I've decided that if I have to be in an ecosystem, it'll be Apple's. I currently have an iPhone, a Apple Watch, and I use the Airpods Pro daily.
I'm a programmer, and an engineer. I love to tinker with stuff. electrical, mechanical, software. *Most *of the time. But as I get older (now 26 so not too old, but old enough to remember my mom's tiny blue Nokia as the first cell phone in the house) and busier with life, I've realized that there's some stuff I want to just work. I don't care if I can customize it, I don't care if I have to spend a few minutes getting used to a new layout change that was "forced" on me.. For me, my phone isn't something to fool around with, hack, or mod out the wazoo. It's a business tool. My watch helps me keep track of my health, and all I have to do is put it on and keep it charged. The Airpods are so seamless to use it's silly. For this part of my life (phone, watch/health, listening), I want the absolute lowest amount of friction.
I can also defer software updates as long as I like, which is more than I can say for say Windows. I used the same OS from 2016 to 2020 because I didn't want to update to the new layouts. My iPhone would ask me to update every so often, but I'd just hit cancel and that'd be it until the next major update.
Apple is also a hardware company to begin with, as opposed to other companies with ecosystems, so with that I at least feel like they care a little bit less about making money off my data because they're already making money off me buying the hardware and iCloud.
Dude this is the most succinct explanation of federation I’ve seen in the last few days of exploring federation and the fediverse. I wish more people would start out by explaining what it’s doing instead of just repeating what it means. Thank you so much!