Preferring cross platform software
For the past few years I’ve began putting effort into avoiding software that is not cross platform.
I am tired of the lock in. I don’t want to think about what software I won’t be able to use if I leave the Apple ecosystem. Conceptually, I understand the reasoning behind it not only for Apple, but for the companies choosing to build their business around Apple products. And in general, software that is available on Apple platforms tends to have better UX and polish, while costing more. According this article, iPhone users spend 7x more on apps over Android users.. No wonder developers are investing into the ecosystem!
Current example
I am writing this post on a trial version of iA Writer. It is a great writing application that costs $50 (non subscription) per platform. Interestingly, it costs $50 each for Apple and iPhone/iPad, but $30 for the Windows version. Not sure what is the driver behind that difference.
As much as I am enjoying it, and in addition to price, I don’t want to spend $100 on software that I might need to repurchase. I’m currently using iPhone 15 and M2 MacBook Pro, but I’ve dabbled with the switch to Android and would consider Framework as my next laptop. I do think that Apple MacBooks provide the best computing experience out of the box, but I am not sure I want to be paying the outrageous prices for RAM and storage upgrades.
Lock in apps
This list is pretty short and is dictated by using an iPhone, which makes iMessage the main dependency. I use Obsidian for my notes (even though it is too much for my use case) over Bear or similar, due to it being cross platform. I switched to Garmin for fitness tracking and Immich for photo library (mainly as a back up). I don’t use Safari, and rely on Fastmail native calendar. Almost everything else is cross platform albeit with a few, minor in the grand scheme of things, exceptions.