To be fair, Chromebooks require a Google account, which I agree should be completely optional for the user. Beyond that though, there's very little dependence

To be fair, Chromebooks require a Google account, which I agree should be completely optional for the user. Beyond that though, there's very little dependence on Google for apps. The web store opens in a browser window and (if someone were to create one) could easily go to a different store. Likewise, Android-compatible Chromebooks can use Aptoide same as any other compatible Android device (although Android should be looked at too IMHO - I should at least have the option to say "I trust X app store in addition to Google Play" without removing un-named sources protection altogether. Likewise iPhone.).