Same reason collectivist people like social media censorship and gun control, to make them feel “safe” even though all it does is centralize power. Besides hi ow many people have the tech skills to even know what third party app repositories are?

They exist. People just don’t buy them. But there is a Ubuntu phone port you can install on your phone as an alternative to android.

https://forums.ubports.com/topic/10762/status-update-on-the-next-noble-based-ubuntu-touch-release-february-2025

But yeah it can get complicated like any Linux community project and isn’t at all mainstream.

One of the main advantages of Spotify for me is the AI. I could host the music myself just fine. But having an AI come up custom playlists is another thing entirely.

If they did could we use the Twitter bird or Tesla logo all we wanted? I mean yeah let’s get rid of all IP law but get rid of it for everyone. If we want to copy a big corporation then yeah we should do that. Get rid of copyright and trademarks, woo! Publish all that hidden patented material so anyone can produce it. Let’s get creative. You think big corps will get on board with all this?

GOG is cheaper. Steam does have more franchise deals though.