Also, the CPU is but a minor part of the puzzle. But still that is still twice as many as apple (good luck exchanging that apple-arm with any other brand).
Please let me know how open you think the next apple ARM platform is when you try to boot any OS not written by apple.
Please compare that with a computer built from AMD/Intel with a motherboard out of dozens of manufacturers etc. Any ATX power supply etc. Pretty much any PCI-E graphics card etc.
> Also, the CPU is but a minor part of the puzzle. But still that is still twice as many as apple (good luck exchanging that apple-arm with any other brand).
Even on x86, interchangeable CPUs are the exception, not the rule. Intel and AMD CPUs haven't even used the same socket since the 1990s, and even within those manufacturers, socket incompatibilities are common.
Software interchangeability is more of an operating systems issue than an architectural one. With appropriate software shims, though, there is no reason to suspect that (for example) Linux ARM software could be run on an Apple ARM CPU. In fact, it's quite likely that tools like the Android emulator will do exactly that.
> Please compare that with a computer built from AMD/Intel with a motherboard out of dozens of manufacturers etc. Any ATX power supply etc. Pretty much any PCI-E graphics card etc.
Server-class ARM hardware generally does use similar parts as x86 servers, including power supplies and PCIe peripherals.
> Software interchangeability is more of an operating systems issue than an architectural one.
Not if the architecture is designed around keeping others out. But just not telling anyone how to do it is enough in 99% of cases. Some hacker might post a buggy proof-of-concept for an obsolete device that no one will run.
> Server-class ARM hardware generally does use similar parts as x86 servers, including power supplies and PCIe peripherals.
Wanna place a bet on what apple is going to do?
What you might be worried about is a duopoly which has nothing to do with whether something is a software platform or not. For example Microsoft has a monopoly on Windows. That doesn't stop Windows from being a platform for which you can write arbitrary software. Apple has a monopoly on iOS but it's not possible for users to write their own software, they have to join a developer program that can always exclude them. This is what one would call a closed platform. ARM is closer to the iOS model than to Windows.
