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These days, where is the lock-in? The core applications that I use (Firefox, Docker, VSCode, vim, ...) all work just as well on Linux, MacOS and Windows. I ha

These days, where is the lock-in? The core applications that I use (Firefox, Docker, VSCode, vim, ...) all work just as well on Linux, MacOS and Windows. I have a Mac, because it's (at least previously) been pretty secure by default, doesn't require me to invest a lot of time sysadmining my own box, and lets me dip into a healthy ecosystem of commercial software useful to my hobbies (like photography.) The software has definitely declined in quality, but not enough to massively annoy me. If there is lock-in, it's on the hardware side. I've got an early 2013 MBP, still going strong, a bit dented but it's been around the world with me a few times, so that's understandable. My workplace uses Dell XPS hardware, and that's good, but it still doesn't feel as solid to me. It's good, but it's not as good. I think the hardware is the laurel Apple has really been resting on. I could meet my main use cases on Linux quite happily, and dual-boot Windows for the rest. Right now the premium on Mac hardware, which only happily runs an increasingly decrepit operating system, isn't looking worth it. Previously, it was.

scjr 9y ago
While you don't believe you are locked in, I don't believe that you as a programmer "power user" are the majority that Apple cares about. I believe not only that for the majority of users there is a level of software lock-in, but further there is a high level of psychological lock-in, where users get used to and comfortable with Apple's design strength, which is Apple's main offering. As people get more comfortable and more older it is easy to say that people get more resistant to change.
zelos 9y ago
The lock in is definitely less, but for me: - Large iPhoto library - Easy syncing with multiple iPhones (notes, photos etc) - Xcode for iOS development
schuke 9y ago
I second this. The only feature that I can immediately think of that locks me in the mac eco-system is the convenience of airdropping files with my wife. Apart from this, with most of my stuff on the cloud, there won't even be a migration process if I decide to switch to Windows.
criddell 9y ago
The lock-in is Messages, at least for a lot of people.
- untog 9y ago
  I'd wager the number of people using Messages on macOS is really not that high. Most people are content to message using their phone. iMessage absolutely is a lock-in for iOS, though.
  - aeorgnoieang 9y ago
    Why's iMessage a lock-in? I have an iPhone but I wasn't aware I'd lose anything (significant) by switching to Android (or whatever).
    - mtpn 9y ago
      The biggest thing I lost in a similar switch was ANY old conversation with somebody who was an iMessage user. Where they reply to a conversation and think they are just texting you, but actually they are sending iMessages that you just aren’t receiving. Especially on, for example, family group texts, people just find the old conversation and continue it from the previous year or whatever. Lots of times when I was on windows phone or had iMessage switched off, I’d only get the parts of the conversation coming from non-iMessage users. A good example is random family members who use android texting me reactions to an original text or picture I didn’t get. It’s really dumb. Maybe there’s something I could have done about it in my own settings, but instead I ended up switching back to iPhone recently. Not just for that reason but it sure was nice to get messages properly again. But also more sensitive stuff like somebody sharing pictures of items related to planning a funeral.
      - stefantheard 9y ago
        I have also heard that if you complain and drill down enough in the support funnel on this issue that eventually the best answer will be "change your phone number". Now that's what you call lock in.
baldfat 9y ago
It's a mental lock in now a days. Most people don't realize but the vast majority of Video Editing was Windows based till about 2010 when Final Cut was considered best in class (I can't stand Final Cut myself but to each their own...) The vast majority of video editing is now Premier due to Apple's handling of Final Cut Pro and the lack of support for the Mac Pro (They usually sit in back rooms as expensive file servers) Also most people mentally think that somehow Apple is better for design but the software runs just as well on Windows. The iPhone and the money spent on software is what is keeping people these days. But whenever I talk with my friends they are certainly not thrilled and zealots of Macs anymore. The vast majority of my video editing friends are getting really frustrated with what they call the ceiling. Do you really want to be editing full time on a lap top? The Mac Pro isn't a real solution for full time editors.
- pault 9y ago
  It's also display quality. If you're doing design work you can use a MacBook pro and be pretty sure that the color is accurate with no calibration. If you switch platforms you have to sort out the enterprise and gaming displays, which have totally different selling points (price and responsiveness, respectively). Getting a good display and accurate color on a Windows machine requires a lot more knowledge and effort. This is definitely less true since Apple abandoned their display line (one more bit of evidence that Apple doesn't care about the professionals that established their brand anymore).
  - shados 9y ago
    Those Apple mirrors (err, thunderbolt displays) were definitely not close to color accurate. The macbooks are okay I guess? When I worked at a major printing company, they were not using Macs because people would THINK they were color accurate when they were very much not, and we had a bunch of calibrated Dell monitors around specifically for that purpose. So definitely more of an urban legend than anything. Apple displays are reasonable, they're decent IPS panels, but they're middle of the road if anything.
