It's competitors include linux. That surely is the most privacy friendly option. You have to trust apple but when you use open source you can trust yourself or the community.
Would you really consider Linux to be a serious competitor? Sure, it's the most privacy friendly, but that's ignoring the fact that privacy is a sliding scale. Apple has generally shown itself to be on closer to the Linux end of the scale than the Android one, so I compromise some of that trust for increased convenience.
Well, yes, Linux is a serious competitor in that it is (still - Fuchsia might change this in some future release) used underneath Android. While a regular Android user might not know, care nor notice that it is there, for those who do care this opens possibilities. It makes it possible to run a device which - apart from the seemingly mandatory closed-source radio-related blob (which can do all sorts of nasty things outside of the control of the user) only contains free software and only runs such software as the user chooses to run. This is possible with the combination of Android and Linux, impossible with iOS or MacOS. In this sense Apple is far removed from what I consider to be one of Linux' defining attributes, namely the fact that it allows full control over what gets run on my hardware (apart from that radio-blob, that is). As there is no such freedom with anything Apple I don't consider them to be 'close[r] to the Linux end of the scale', not by a far stretch.
> Would you really consider Linux to be a serious competitor?
Can only speak for myself but I much prefer Linux and even if I had to pay for it that would be my preferred choice.
As for why I'm a heavy multitasker and a keyboard addict and in my three years with a Mac I realised it wasn't for me. (If anyone is interested, feel free to ask.)
Do I say Mac is bad? No. I guess more people should use Macs.
Is Linux a serious competitor? For some of us: definitely.
Hey, I'm curious now. I'm a keyboard addict, but I typically use a mac at work and windows at home. I have previously used linux, so I have nothing but love for it, but how does it enable me as a keyboard enthusiast in a way I'm not getting with osx or windows 10?
Windows have been very easy for me to use wrt keyboard. (I had other issues with it.)
On Mac I had three big problems and one small:
- ctrl and fn was swapped on the laptoo and I configured a lot of non Mac machines as part of my job so I could never relearn that part permanently. Also their own full size keyboard had ctrl in the usual spot
- cmd-tab made me think way to often. I might be a bit impatient yes, but there is something good about being able to go back to any window with just one keyboard combo instead of alt-tabbing to the correct group then alt-| to the correct window.
- the "jumping a word at a time" shortcut was inconsistent between apps. IIRC some used alt-arrow, some fn-arrow, some cmd-arrow, some ctrl-arrow. Also the lack of home and end keys broke my workflow. (I think some of these are fixed now and I also hear rumors that fn and ctrl can be swapped with some tool now)
- inside applications I'd struggle to access settings etc without reaching for the touchpad.
