[stouset]

Ah yes, let me just throw out the hundreds of dollars worth of apps, not to mention the rest of my investment in the ecosystem, because I might have to buy, once, an adapter that costs 1% of the sticker price of the phone and can just be permanently left attached.

“Easy”.

[rkangel]

Unfortunately that vendor lock-in is exactly the problem. We don't have easy free consumer choice to just pick up the phone that does have a 3.5mm jack, so we are left to complain as per the original article.

[ddingus]

Saw that coming a mile away. I won't use an Apple phone. Never would, probably never will. We had this whole lock in discussion in the 90's. Got my first Linux distribution back then. Red Hat 5.2 in the nice box. That investment has paid and paid and paid...

I like some Mac computers a lot. Happy customer. 2012 Mac Book Pro is a sweeet machine! Has all the ports, is plenty fast, sexy. No, I don't run iTunes and friends.

Today, I will run most anything on a computer. I don't mind Android. There are open alternatives all over the place and I use them, moving from platform to platform with relative ease. This all gets easier over time. I can even dumpster dive and get up, running and make some quick cash.

Android is a reasonable, general purpose computer when I want one on the go. Programming, terminal? Check. Content create? Check. Comms of all kinds? Check. Heck, I can through a VM on my Samsung and actually do stuff using the pen. Amazing. If I choose to carry bluetooth keyboard / pad combo, it's happy to show me a pointer and I'm off to the races! And device support? That phone will operate a portable, USB floppy drive, if I need it.

Apple has nothing at all on that environment.

The pads? Throwaways, got one given to me, and it's a great toddler learning tool. Throwaway app buys. I won't ever take the thing seriously, though Mrs loves to stream on it.

As for attached... Nice phone, what's that thing sticking out of it like that... Seriously. Honestly, if it were me stuck with that, I would try and find a case with the jack built in.

And here's the thing! You got that choice forced on you. it's completely unnecessary. Forced migrations happen sometimes. That's OK. This one is unnecessary. There is no meaningful gain, and quite a few downsides to digital only audio delivery.

Finally, yeah. Easy. Only hurts the first time. Rip that bandaid. No joke! Just start. Lots of help out there, and you will benefit over the longer haul.

Once you do, and start navigating away from that lock in, it all improves nicely. I've helped a few people do that. They get there. Soon, they are showing me cool things they found out there in the wild.

[stouset]

I'm happy for you, but please don't assume your desires and motivations are the same as mine. I'm happier with my Mac and iPhone than I ever was running Debian for over a decade, and the headphone jack is a complete non-issue for me since I use Bluetooth headphones.

I'm sure the millions of happy iPad owners would be thrilled to hear you categorize the device as a toddler learning tool.

I'm completely bewildered by your position that a lightning-to-audio-jack dongle is somehow a big deal, given that when it's plugged in it's virtually indistinguishable from the cable you would have plugged into an audio jack anyway. The white cord attaching my headphones is a full inch and a half longer than it otherwise would be, what a horror!

And finally, I'm no more locked in to the Apple ecosystem than I would be to any other ecosystem—Windows-based or Linux-based—that I switched to, over time. It's irrelevant to me if one platform is "open" if I wouldn't be happy with the software available on that platform. I used Linux as my sole environment for something like fifteen years. Been there, done that, happier on a Mac nowadays.

But thanks for your overly-parental concern.

[ddingus]

It's not concern, just straight up anti-lock in advocacy. Written for anyone, including you, passing by.

Any happy iPad owners, and I am a happy iPad owner mind you, can and should be perfectly secure in all of that, not concerned at all about how I, again a happy iPad owner, happen to use my iPad. And my primary use case happens to be all the throw away, non-serious use cases.

It's a dongle. It is completely unnecessary. Lots of people do not mind unnecessary encumbrances. One of the more frequently seen scenarios is expression of style.

I am just not one of those people, and I'm gonna pass completely on weak sauce marginalization of so many other great points made, other than I suspect they don't apply in your case, and you are about you. Fair enough.

You and I run about the same on general computing. I run a mix, love Macs that have actual ports on them, the same going for Win 10, 7 and Linux. And I run a mix of open and closed software too. The point being to be happy, while avoiding lock in that could be harmful.

In a pinch, I can drop pretty much any software I use, get the necessary data out of it, and into something else with few worries. That's the open data, open computing, anti-lock in discussion in play. No need to be a purist or zealot.

What that means is this:

I really loved the Mac Book with ports. The current ones? Laughable. Won't recommend, nor purchase. That could change, say when I see some ports again. Or not. Being a happy customer when I can be happy as a customer is my point in all of this exactly.

Apple got me to buy a Mac. Then they fucked way up. I won't buy another one right now, and because I do manage data, software, all that stuff, nothing really lost, other than my business for Apple. Lots of options out there, and I went Lenovo. Good to go. Always will be.

And later, I may well pick up a Dell. Who knows? I'm not locked in, get to evaluate my use cases, product features, and make selections rather freely. And that's what I really like to empower people to do.

Really, I do not need, nor want your thanks. I'll just ignore that bit and stay laser focused on the forced non-choice Apple thinks is better for it's users than it really is for very large numbers of it's users right now. Ideally, Apple cleans that right up, and it's all good.

...until it isn't, which again, is exactly why lock in is to be avoided.

Already helped a few people move off Apple phones and out of that eco-system. Likely to get more. No worries.

Cheers.

[lagadu]

So Apple is effectively holding you hostage.

[stouset]

Not any more than I'd be held hostage to the Android ecosystem after having bought hundreds of dollars of worth of apps.

[ddingus]

Well, no.

You can get great Android devices with headphone jacks.