  - baldfat 9y ago
    I own my own calibrator. I calibrate every monitor I use for Video. I have never seen a accurate monitor in the wild yet. The funny thing is I can get a horrible cheap monitor to be calibrated in a dark room and it is better than anything not calibrated. People need to buy calibrators. I use the open source ColorHug it runs on Linux so I actually use a live cd and do the calibration. http://www.hughski.com/ http://www.hughski.com/
aduitsis 9y ago
Without directly disagreeing with your post, I think there is a slight OS lock-in, in the fact that the MS alternative is a horrible piece of burning wreckage. Anybody that had to put up with the autoupdate experience in Windows 10 (oh, you were doing something important? Never mind, I'll just hog your network in random intervals for like an hour without you having a way to stop me and then I'll take 2 hours to apply the patches before the reboot), can understand that Apple was playing without serious competition for some years now.
xtrimsky1234 9y ago
There are many lock-ins, first there is iMessage, second there are some apps that still work only on Mac OS X I don't remember the name of the software but I once was sent a design file and was only able to open it on a Mac OS X software (there was a windows alternative but it didn't allow me to edit the file as needed). Another example is XCode, you need a Mac to properly create iPhone apps. For programming, there are also issues with symbolic links on Windows. I personally prefer Windows, but as a software developer I had to buy a Mac, I grew tired of having to always power-on a Mac OS X virtual machine. My job is so much easier now then it was on windows.
delfinom 9y ago
iMessage is a huge lock-in for non-technical users. They are just obsessed with it on iOS. You can find tons of forum posts with people throwing fits that XYZ Android phone doesn't have iMessage.
- thedarkproject 9y ago
  This might me valid for the US. Anecdotally, where I live (Switzerland/central Europe) almost nobody uses iMessage, and WhatsApp is the big dominator.
  - pmontra 9y ago
    I used WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger and Skype on my phone in the past two hours. Obviously no iMessage because I'm on Android. Maybe my friends with an iPhone use only iMessage between them (I doubt it) but the network effect is all for WhatsApp and Messenger where I live (Italy). Probably nobody switches to Apple because of iMessage here, but it could be a lock in if you really use it.
  - emptyfile 9y ago
    I honestly don't think most iPhone owners in Europe even understand that iMessage is not SMS.
- macandcheese 9y ago
  I'm not sure the correlation is technical proficiency by itself, I think it's based upon a critical mass of your social circles using iMessage or not using iMessage. If you choose to, you can probably make a correlation between "technical savviness" and a user's choice between Android and Apple, but I don't think that is a deciding factor in who uses iMessage. The reason people throw fits is because the experience between a group messaging together on iMessage is exceptional - this experience breaks down when even one of your friends in the chat doesn't have an Apple product. They aren't able to send or receive the majority of the "chat add ons" iMessage provides. I'm sure making the bubbles green vs. blue only helps to stoke the "us vs. them" fire. I consider myself to be a reasonably technical user and still prefer to message with iMessage since I know the experience will be the same for everyone I'm chatting with. Yes, we _could_ all start using WhatsApp et al, but if 8/9 of our group message is on iMessage, why would we?
djhworld 9y ago
There are a few "quality of life" tools on OSX that I use, like Alfred that I haven't seen a Linux equivalent. But you're right, I could probably switch to Linux and be fairly happy.
- dnzm 9y ago
  As for Alfred replacement... How about [Albert](https://github.com/albertlauncher/albert https://github.com/albertlauncher/albert)?
qudat 9y ago
iMessages is the lock-in. It is the primary reason why I switched to the iPhone. I have the macbook pro, iphone, watch, airpods, and they all work pretty great together. It's a cohesive experience that is going to be really hard for me to break out of it.
acidburnNSA 9y ago
For photography on Linux you gotta check out Darktable. It's actually very very good as a Lightroom replacement for RAW workflow.
mcgarnagle 9y ago
Mac is also easier to use for non technical users. I bought my mom a Mac and she can plays with the "system preferences." Good luck showing her Control Panel on windows.
- criddell 9y ago
  The Apple Store is a huge deal for non-technical users as well. Apple's sales per square foot in their stores is really high. Having some place to take your computer to when you need help is extremely valuable for a lot of people. Why don't Samsung, Dell, Lenovo, and HP all have their own stores in every neighborhood that has an Apple store? Is the Apple store only successful because of the iPhone?
27182818284 9y ago
>These days, where is the lock-in? Photos, apps purchased, and iMessage are overwhelmingly the reasons I don't see people switch. All their kids photos, etc, are stored away and they'd have to figure out how to nicely export them. iMessage is seemless for them across devices while an alternative like Hangouts doesn't have the market penetration—it isn't ubiquitously used even among just Android users. Apps purchased I added to the list because often people don't think about it, but if you mention "re-buying all your apps" you see the frown appear on their face.
hellofunk 9y ago
I have a lot of software I bought on the App Stores for Mac and iOS, hundreds, maybe even over a thousand dollars' worth. If I switch platforms, I can't use that software any more.

