I wouldn't trust Apple with anything. Lock-in is their bread and butter. Just because they didn't lock something down for some time means nothing given they are very aggressive with lock-in in other areas. You don't need FUD to know their infamous reputation.
The problem is this notion is not able to be disproved. While I'm completely confident that 10 years from now the Mac will still be open enough to be considered a "real" computer, I'm also confident that 10 years from now someone will be predicting its imminent demise because the water just keeps boiling hotter and hotter.
So we'll keep having this argument (and the argument over whether apps will be installable in the future without Apple's permission), over and again, year after year.
IMO it's not an unreasonable notion to have. I don't think its out of the question that they would change course and lock it down. I'm not saying it's likely or probable, but I don't think it's an unreasonable concern. In any event, it annoys me that the parent commentator is being dismissed out of hand and downvoted for expressing a legitimate concern.
It's a tired, un-nuanced concern that doesn't indicate any understanding of why Apple favors lock-in.
It's like an online political debate: it's possible to persuade someone, maybe, but you need a better argument than mean old Apple wants to take our toys away.
I'd say it's not tired and is completely legit. Apple have no one to blame but themselves for having such reputation. They simply didn't do enough to earn trust, while did a ton to earn distrust.
It's a tired, un-nuanced concern that doesn't indicate any understanding of why Apple favors lock-in.
Well, why do you think that is? As far as I can tell it's some combination of protecting users and protecting app store revenue, both of which apply equally well to macOS as iOS. The only difference is that the Mac app store isn't as established so they can't force everything to go through it today.
I think you're probably right in that this discussion isn't changing anyone's opinion.
That said, I don't know how it could be tired, as these laptops were just released. I also don't know what you mean by 'un-nuanced', but I don't see how understanding why they favor lock in is relevant. He's not talking about the merits of a closed ecosystem or locking things down, just about whether or not they might lock things down further in the future.
I think most people understand the motivation behind Apple trying to control every aspect of their products, whether or not they think it's a good practice.
