[Tteriffic]

There’s a difference. Microsoft competed unfairly because it sold software like Word that apparently internally used secret system calls only Microsoft devs knew about. They gave their other software divisions a big advantage, extending their dominance in OS to apps. Apple software, like Pages, apparently only uses the same set of system calls available to everyone else.

[spogbiper]

right.. but Apple watches and headphones get to use secret/enhanced calls. Apple payment software as well, basically all the things on the EU's list are using some form of the same idea to restrict any other vendor from having comparable functionality.

[Tteriffic]

Agree with you on the watch and AirPods. For other services no. They either do provide some API, like for payments, iCloud files or Auth, or can’t do so safely, AirDrop and iMessage. And for those alternatives do exist. Just not as system integrate.

[indrora]

For those curious: It's somewhat documented if you read between the lines that the "secret APIs" that everyone was afraid of were really things like string management and what-have-you in a shared library among many different Microsoft products.

Meanwhile, Apple has a habit of hiding functionality behind a lot of obscure API calls that aren't documented and require special entitlements to call.

[jemmyw]

Pages doesn't do anything that interesting. There are private APIs that Apple apps use or that they gatekeep. https://www.idownloadblog.com/2021/05/10/apple-zoom-ipad-cam...

[psittacus]

Can you say the same thing about iCloud, AppStore?

[TiredOfLife]

But Apple is literally doing the same. They sell apple watch that uses secret system calls that no competitor can use.