Hardware doesn't sell the platform, however. The software ecosystem does. Due to the direction OSX is taking, my MBPr I have now will be the last one I own, I will be replacing it with something that runs Windows, most likely a Surface product.

I use Windows 10 on my desktop. OSX cannot be realistically installed on non-Apple hardware, and I built the equivalent of a $4000-6000 Mac Pro for less than half the cost; OSX also has very poor multi-monitor support, which I need, which is a bit ironic given Classic MacOS did it pretty well.

I'm considering ditching my Nexus 5 for a Lumia 950 for proper cross-device ecosystem usage (since there is no "Google Desktop" no matter how much Google tries to push ChromeOS), and if I buy a Lumia 950, I'm probably going to buy a Band 2 to go with it (which Google and Apple both want to just magically go away, along with Cortana on Android). I do not rely on Google Drive or Google Docs, I use Google Photos just as backup storage for photos, and I use Google Music merely as a front end of my collection and do not buy music through it and rarely use the radio.

Also, I'm seriously considering dropping Evernote for OneNote for my personal notes (I already use it via Office365 for Business, and it is such a superior product), I already use Excel heavily for tasks that don't warrant full scale programming attached to a database, I find Outlook to be a superior email client, and I use OneDrive to sync Office and OneNote files across all of my devices (including OSX and Android). All of these are natively supported on Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile.

So, explain to me, what does Apple offer me? Or Google for that matter? I don't care what the hardware in the phone is as long as it works, I don't care what the OS does as long as it works: I use a computer to do things, not to sit around and looking at how shiny the UI chrome looks like.

The most ironic thing in my entire life? I spent a good 15-20 years just bashing Microsoft for sucking (legitimately so, I might add), but somehow, with their new CEO, Satya Nadella, they have managed to double down on their core strengths and make products people want.

The biggest problem with Microsoft was the massive lack of core integration of the OS and the hardware, there was no synergy. Major hardware manufacturers would invent standards that OSes (Windows or not) had trouble dealing with, and any time Microsoft tried to force a standard onto manufacturers, unless they could get Intel to bite, the standard would either fail, or be badly implemented in every possible way.

Windows now has their own core devices that are designed for Windows, by Microsoft, from the ground up. Windows for phones are now a first tier product that is Windows, something more than merely being the iOS to Windows' OSX. And, unlike OSX, I am still free to run Windows on any computer I choose to buy or build (including my MBPr, if I choose to) while still being able to choose tightly integrated product lines like Surface without either being second class citizens.

Microsoft, internally, seems to treat Surface and Lumia like their Pixel and Nexus. Product lines that are top tier and show other manufacturers how to build products worthy of Windows.

Does Apple try to build an ecosystem other people get to belong to, even though they want to? No. Does Google do that? No, for the opposite reasons, you CAN use their APIs, but no one wants to.

Microsoft just wants my money, and makes it as easy as possible for me to give it to them. Apple wants my money, but wants ALL of my money and won't let me realistically integrate it into my existing pile of devices. Google wants my money (I think? Do they? Sometimes I question this), but doesn't have a complete ecosystem that makes sense.

And Linux? I ran that as my primary desktop OS for 15 years. Linux on the desktop is a dead dream to me, Gnome 3, and PA, and SystemD, and CFS/cgroups, and all this other weird shit that no one ever wanted just sort of killed it; and I hoped that at least Wayland would come in and finally unfuck the underlying windowing and rendering system (ie, making all the work poured into Mesa/Gallium/DRI3000/etc worth it) just... didn't happen. I still adore Linux on the server, but, yeah, no, it doesn't belong on my desktop anymore.