I mean, exactly how invasive are default operating systems? (Like Windows, Mac, Chrome OS, Android, iOS) Do they log your keystrokes, log passwords, capture screen, upload your photos, videos, or audio? (Assuming you aren’t a target of government) Is it even possible for the average person who doesn’t feel comfortable messing with installing operating systems to have any privacy?
I’m not a Mac guy, but I get the sense that using a Mac without engaging in any of Apple’s ecosystem would result in a very degraded experience
It might be degraded comparing to default experience but it’s not like you are missing something that you have on other OS. I mean, you can’t iMessage on Linux, right?
No you can’t but you can also have a Linux box for significantly less than apple. Guess that’s the price of ease of access though.
Honestly it doesnt make the experience much worse in my experience
Agreed. I was using Apple products for more than a decade before switching to Linux and Android, and I opted out of several of their products long before I started considering the privacy aspects of things. For example, I found the experience of using something like iPhoto to be very lackluster. I reluctantly ended up using iCloud due to the superior pricing compared to Dropbox, which I used before. That was a particular nightmare when migrating away from the Apple “ecosystem”.
I’m sure their products cater to many users preferences, but I’m not one of those, and had a better experience using other products. That should’ve made me jump ship way earlier than I did, but a combination of cost (by the time I would’ve changed, I had already purchased a new MacBook which I ended up using for about 6 years) and inertia.
I use my Macbook exactly like the points cited before, and i can assure that i’ve had a very good experience. Maybe it’s even better to avoid using AppStore etc…