https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/12/hardware_os_lockin_monopolies/ # # Sign in / up The Register # # # Topics Security Security All SecurityCyber-crimePatchesResearchCSO (X) Off-Prem Off-Prem All Off-PremEdge + IoTChannelPaaS + IaaSSaaS (X) On-Prem On-Prem All On-PremSystemsStorageNetworksHPCPersonal TechCxOPublic Sector (X) Software Software All SoftwareAI + MLApplicationsDatabasesDevOpsOSesVirtualization (X) Offbeat Offbeat All OffbeatDebatesColumnistsScienceGeek's GuideBOFHLegalBootnotesSite NewsAbout Us (X) Special Features Special Features All Special Features Nvidia GTC Ransomware in Focus The Future of the Datacenter Cybersecurity Month VMware Explore Cloud Infrastructure Month Vendor Voice Vendor Voice Vendor Voice All Vendor Voice RapidScale - AWS Security & Compliance SourceFuse Amazon Web Services (AWS) New Horizon in Cloud Computing Pure Storage Klika Tech HERE and AWS GE Vernova with AWS Google Cloud Data Transformation Google Gemini (X) Resources Resources Whitepapers Webinars & Events Newsletters [personalte] Personal Tech 112 comment bubble on white Apple has locked me in the same monopolistic cage Microsoft's built for Windows 10 users 112 comment bubble on white Vendors just don't want machines to live double lives icon Mark Pesce Wed 12 Mar 2025 // 08:28 UTC # Column My decade-old and very well-travelled 13" MacBook Pro finally died, and I hoped my new-ish M2 iPad Pro could replace it. Yet no matter how hard I try, an iPad cannot serve me like a Mac does and I can't help but wonder why. Some of it must be my mindset: Nearly 50 years of using computers equipped with keyboards and screens "programmed" me with certain expectations. Fourteen years of using iPads has programmed me with a very different set of capabilities. [personalte] I think I could unlearn some habits but only after enormous efforts. [personalte] [personalte] Operating systems therefore look like another reason I can't make the iPad my main machine. I've written about the M2 iPad Pro and M2 MacBook Air sharing many components yet running different OSes. But even if I could somehow get macOS running on my iPad Pro, would that resolve this tension? [personalte] I don't think so. A tablet lacks a keyboard and trackpad and even if I buy models designed for the iPad, tablets are all about push, poke, and drag. Steve Jobs reportedly held back the release of the iPad (despite huge pent-up-demand) until he felt the iPad interface reflected more than just a 'scaled up iPhone'. What we see today is the outcome of almost two decades of design choices that have only recently started to accommodate keyboards and external pointing devices. * Ignorance really is bliss when you're drowning in information * Memories fade. Archives burn. All signal eventually becomes noise * When your technological ghosts come back to haunt you, expect humbug * Data is the new uranium - incredibly powerful and amazingly dangerous Any computer that can't offer me a terminal window, root access, and the ability to type "python" to get into a REPL shell feels fake - an incomplete simulation of a real computer. Yes, I have iSH and aShell on my iPad Pro - great tools, yet neither offering the kind of power that I need when using PyTorch (which runs great on a bare-metal M2). I could single out Apple for its ridiculous policies that make iPads less useful than Macs, but Cupertino is not alone: Microsoft won't let users upgrade their older boxen to Windows 11. I have a first-generation Surface Go (magically, both a laptop and a tablet) that still works perfectly, and which will become so much electronic detritus later this year because Microsoft refuses to let its own hardware run its own operating system. It's infuriating, largely because it all feels so self-serving. [personalte] The promises of "safety and security" vendors intone as they guide us into their monopolistic cages mean something very different when looking out from inside those bars. Safety feels like vulnerability, and security becomes entirely dependent on the steady attention of a vendor that suddenly has no fears about losing customers even if they fumble the ball. Crowdstrike, anyone? I already know I'll ignore my misgivings and buy an M4 MacBook Air to replace already-missed 2015 machine. Apple builds well - this laptop might make it with me well into the 2030s. What kind of OS and services will we be using then? Will 'office' software still come from one vendor (ok, possibly two, for those using Google's apps)? Will we still have just three operating systems to choose from - of which only two are really suitable for a worker's desktop? Will we have just two mobile OSes? Will everything continue to consolidate, an ensh*ttification demanding more and more from us while offering less and less in return? Or are we closer to a different kind of world in