I know many people who find themselves stuck in Apple's ecosystem since while they personally could switch out their computer and relearn everything, they can't really disrupt the things their older family are used to on other devices and expect them to relearn everything.
Combined with Apple's love of walled gardens (and therefore very limited interoperability with other platforms), switching out would cause too much friction.
Similar to how while I can buy my parents new Android phones as upgrades, they'll just go back to the old ones if they can't have the old school navigation bar they're used to. Unlike me they're no longer willing to relearn how everything works every few years.
It's always kind of annoying seeing this "just don't use it" argument, as it completely ignores that part of the point of the walled garden is that it gradually forces people to be so invested in the garden that it becomes increasingly expensive to leave it. It's a similar network effect as what keeps abusive platforms like YouTube alive despite no one really liking it.
>It's always kind of annoying seeing this "just don't use it" argument, as it completely ignores that part of the point of the walled garden is that it gradually forces people to be so invested in the garden that it becomes increasingly expensive to leave it.
My personal experience doesn't leave me super convinced of this, which is why I asked. I don't think I use any apps I've purchased on the regular anymore. There are a few I subscribe to, but that's an ongoing fee I could continue to pay on Android (if the app exists) and I'll buy a game every now and then, but I rarely go back to them, so I'm not sure that I'm personally losing a ton of sleep over the loss of access to Magic Research. The cost of moving is going to be my time in migration.
The issue you describe (parents preferring iOS over Android) sounds rather distinct of an issue to a walled garden.
I wouldn't say it's that they prefer it, as they have no concept of iOS or Android, nor Windows, MAC or Linux, they just care about if it's similar enough to what they've already painstakingly learned to use and deal with the quirks of.
What I'm referring to as a walled garden issue is that they've learned to use the "included" features like iCloud etc, those are walled in (ie using it on Android isn't as smooth). Thus when you switch away, you're expecting them to learn the new UI and to get used to different services (eg google drive) and their associated menus.
I suppose it's better described as vendor lock-in, similar to how before you could easily transfer your phone number between carriers, the number itself acted as a form of lock-in, if you used the number on anything important you were stuck with the number until you could get the number updated.
Combined with Apple's love of walled gardens (and therefore very limited interoperability with other platforms), switching out would cause too much friction.
Similar to how while I can buy my parents new Android phones as upgrades, they'll just go back to the old ones if they can't have the old school navigation bar they're used to. Unlike me they're no longer willing to relearn how everything works every few years.
It's always kind of annoying seeing this "just don't use it" argument, as it completely ignores that part of the point of the walled garden is that it gradually forces people to be so invested in the garden that it becomes increasingly expensive to leave it. It's a similar network effect as what keeps abusive platforms like YouTube alive despite no one really liking it.