can't easily move to some other phone.
A desktop, maybe, but I'd still have to repurchase or find alternates to a bunch of software. It is far, far better if the existing system _stays useful_.
>It is far, far better if the existing system _stays useful_
I doubt anyone is arguing the opposite. The point of the parent is that the system staying useful and not turning hostile on your usecase is not under your control or something you can personally prevent, and until that magically changes it's best to structure your use case to be least affected by things not in your control.
"twenty years"? Wasn't the iPhone released in 2007?
I think rounding over 18 years up to 20 is reasonable.
I've used my past several Android phones without signing into a Google account or using gapps. I pick something with LineageOS support (usually OnePlus stuff) and get it from eBay, update to latest stock firmware (gets newer baseband and such) then flash LineageOS over it and get my apps from F-Droid.
These, “just change the firmware” comments are silly. I should get basic phone functionality from my phone out of the box with exactly ZERO effort.
I can use an iPhone without an Apple account. I cannot use an Android phone without a Google account unless they changed that in the last few years.
Both Android and iphones require an account to download apps I believe. Am I mistaken here? Other than that they can be used in the same way without accounts. In fact, with Android an email account suffices and giving your phone number is "opt-in". Apple forces you to give your phone number to create an account last time I checked. Also no F-droid on iphones? But the iphone is the better "phone" experience because there is less bloat and UI nagging.
Android does not require an account to download apps, as grandparent pointed out.
I haven't "signed in" to Android phone in 10 years.
You absolutely can use Android without a Google account. I have a device like that currently. You won't get the play store and some other features, but I believe that is also true of Apple (at least was of it isn't any more)
The other aspect with setting up third party firmware as a general "don't like the stock OS? then do this" option for many is besides the big headline limitations like safetynet/attestation, it also either involves a benevolent third party setting up and maintaining builds for your device (hope you bought a popular model) and any changes match what you want, or individuals doing so themselves
You can, but you don't get access to the app store.
What are you going to do with all your Mac hardware?
Throw it in the bin?
Doesn’t your hardware lock you in?
What? I can and have accessed everything I need on Linux. If you make sure none of your data is locked in, the hardware is just a computer. Absolute worst case, get a new computer.
No. You can always export your files and your passwords etc.
... That's theft protection, and iphones have similar mechanisms. You do not need to sign in, even to a pixel, to use it. Granted you won't get the app store, but you don't get that on iphone either.
This isn't true when literally everywhere else outside of Apple, and only a problem if you are deep in their ecosystem. Why? Open standards, nothing proprietary and closed and fuck you all.
I have phone that's from Samsung, earplugs from Sennheiser, thinking about buying watch from Garmin (Fenix 8 pro), have chargers and powerbanks from Anker, laptop from Dell.
Bluetooth, USBC and other standards. Its beyond good enough for me, and I can switch each component for a better one from another company if I want (apart from those Sennheisers, no company makes better sounding earplugs and they integrate flawlessly for my needs).
Forerunner 955 is a lot cheaper (can still be bought new from Garmin) and does most of what the Fenix does !
And it's lighter
You don't have to update the OS. And no, you won't have any security issues as a personal computer user.