scjr 9y ago

While you don't believe you are locked in, I don't believe that you as a programmer "power user" are the majority that Apple cares about. I believe not only that for the majority of users there is a level of software lock-in, but further there is a high level of psychological lock-in, where users get used to and comfortable with Apple's design strength, which is Apple's main offering. As people get more comfortable and more older it is easy to say that people get more resistant to change.

zelos 9y ago

The lock in is definitely less, but for me: - Large iPhoto library - Easy syncing with multiple iPhones (notes, photos etc) - Xcode for iOS development

schuke 9y ago

I second this. The only feature that I can immediately think of that locks me in the mac eco-system is the convenience of airdropping files with my wife. Apart from this, with most of my stuff on the cloud, there won't even be a migration process if I decide to switch to Windows.

criddell 9y ago

The lock-in is Messages, at least for a lot of people.

untog 9y ago
I'd wager the number of people using Messages on macOS is really not that high. Most people are content to message using their phone. iMessage absolutely is a lock-in for iOS, though.
- aeorgnoieang 9y ago
  Why's iMessage a lock-in? I have an iPhone but I wasn't aware I'd lose anything (significant) by switching to Android (or whatever).
  - mtpn 9y ago
    The biggest thing I lost in a similar switch was ANY old conversation with somebody who was an iMessage user. Where they reply to a conversation and think they are just texting you, but actually they are sending iMessages that you just aren’t receiving. Especially on, for example, family group texts, people just find the old conversation and continue it from the previous year or whatever. Lots of times when I was on windows phone or had iMessage switched off, I’d only get the parts of the conversation coming from non-iMessage users. A good example is random family members who use android texting me reactions to an original text or picture I didn’t get. It’s really dumb. Maybe there’s something I could have done about it in my own settings, but instead I ended up switching back to iPhone recently. Not just for that reason but it sure was nice to get messages properly again. But also more sensitive stuff like somebody sharing pictures of items related to planning a funeral.
    - stefantheard 9y ago
      I have also heard that if you complain and drill down enough in the support funnel on this issue that eventually the best answer will be "change your phone number". Now that's what you call lock in.

baldfat 9y ago

It's a mental lock in now a days. Most people don't realize but the vast majority of Video Editing was Windows based till about 2010 when Final Cut was considered best in class (I can't stand Final Cut myself but to each their own...) The vast majority of video editing is now Premier due to Apple's handling of Final Cut Pro and the lack of support for the Mac Pro (They usually sit in back rooms as expensive file servers) Also most people mentally think that somehow Apple is better for design but the software runs just as well on Windows. The iPhone and the money spent on software is what is keeping people these days. But whenever I talk with my friends they are certainly not thrilled and zealots of Macs anymore. The vast majority of my video editing friends are getting really frustrated with what they call the ceiling. Do you really want to be editing full time on a lap top? The Mac Pro isn't a real solution for full time editors.

pault 9y ago
It's also display quality. If you're doing design work you can use a MacBook pro and be pretty sure that the color is accurate with no calibration. If you switch platforms you have to sort out the enterprise and gaming displays, which have totally different selling points (price and responsiveness, respectively). Getting a good display and accurate color on a Windows machine requires a lot more knowledge and effort. This is definitely less true since Apple abandoned their display line (one more bit of evidence that Apple doesn't care about the professionals that established their brand anymore).
- shados 9y ago
  Those Apple mirrors (err, thunderbolt displays) were definitely not close to color accurate. The macbooks are okay I guess? When I worked at a major printing company, they were not using Macs because people would THINK they were color accurate when they were very much not, and we had a bunch of calibrated Dell monitors around specifically for that purpose. So definitely more of an urban legend than anything. Apple displays are reasonable, they're decent IPS panels, but they're middle of the road if anything.
- baldfat 9y ago
  I own my own calibrator. I calibrate every monitor I use for Video. I have never seen a accurate monitor in the wild yet. The funny thing is I can get a horrible cheap monitor to be calibrated in a dark room and it is better than anything not calibrated. People need to buy calibrators. I use the open source ColorHug it runs on Linux so I actually use a live cd and do the calibration. http://www.hughski.com/ http://www.hughski.com/

aduitsis 9y ago

Without directly disagreeing with your post, I think there is a slight OS lock-in, in the fact that the MS alternative is a horrible piece of burning wreckage. Anybody that had to put up with the autoupdate experience in Windows 10 (oh, you were doing something important? Never mind, I'll just hog your network in random intervals for like an hour without you having a way to stop me and then I'll take 2 hours to apply the patches before the reboot), can understand that Apple was playing without serious competition for some years now.

