This piece has been coming for a while, in one form or another. Makes me deeply unhappy to write it. https://mattgemmell.scot/the-fallen-apple/
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@mattgemmell Just catching up with this now. It’s a great piece. But also: “in every sense except the financial”. It would of course be hyperbolic to argue financial bankruptcy is in Apple’s future, but the path you plot does at the very least – if history is a guide – suggest a possibility sharply declining fortunes there too. I hope Apple refinds its mojo. I fear it won’t.
@mattgemmell Don’t forget about ads in the App Store and, soon, ads in Apple Maps.
@jsit @mattgemmell There are already ads in Apple Maps:
@mattgemmell I’m done purchasing Apple hardware for the foreseeable future. I’m looking to shift toward Linux and European‑owned technology, and I urge others to consider doing the same. It’s time we break our dependence on American tech giants and stop feeding the very monster we helped create.
@jamesalegria Have you identified an alternative for laptops that you could suggest? I want to do the same but am struggling to identify suitable alternative hardware
@TheDonsieLass It depends on what your criteria is. For example, I'm in interested in laptops that can be configurable both in hardware and software, such as framework. But they are US owned. There are very few European based manufactures but so far I've found Tuxedo InfinityBook Pro 14 and Slimbook Slimbook Evo 14. Lenovo is Chinese, but has factories in Hungary.
@jamesalegria @TheDonsieLass
When I made this switch last February I'd been a full time iPad user with an M1 Mac that was used as a file server.
I installed GNU/Linux on a 2012 Mac Mini that was in storage. A month later, I bought a 2018 t480s Thinkpad off Ebay for $250 to replace the iPad, installed GNU/Linux on that.
Both old computers have excellent performance with boot times and apps opening as fast or faster than the Apple devices. Bonkers!
If you don't need the new shiny buy used.
@dennyhenke @TheDonsieLass That's an excellent point, buy used and you don't send any more profit to big tech. Also this might be helpfull: https://european-alternatives.eu/
@mattgemmell Totally agree. I used only apple hardware from 2010 and now I use the last piece I will ever buy - m4 macbook pro with utter disgust as it continually prompts me to upgrade the OS (no i dont want liquid glass) and randomly starts playing outloud when I put my earbuds back in the case because I had the audacity to not use airpods.
Its taken me literal years to switch from all of apples services for photos, messages, notes, drive but I am out now and I will never, ever, return.
@implementcontrols Did you find a good replacement for photos, if you use it like we do (family sharing etc)?
@mattgemmell @implementcontrols Also interested in notes and drive alternatives, please share :)
@tclementdev @mattgemmell this is where it gets a bit "it depends" and takes a lot of time! I might start a blog to document my setup now but images is immich for display and app reading from a shared smb folder hosting photos and videos in year and trip folders - i absolutely love it.
Notes / docs is nextcloud but I uae obsidian on computer which works on the same folder so I have all the cool second brain stuff with deep linking, and on phone can still jump into nextcloud notes to search
@implementcontrols @tclementdev @mattgemmell
I flipped to GNU/Linux Mint a year ago on a 2012 Mini and a Lenovo laptop. I use Syncthing to keep all the files synced and back-up to an external drive. It feels like a local cloud. Sync has worked flawlessly for nearly a year.
- Ente.io for cloud photos is another option, lots of sharing options, basic editing.
- Proton Unlimited is a package that offers 500GB of drive space, email, VPN and more. All encrypted, based outside the US.