To be very clear I'm not saying "it's hopeless why bother you're wrong" etc. I'm just curious what your solution(s) is. I'd love to decouple myself from these groups as much as I can over time.
For instance, even though I hate google with a passion, I got this $150 android tablet and I've been using https://github.com/t184256/nix-on-droid to access pretty much the same tools that I use on my Linux desktop. I have the same setup on my Android phone.
I was at the university library the other day, surrounded by windows machines (I'm no fan of Microsoft either), and I wanted a big screen and keyboard, so I ran https://github.com/yudai/gotty on my phone and used a browser on the windows box to access the nix-enabled shell on my phone, which had everything I need, configured how I like it.
Other times I'll use a google cloud shell, clone my nix config, and have the same experience there.
Sure, I'm relying on Google and Microsoft in some capacity here and there, but I've reduced my reliance on software that they wrote to the point where they're pretty much just a dumb pipe between me and the hardware. They might be able to break my workflow, but that's about the limit of their control.
Unlike Apple, they'd rather attempt to control me in other ways so they don't break my workflow. They're ok with failing a certain percentage of the time, after all they're still getting my money. Apple doesn't seem to be able to let go to that degree.
Parent only talked about Apple so it could be that they're running Windows on a "PC" instead.
But Linux is also perfectly usable. If you're someone who tinkers with hobby projects, I don't see how it could be a real impediment. Everything that you would do on a mac is available to you, except for Xcode which is mainly for projects that target Apple devices anyway.
One thing that will absolutely not work: buying Apple products and thinking they'll change direction on this. They are immensely profitable so from their vantage point everything is fine. Short of large numbers of customers jumping ship or government action, things are going to keep going in the current direction.
Its not complete, you still need a pixel which is made by google, and might also need google services for some apps, but its still better than doing nothing.
Unless all you use is just davinci resolve (PRO), which works on Linux well (RHEL/Rocky with more steps needed for others), Creative apps on Linux are still not good enough.
Developing for that ecosystem is a tougher question, because Apple has made it hard to do so legally without buying their products. But if your objections are based on personal values, presumably you'd also avoid supporting their ecosystem by developing for it.
The upside of an ecosystem that thrives on brand exclusivity is that it's really easy to exclude it.
It's less about Apple and more that I need to be able to stably/reliably run Adobe Premiere, FCPX, DaVinci Resolve, and more + plug-ins
Switch to Windows. All those programs are available on that platform (I have never heard of FCPX, so that might be an exception). You'll be just as productive, and you won't find the ecosystem as stifling as Apple's.
In a limited capacity, web apps might help. They won’t be able to cover all cases, but to have a viewer or a remote access/control cases, they are free to use.
