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iQuit: My Hellish Attempt to Leave Apple’s Walled Garden

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Re: iQuit: My Hellish Attempt to Leave Apple’s Walled Garden

#31
post #25
post #22

> It wasn’t always difficult to migrate between computing platforms. During the heyday of the PC, jumping from a Dell or Compaq to a Macintosh, and vice versa, was relatively easy, because users had almost unrestricted access to their own files, most of which could be counted on to work across different brands. > That portability largely ended in the mobile era. Apple, Google and a graveyard’s worth of other companie…

Users never wanted to be computer literate. Many of them saw computers as a tool, like a hammer or a car. Super locked down devices that are fast and easy to use is better than everyone getting pwned by viruses because they can't be bothered to install an antivirus or not share their passwords with strangers.

This assumes a lot about users.

I'm a user. I want a device that's fair, controllable, extendable, customizable, and lets me control my own data.

Re: iQuit: My Hellish Attempt to Leave Apple’s Walled Garden

#32

As someone who has moved between macOS+iOS and Windows/Linux+Android several times, this is doable. For technical people, it's just annoying. For non-technical people, this probably needs written into a more formal set of steps. If you have the need, one can setup your world to work on both systems transparently, but that takes more work. Caveats: iOS messages can be kept, but they'll be in files, not your new messag…

Left out passwords.

Passwords: pick a password solution (KeePass-based, cloud provider, etc). From a Mac that you’re sure isn’t compromised: open Safari, go to the Passwords section, export passwords to CSV. THIS IS AN UNENCRYPTED FILE. It does include the TOTP configuration information. KeePassXC will load this file, though you’ll need to tell it which columns are what. Presumably, other password providers can as well. Once done the passwords have been loaded into the new solution, delete the CSV file and empty the trash.

Re: iQuit: My Hellish Attempt to Leave Apple’s Walled Garden

#33

strange to me that people spend $1000+ on a phone when you can get another one that does 95% the same for $200-300. is that 5% really worth an extra $800+... the only big difference is if you care about resale value. trying to sell a used android/windows vs a used apple product is definitely an eye-opening experience.

It’s not the cost for me, as I was previously using Pixels which weren’t tremendously far off in price. I’ve had a Mac since 2014, after years of complaining about them. Then the M1 came out, and I became a zealot, because my base-spec Air trounces my fully-spec’d i9 MBP that my work gave me. But the real trick that keeps people in is the ecosystem. I switched to an iPhone a couple of months ago. Other than some iOS…

> Apple solves small, annoying problems, and does so without friction. Things just work.

This. I’ve tried Android a couple of times over the years, and every time there’s just little quirks and problems that drive me back to iOS.

Same with Linux on a laptop. I actually prefer Linux as a dev environment, but I’ve never been able to get the same laptop experience as I can with a Mac. The quality of the touchpad, keyboard (the butterfly keys being the lone exception), display, weight, and form factor just can’t be touched.

Re: iQuit: My Hellish Attempt to Leave Apple’s Walled Garden

#34
post #21

This is a very poorly written article > Only a little frustrated that iMessage didn’t allow for modern chatting on non-Apple PCs and phones. RCS is trash and stupid idea on the face of it. It's all essentially wholly Google-controlled which means they will give up on in 1-2 years when some exec comes up with a way to climb the corporate ladder. They will implement a new app/protocol/platform with 70% or less of the f…

Totally agree with your analysis. I’m often called an Apple fan mostly by people that don’t know the difference, when I’m the first to express frustration that Apple seems to be the only game in town that has such deep and excellent integration between products in the whole ecosystem, coupled with security and privacy baked in from the hardware level all the way to software. It isn’t on Apple to open up iMessage, exp…

> It isn’t on Apple to open up iMessage

Ah, but it is, morally. That's what comes when you have the greatest "profit share".

Re: iQuit: My Hellish Attempt to Leave Apple’s Walled Garden

#35

This is a very poorly written article > Only a little frustrated that iMessage didn’t allow for modern chatting on non-Apple PCs and phones. RCS is trash and stupid idea on the face of it. It's all essentially wholly Google-controlled which means they will give up on in 1-2 years when some exec comes up with a way to climb the corporate ladder. They will implement a new app/protocol/platform with 70% or less of the f…

> I have a very hard time believing this. It literally makes no sense. Is Steve Ballmer moonlighting as a manager at the call center?

