But I still really don’t consider windows or Linux as legitimate alternatives because of the ecosystem log in.
Yes, macOS has its downsides. But what keeps me from even thinking about Linux are all these little niceties: - copy something on my iPhone, paste it on the Mac (still regularly leaves people speechless when they watch me do it: “what!? You can do that?”) - my watch unlocks my Mac - my desktop is always in my pocket, all files sync’ed per default, zero config - Start Reading something in safari, Hand it over to my iPhone in a second and walk out the door - All my browser tabs synced across my Mac, iPhone and iPad - I can curate my TV Watchlist on my Mac and it’s automatically available on my AppleTV when I get home that night
I could go on with dozens more of these little things that I can’t imagine living without anymore. I know that it’s probably possible to achieve most or all of this with a Linux/Android/Chromecast Setup. But every time I watch some of my friends do it, it just looks like so much work to set up and maintain.
The only argument I understand here is the joy of tinkering and that feeling of achievement when you get it to work in the end. Apple is a bit boring in that regard. A lot of the integration stuff just works (yeah, yeah, sure not all, but still more so than on any other platform I know).
I’m not 20 anymore and I just prefer to spend my time with other things these days than tweaking my OS.
So although I wish Apple would invest more into quality on macOS again, for me the walled garden just totally works, and I’ll stick with the lesser evil.