I don't think the tech advances these companies made were irrevocably tied to the anti-competition practices. If anything, if we made it easier and cheaper for anyone to build on top of the things already existing, we could have had much more.
But they also monopolized the market and prevented alternatives.
DMA is about fair markets.
Without Google, Apple, or Tiktok, we'd have other platforms. Maybe fairer platforms? It's not like there'd be zero innovation in every category without those companies.
Even as a desktop os Linux in general as a windows/Mac OS replacement for the every day person is strongly disadvantaged by being a shit tier user experience. I've tried to switch several times for laptop OS and just gave up. Even if everything was easy and solid, and it had the same abysmal trackpad support it has now, I wouldn't use it. But basically every facet of the experience is like that trackpad support.
I don't even want to think about what a ghetto the mobile experience probably is.
After having used Linux for multiple years I had to use macOS (and later Windows) and I found the experience shitty as well (ex: no system way to manage programs, strange multi-user support, annoying forced updates, more complex to setup remote connectivity and others). When my parents computer broke I put a Linux on it, and for them works great (just browsing and occasionally printing a document).
Sure, if something is great for you stick to it, but assuming things about "every day persons" seems exaggerated. I also heard macOS <=> Windows switching experience is "bad" so for me it is more "what people are used to/how much they want to improve" than an inherent "quality".
Edit: I'm hardly one to care about karma, but it's funny that I'm getting downvoted just for thinking that that idea is neat. Differences of opinion are okay, no? If there's something you don't like about something I say, I'm open to feedback rather than silent disapproval. :)
After all, what's so terrible about thinking that life without smartphones and Google Search wouldn't be so bad? Haven't a sizeable chunk of us posting here lived without those three things even existing for a good chunk of our lives?
