I agree, I never meant to imply that maintaining your own fork is simple. I was merely highlighting that the freedom to do so while still interoperating with everyone else is there. Centralization generally deprives you of that ability.
It's analogous to open source vs proprietary software. End users shouldn't generally need to modify the software they use. Doing so isn't typically easy or straightforward for the vast majority of people. But if you ever need to do so, the option is there.
It's analogous to open source vs proprietary software. End users shouldn't generally need to modify the software they use. Doing so isn't typically easy or straightforward for the vast majority of people. But if you ever need to do so, the option is there.