Video game consoles existed decades ago, were locked down systems, and succeeded tremendously… starting all the way back in the 1970s with Atari 2600.
> because that’s how computers have always been
Phones before the iPhone allowed any app to be installed. J2ME. There was no precedent to do what Apple did with a lockdown like that, as far as I remember. Glad to be corrected but don’t forget to include the J2ME landscape in your analysis.
Just because you have the ecosystem lock-in to force something new down the throats of users doesn't justify doing it.
We can write 100 things for Linux but it means Jack nothing to a consumer who will never do that to the Chromebooks. I.e School IT’s for student use.
Sideloading apps on MacOS, Android and ChromeOS all require taking a few additional steps. It's unlikely that most average consumer will ever take these steps, but it is easily doable for those consumers if you follow online instructions (and so some do.)
iOS really is unique in the level of difficulty involved in sideloading apps.
Something like a Chromebook would have absolutely failed decades ago. A lot of things done today would have failed decades ago and vice versa.