I’ve been a Windows user for 30 years and a Mac user for 15 years so I see both sides of this. I think you can set up a new Mac without an Apple ID but an Apple ID has been a core part of the Apple ecosystem for so long that it feels silly not to use one. At the same time with Microsoft attempting to do the same thing it just feels janky and something I’d much rather skip.
I use an Apple device on a work device and I don't need to use Apple ID for anything. Apple laptop is the only device in the ecosystem.
Apple Store doesn't have useful apps for me, I rather use brew for installation, or I need to download dmg.
I don't use Apple Music because I use Spotify with my friends.
I don't use Apple Mail because we are in the Google ecosystem, so I use Gmail.
I don't use Apple Calendar (there is such a thing?), because in the Google ecosystem I use Google Calendar and - for notifications in the tray - Notion Calendar.
Sort of but
1. You can still have an OS without an Apple ID, it just sucks
2. When you buy an Apple device, you did the research and know “the deal”. Microsoft doesn’t market devices that way, they want to work on every device and control it at the software level.
3. I trust Apple more, they are somewhat regularly in trouble for not giving out the keys to my data. When’s the last time Microsoft fought the FBI for access to a surface device ?
> When’s the last time Microsoft fought the FBI for access to a surface device ?
Any company that has designed their security well doesn't have to fight the FBI because they have no data to give them. Apple's iCloud copies encryption keys for your data, giving Apple a backup decryption key that they can very easily give to any fed (and likely do already in FIVE-EYES/Chinese jurisdictions).
Private technology isn't dictated by relativism or dialectics. Treating your security like this is simply how you get hacked - I wouldn't trust Bitlocker or iCloud to protect my data because both are objectively backdoored. It doesn't matter how many San Bernadino publicity stunts the parent company arranges, you would look like a moron using this same line of logic to defend Microsoft or Google.
The reason it feels silly to not use an Apple ID is because Apple will create un-dismissable nag indicators in Settings and elsewhere begging you to log in for iCloud functionality.
To me the reason it feels silly is because iCloud is a paid subscription service and I am constantly advertised it even when using something like Syncthing or Nextcloud to provide equivalent support.
