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Phones were never upgradable so I don’t see how they are evidence of computing becoming more closed. I can still build a PC and run Linux on it just as I did 25 years ago.

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You can’t deny that the momentum is moving in the direction of system on a chip designs. Apple showed the industry how beneficial this design is for performance and power efficiency. Plus it’s better for their bottom line. It’s a win for nearly everyone except for those who care about custom builds or component upgrades.

You can’t install the newest Linux on a 25 year old machine.

I recently installed Debian 12 running XFCE desktop environment on a ThinkPad T40 for fun. The T40 was released 21 years ago, so not quite 25 but close enough.

I could load my blog with it on a modern version of Firefox. It was not fast, but I could still do it!

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