> It's about who is in control.

Nail on the head. So long as the consumer does not have any power, we can be herded like cattle to wherever the devices we now depend on want us to go.

As an aside, perhaps you can help me remember the name of project? I think about a decade ago, now, someone was working on a completely modular smartphone. The idea behind it was that you purchased the base "frame" with the screen and rudimentary functionality, but then purchased modules based on your needs, to add things like wifi capability, cameras, speakers, etc. Perhaps more importantly, these all snapped into the back of the frame, which made them easy for even the casual user to install/uninstall functionality at-will.

Do you (or anyone reading) remember the name of that project?