>I pay for the walled garden.

Good for you. If non-Apple people didn't need to communicate with Apple people, there is no issue. But that's not how things work obviously.

Apple is INTENTIONALLY making it difficult for non-Apple people to work with Apple people. My mom is 100% apple, and she literally has problems receiving texts from non-apple phones. She wants me to buy apple products just to make it easier to talk with her!

If you don't see what they are doing you are just plugging your ears and going "lalalala"