xtrimsky1234 9y ago

There are many lock-ins, first there is iMessage, second there are some apps that still work only on Mac OS X I don't remember the name of the software but I once was sent a design file and was only able to open it on a Mac OS X software (there was a windows alternative but it didn't allow me to edit the file as needed). Another example is XCode, you need a Mac to properly create iPhone apps. For programming, there are also issues with symbolic links on Windows. I personally prefer Windows, but as a software developer I had to buy a Mac, I grew tired of having to always power-on a Mac OS X virtual machine. My job is so much easier now then it was on windows.

delfinom 9y ago

iMessage is a huge lock-in for non-technical users. They are just obsessed with it on iOS. You can find tons of forum posts with people throwing fits that XYZ Android phone doesn't have iMessage.

thedarkproject 9y ago
This might me valid for the US. Anecdotally, where I live (Switzerland/central Europe) almost nobody uses iMessage, and WhatsApp is the big dominator.
- pmontra 9y ago
  I used WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger and Skype on my phone in the past two hours. Obviously no iMessage because I'm on Android. Maybe my friends with an iPhone use only iMessage between them (I doubt it) but the network effect is all for WhatsApp and Messenger where I live (Italy). Probably nobody switches to Apple because of iMessage here, but it could be a lock in if you really use it.
- emptyfile 9y ago
  I honestly don't think most iPhone owners in Europe even understand that iMessage is not SMS.
macandcheese 9y ago
I'm not sure the correlation is technical proficiency by itself, I think it's based upon a critical mass of your social circles using iMessage or not using iMessage. If you choose to, you can probably make a correlation between "technical savviness" and a user's choice between Android and Apple, but I don't think that is a deciding factor in who uses iMessage. The reason people throw fits is because the experience between a group messaging together on iMessage is exceptional - this experience breaks down when even one of your friends in the chat doesn't have an Apple product. They aren't able to send or receive the majority of the "chat add ons" iMessage provides. I'm sure making the bubbles green vs. blue only helps to stoke the "us vs. them" fire. I consider myself to be a reasonably technical user and still prefer to message with iMessage since I know the experience will be the same for everyone I'm chatting with. Yes, we _could_ all start using WhatsApp et al, but if 8/9 of our group message is on iMessage, why would we?

djhworld 9y ago

There are a few "quality of life" tools on OSX that I use, like Alfred that I haven't seen a Linux equivalent. But you're right, I could probably switch to Linux and be fairly happy.

dnzm 9y ago
As for Alfred replacement... How about [Albert](https://github.com/albertlauncher/albert https://github.com/albertlauncher/albert)?

qudat 9y ago

iMessages is the lock-in. It is the primary reason why I switched to the iPhone. I have the macbook pro, iphone, watch, airpods, and they all work pretty great together. It's a cohesive experience that is going to be really hard for me to break out of it.

acidburnNSA 9y ago

For photography on Linux you gotta check out Darktable. It's actually very very good as a Lightroom replacement for RAW workflow.

mcgarnagle 9y ago

Mac is also easier to use for non technical users. I bought my mom a Mac and she can plays with the "system preferences." Good luck showing her Control Panel on windows.

criddell 9y ago
The Apple Store is a huge deal for non-technical users as well. Apple's sales per square foot in their stores is really high. Having some place to take your computer to when you need help is extremely valuable for a lot of people. Why don't Samsung, Dell, Lenovo, and HP all have their own stores in every neighborhood that has an Apple store? Is the Apple store only successful because of the iPhone?

27182818284 9y ago

>These days, where is the lock-in? Photos, apps purchased, and iMessage are overwhelmingly the reasons I don't see people switch. All their kids photos, etc, are stored away and they'd have to figure out how to nicely export them. iMessage is seemless for them across devices while an alternative like Hangouts doesn't have the market penetration—it isn't ubiquitously used even among just Android users. Apps purchased I added to the list because often people don't think about it, but if you mention "re-buying all your apps" you see the frown appear on their face.

hellofunk 9y ago

I have a lot of software I bought on the App Stores for Mac and iOS, hundreds, maybe even over a thousand dollars' worth. If I switch platforms, I can't use that software any more.