> I’d have to bring in closed-source software and engage with a bunch of megacorps to make an open-ecosystem device do anything I care to do beyond playing with it. How is that an improvement?
Benefit of choice? Currently you rely on iCloud, I assume. iCloud is about as "trust me, bro" as you can get in the cloud storage industry; blatantly backdoored, expensive beyond understanding, and integrated too deeply to replace entirely. On other platforms you're not forced down just one avenue of convenience, you get to exercise your choice as a consumer between different solutions, or even roll your own. The express advantage is that you are enabled to not be helpless when a corporation makes mindbogglingly dumb decisions on your behalf as a user.
It's not trite or pedantic to point out your hypocrisy here. Supporting a company you think "sucks" is a terrible example to set for the rest of your social circle. I used to be that way about Google - might as well use their products since everything else is borderline garbage, right? But it isn't right, and supporting their business is actively making the world a worse place. You're welcome to suffer through whichever corporate woodchipper you think is less painful, but I can tell you firsthand the only thing I miss from MacOS and Windows are the built-in ads. If the dark patterns get any darker, I doubt most users will want to keep using their preinstalled OSes in the first place.
With regards to your wife/dad/family/whoever, "so what" indeed. If I replaced my dad's Android phone with LineageOS I legitimately don't think he would ever know as long as his YouTube app worked. Is it really that hard to imagine the people that suffer through Windows 11 slogging through Debian and Fedora instead? It's not a problem for Steam Deck owners, and for the average Google Sheets-bound employee it's probably an even easier switch. How am I expected to commiserate with people that, by your insinuation, don't care?