To Stay Or Not To Stay In Apple's Golden Gated Ecosystem...

[brinary001]

Okay so as of right now, I'm an Apple fanboy - a huge one. iPhone 7 Plus, MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, AirPods, I subscribe to Apple Music, I had an Apple Watch up until recently, and iCloud is my primary cloud storage, so it's safe to say I'm drinking the Kool-Aid (some may even argue I'm chugging it). But this has been a good season for tech. Google announced their new Pixel phones, Microsoft announced their new Surface Books which are clearly a response to the MacBook Pro, and yes Apple announced the iPhone X which is also powerful and quite beautiful imo. I can't remember a time when there was this much good stuff out there to choose from. I love Apple and the simplicity offered by choosing to go all in with them across every category of product and service, but then I'll turn around and feel equally as restricted. My iPad is good at being an iPad, but not so much at being a computer. I often have to decide before a given task if it's iPad worthy or if it needs to be done on my Mac, and I think I'm now starting to realize that I'm spending a lot of money on these products for an experience that's sometimes fluid and flawless and other times a cumbersome hassle.

I also work in IT doing a little bit of everything: coding, networking, media, etc. and if I'm going to be in an industry where I have to be a Swiss Army knife of a professional, then I feel like maybe I should have the kinds of products that allow me to live a multi-tool kind of life, both personally and professionally. Whether I stay or go, however, I'll always appreciate Apple for what they do best, which isn't necessarily the same as what Microsoft does best, or Google, and so on. I'm just beginning to think that maybe what they do best isn't what's best for me anymore.

TL;DR Who out there was dug deep into the Apple life like I am and recently left it? Or maybe you've never been in the Apple life (which definitely makes me curious what you're doing on a site dedicated entirely to Apple)

 

[kohlson]

If I understand your post, you're asking "should I get smarter about something else? I think only you can answer that. But it's not unusual for people to be rewarded for expanding their knowledge, especially if work related. Lots of people "leave the Apple ecosystem." Some come back, some don't. I don't mean to sound blasé, but if expanding your knowledge of other things (IT, the arts, ...) is of personal or professional interest to you - go for it!

 

[lowendlinux]

I don't have Apple anything...

If you're looking to learn some stuff then just pick out some things that interest you and get smart. If you're looking for a change tread lightly you're pretty imbedded in the eco-system and not a bad place to be.

 

[brinary001]

I built my first PC a couple months ago. I feel that MacOS will always be better than Windows at being an operating system, but I've definitely enjoyed the new opportunities being on Windows; opportunities such as gaming. I'm a young adult now in my 20s and haven't really gamed since my teens, but now I constantly find myself on Steam playing popular titles.

Also, one thing I've thought about is how non-Apple devices are so open and customizable that I can kind of make my own ecosystem. There's a nifty program called Push Bullet that will route all the notifications from your Android phone to your PC.

 

[2984839]

I do recommend having a variety of devices if you're in IT. I just bought a MacBook Air because I wanted a machine running macOS as a testbed for some code I'm working on.

I have never bought into the ecosystem hype. I have primarily used OpenBSD for years and have gotten used to working out my own solutions. I basically have built my own ecosystem with backup servers, build systems, etc. I kind of like the Air for its size but I find that macOS is frustrating and tends to get in my way more than it helps.

I do appreciate that Apple has made a successful Unix-based desktop OS for us Unix people. I feel more at home on macOS than Windows for this reason. But overall, it's not my cup of tea.

 

[maflynn]

Given that my family is an apple family, it makes too much sense for me to veer away from macos or iOS. I do have a windows partition on my iMac and use that often enough, and I've had windows and android phones over the years but it was a pain in some respects because of the integrated environment the macos/iOS provides. In the end, it seems that I'm better off sticking with iOS and macos.

 

[Tech198]

Apple has their own way and i think those 'all Apple' are more likely to stay regardless their time spend, because while services are usually cross platform. screen sharing only works mac to mac.

You can use other apps, but anything that's built in Finder people are more likely to go with just because its there and no need to hunt for anything.

Others will just get cheesed off of the eco-system because it may not play nice with other hardware they have (non-Apple). but since the workarounds to "make them work" may not be a huge trade-ff, they may live with it.

Apps would be the main reason, because some developers only choose to go with Apple, and any substituted app is second par.. and not as good. But even that is down to the user

 

[kazmac]

As much as I dislike the brass at Apple and their pricing/some politics, I am very entrenched. Own a Windows laptop out of necessity, but not a fan of W10. I will use Windows at work no problem, but at home I prefer Mac.

Macs are still easier for me to use and more secure. I've been a Mac user for over 20 years.

I know this more about computer OS, but the day that Android becomes as secure as iOS and I can put my ripped movies onto an Android phone without having using back door software etc.; I'll consider trying that again. Razer's phone looks fantastic, so I hope Android will evolve.

For IT, it's a very smart move to be cross platform.