Apple blocking the Android website internally is the least surprising thing in the article. Apple is petty and vapid like that, right on down from Steve Jobs's ":)" response to a recruiter being fired while Apple was illegally colluding with Google [1].

[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-smiley-face-email...

I hope Apple (and Google, for that matter) die miserable corporate deaths.

Re: iQuit: My Hellish Attempt to Leave Apple’s Walled Garden

#36
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree with your analysis. I’m often called an Apple fan mostly by people that don’t know the difference, when I’m the first to express frustration that Apple seems to be the only game in town that has such deep and excellent integration between products in the whole ecosystem, coupled with security and privacy baked in from the hardware level all the way to software. It isn’t on Apple to open up iMessage, exp…

> It isn’t on Apple to open up iMessage Ah, but it is, morally. That's what comes when you have the greatest "profit share".

> Ah, but it is, morally.

Ah, but it isn't, in reality. Your moral judgments have no power over anyone but you.

Re: iQuit: My Hellish Attempt to Leave Apple’s Walled Garden

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It isn’t on Apple to open up iMessage Ah, but it is, morally. That's what comes when you have the greatest "profit share".

> Ah, but it is, morally. Ah, but it isn't, in reality. Your moral judgments have no power over anyone but you.

> Your moral judgments have no power over anyone but you.

This is a statement that closes a discussion. Instead, prefer making statements that open a discussion. For example, in this case: in which ways can moral judgments be channeled into actual power?

One answer to this question is "the law". The EU has already taken action in this regard.

Re: iQuit: My Hellish Attempt to Leave Apple’s Walled Garden

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ah, but it is, morally. Ah, but it isn't, in reality. Your moral judgments have no power over anyone but you.

> Your moral judgments have no power over anyone but you. This is a statement that closes a discussion. Instead, prefer making statements that open a discussion. For example, in this case: in which ways can moral judgments be channeled into actual power? One answer to this question is "the law". The EU has already taken action in this regard.

I wasn't even talking about your capacity to force your judgements on others, just that they're morally valueless beyond your own mind. Nice to see where your thinking is at, though.

Re: iQuit: My Hellish Attempt to Leave Apple’s Walled Garden

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your moral judgments have no power over anyone but you. This is a statement that closes a discussion. Instead, prefer making statements that open a discussion. For example, in this case: in which ways can moral judgments be channeled into actual power? One answer to this question is "the law". The EU has already taken action in this regard.

I wasn't even talking about your capacity to force your judgements on others, just that they're morally valueless beyond your own mind. Nice to see where your thinking is at, though.

> I wasn't even talking about your capacity to force your judgements on others, just that they're morally valueless beyond your own mind.

That, too, is just plainly not true. Moral utterances can and do change people's minds all the time, so by definition they have non-zero value to other people. I've had my mind changed on a lot of things thanks to other people's moral utterances -- haven't you?

Re: iQuit: My Hellish Attempt to Leave Apple’s Walled Garden

#40
post #27
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s strange is that people still make this ridiculous comparison. Unless they’re severely out of touch with how the general populace think and what they value. Let’s talk phones, and just ignore the brand to start. Higher end devices often have better cameras, better support, better build quality. I’m sure you’ll find some random phone that competes with a flagship, but that’s irrelevant to the vast majority of us…

> Higher end devices often have better cameras, better support, better build quality. True with the camera. But if you're like me, that's not actually a big deal. Better support? I wouldn't know, as I've never needed support so I can't compare. Better build quality? True -- but is that a huge deal? Even the cheapest phones I've used have lasted for most of a decade. > Each brand has value adds like platform specific…

With all due respect, “if you’re like me” makes the argument irrelevant.

This is an egocentric view of products. Clearly other people do care because cameras are the focus of most reviews, and the thing that sees the most upgrade Gen on Gen.

That’s what matters. What matters to people on average, not one off HN posters.

That’s not to diminish your opinion. That’s what you value and it’s important as well. It’s just not relevant to demographic trends

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