which improving AI interfaces mean none of this really matters? Can all of this entrapment be abstracted away by agents? I'd like to think so - but if history is any guide, AI providers will be tempted to lay down a breadcrumb path to another cage. Time to find an angle grinder. (r) Get our Tech Resources # Share More about * Apple * Microsoft More like these x More about * Apple * Microsoft Narrower topics * Active Directory * AirTag * Apple M1 * App stores * Azure * Bing * BSoD * Excel * Exchange Server * HoloLens * iCloud * iMac * Internet Explorer * iOS * iPad * iPhone * iPod * iTunes * LinkedIn * Mac * MacBook * Microsoft 365 * Microsoft Build * Microsoft Edge * Microsoft Fabric * Microsoft Ignite * Microsoft Office * Microsoft Surface * Microsoft Teams * .NET * Office 365 * OS/2 * Outlook * Patch Tuesday * Pluton * Safari * SharePoint * Siri * Skype * SQL Server * Tim Cook * Visual Studio * Visual Studio Code * Windows * Windows 10 * Windows 11 * Windows 7 * Windows 8 * Windows Server * Windows Server 2003 * Windows Server 2008 * Windows Server 2012 * Windows Server 2013 * Windows Server 2016 * Windows Subsystem for Linux * Windows XP * Xbox * Xbox 360 Broader topics * Bill Gates * Steve Jobs * Steve Wozniak More about # Share 112 comment bubble on white COMMENTS More about * Apple * Microsoft More like these x More about * Apple * Microsoft Narrower topics * Active Directory * AirTag * Apple M1 * App stores * Azure * Bing * BSoD * Excel * Exchange Server * HoloLens * iCloud * iMac * Internet Explorer * iOS * iPad * iPhone * iPod * iTunes * LinkedIn * Mac * MacBook * Microsoft 365 * Microsoft Build * Microsoft Edge * Microsoft Fabric * Microsoft Ignite * Microsoft Office * Microsoft Surface * Microsoft Teams * .NET * Office 365 * OS/2 * Outlook * Patch Tuesday * Pluton * Safari * SharePoint * Siri * Skype * SQL Server * Tim Cook * Visual Studio * Visual Studio Code * Windows * Windows 10 * Windows 11 * Windows 7 * Windows 8 * Windows Server * Windows Server 2003 * Windows Server 2008 * Windows Server 2012 * Windows Server 2013 * Windows Server 2016 * Windows Subsystem for Linux * Windows XP * Xbox * Xbox 360 Broader topics * Bill Gates * Steve Jobs * Steve Wozniak TIP US OFF Send us news --------------------------------------------------------------------- Other stories you might like Choose your own Patch Tuesday adventure: Start with six zero-day fixes, or six critical flaws Patch Tuesday Microsoft tackles 50-plus security blunders, Adobe splats 3D bugs, and Apple deals with a doozy Patches12 Mar 2025 | 16 Under Trump 2.0, Europe's dependence on US clouds back under the spotlight Interview Technologist Bert Hubert tells The Reg Microsoft Outlook is a huge source of geopolitical risk Off-Prem26 Feb 2025 | 124 Microsoft: So what if it costs 4X as much to run Windows Server in AWS, Alibaba, and Google? That's competition, that's protecting our IP, Redmond's lawyers tell UK monopoly cops PaaS + IaaS4 Mar 2025 | 43 Closing the digital divide with 5G FWA How wireless can replace fiber for fast, cost-effective broadband deployments Sponsored Feature [personalte] Microsoft quantum breakthrough claims labelled 'unreliable' and 'essentially fraudulent' Updated Redmond insists it's got this right and has even more impressive results to share soon Systems12 Mar 2025 | 35 Microsoft unveils finalized EU Data Boundary as European doubt over US grows Some may have second thoughts about going all-in with an American vendor, no matter where their data is stored PaaS + IaaS3 Mar 2025 | 51 We call this kernel saunters: How Apple rearranged its XNU core with exclaves iPhone giant compartmentalizes OS for the sake of security Research8 Mar 2025 | 18 Run DeepSeek R1 on an Apple M3 Ultra Mac Studio? Sure, it'll just cost you $9,499-plus Desktop family gets chip boost as MacBook Air bags an M4 upgrade, more memory, price cut Personal Tech5 Mar 2025 | 17 Apple drags UK government to court over 'backdoor' order Updated A first-of-its-kind legal challenge set to be heard this month, per reports Security5 Mar 2025 | 119 iOS users left refreshing in vain as Microsoft Outlook woes drag on Native mail app? More like no mail app Applications5 Mar 2025 | 17 Microsoft will kill Remote Desktop soon, insists you'll love replacement Windows App the way ahead as support pulled from May 27 OSes11 Mar 2025 | 62 Eight days later, Microsoft Outlook users still struggle on iOS devices Cloudy email rises like a zombie, though its digital grave still marked by big red cross Applications11 Mar 2025 | 33 The Register icon Biting the hand that feeds IT About Us* * Contact us * Advertise with us * Who we are Our Websites* * The Next Platform * DevClass * Blocks and Files Your Privacy* * Cookies Policy * Privacy Policy * Ts & Cs * Do not sell my personal information Situation Publishing Copyright. All rights reserved (c) 1998-2025 no-js