[voidmain]

Apple could choose to give the users of their devices freedom to run whatever operating systems and programs they choose. Then they could truthfully say that there is no way for them to control what people do with their devices once they leave the Apple store. If you put yourself in control of such things because it is profitable, you ought to take responsibility for the consequences.

[BurningFrog]

China could also make that illegal, and probably has.

You're never going to outsmart the Chinese government with clever little tricks. They don't play like that.

[rpdillon]

It's not really about outsmarting them. Authoritarian systems of control rely on centralization. If you create an ecosystem where end users have lots of agency, of course most of them will go the path of least resistance, but the few who are willing to put in the effort to resist still can. Google and Apple tightening their grip over their respective mobile ecosystems is a very potent lever for authoritarian governments to pull.

[KronisLV]

Surely there’s a difference between hardware being a locked down appliance and… well, a more generic computation device.

I think the argument is that Apple or even any company that makes Android phones could choose to have an open bootloader (and maybe some driver stuff) and normally that wouldn’t really offend any government, while also giving the users more freedoms.

Otherwise, what’s next, PCs that only run Windows and only allow Edge as the browser and force the telemetry on?

[sabatonfan]

Can china make linux illegal?

[tgma]

It's delusional to think the default OS would be replaced by anyone more than a few percent of niche users.

It's your desire to have open OS just say so. Doesn't really tie into avoiding oppression by communism. The Chinese need to solve that problem at its root.

[sneak]

Then China asks Apple to blacklist prohibited apps via notarization revocation. This isn’t the gotcha you think it is.

[eptcyka]

If only you could run your own software on the computer you bought and paid for.