I've seen stories like this but I'm a lot happier with Firefox than the other browsers out there, both on desktop and on mobile. It does what I want, I worry less about telemetry when using it, there are useful extensions both on desktop and mobile, I get fewer nags. I don't have any issues.

Will they also never reach their full potential, learning in what is ultimately the inferior path?

Incredible. Some of these devices won't even be three years old when they will stop working. They're making sure some people will never ever buy a connected device again. And they'll be better off for it.

Microsoft are more desperate here having lost a lot of ground in consoles and trying to pivot to where they are stronger on the Windows desktop, but still so far behind Steam and Epic and others on there. They are trying to integrate Steam and others into their Windows gaming app to get any attention at all from gamers. You might think that Game Pass could be strong on PC but it's not. There are always complaints about how gamers are having problems getting games to run properly through Game Pass, having to delete and redowload games because they won't launch, having performance issues. People were buying Ninja Gaiden II Black from Steam even though they are subscribed to.Game Pass and could get the game on there because of all of the problems on there. Steam version worked properly and performance was better on the same hardware. The Game Pass version had stuttering and other graphical issues like not being able to support some graphical upscalers properly.

Even MS are no longer doing day one on Game Pass. To play a game day one you need to buy or upgrade to the Premium edition of the game. Game Pass will only get the game a few days later or a week later in some cases. They will slowly be enshittifying Game Pass while PS Plus will see fewer cutbacks because it is already in a more manageable position. The rumors are already swirling about Game Pass price increases and additions of newer tiers. The price of Game Pass has gone up the past two years in a row, and while MS increased game prices by $10 two years ago, they are again this year raising game prices another $10. They have been given a company wide mandate to increase margins so things are going to get worse.

Sony is making the right moves for their platform and it is in a more secure position. Now MS has to worry about competing with Valve and are not in such a strong position given that their software quality on the same platform is worse, and that Valve is running Windows games better than MS without using Windows at all.

Will this open up every device that is locked down to only one software store, or only smartphones? This could be applied to TVs, some car entertainment units, set top boxes or similar like Fire Stick, Roku, also game consoles, to name a few.

If they are number one, they will be complacent. They didn't get spurred to do this until Steam Deck came along and showed people PC gaming could be improved drastically by cutting out as much friction is possible.

I want underlined letters on buttons or labels so that I can navigate and activate GUI elements by keyboard without having to use the mouse. Some people don't have the same range of motion so this helps with accessibility, some power users want to input things quickly without having to use the mouse, and some want to make macros that repeat keystrokes to automate certain things easily.

"AI isn't going to replace people, it's going to replace people"

Sounds like it will be replacing people. Everything before the comma is a lie.

Eventually they will kill Notepad for the same reasons they killed Wordpad, and then re-invent Notepad again for the same reasons people just want plain old Notepad.

Are there less jobs requiring them, and turning away thoae with degrees who would demand a higher pay?

You recognize the show fading to black after a moment has concluded, an obvious point in the show for an ad break, so you tune out. We've been trained to recognize these.

There are bound to be a lot of scams on the app store with third party payment systems, and you never know how long Joe Blow's payment service is going to stick around and even be there to support their customers or what types of policies they have for customer satisfaction.

The CEO who needs to capitulate to investors who found a shiny new buzzword, and OEMs who need an excuse to sell people something new

Aren't software developers going to start asking why this won't be the case on other closed systems?

At the same time now people might have to worry about malware, different payment methods and satisfaction policies, stores that just shut down and disappear with no support left for software people paid for, removing the convenience and changing expectations of the experience people will have with these devices.

It seems like a can of worms and I wonder what will happen.

Cutting through all the red tape to get something done seems like a romantic idea. It can seem weak and toothless to some people for our officials to comply with the bureaucracy that is in place. Some people are cheering specifically because of disruptive behavior that has the air of clout and moving mountains to accomplish things that people are worked up about. They think things must be done with great urgency and if the result isn't achieved we are doomed, and don't consider other things that could also result from brash action.

The red tape exists because we agreed it should be there. Policies and laws were ratified specifically to protect against concerns and pitfalls that people had. They were designed to prevent abuse, error, and potential security issues. People were brought on to help craft these with intent, the public could be solicited for their opinion, these were things all designed with consensus and purpose.

Cutting through that just to accomplish what you want will lead to a lot of the things we had been trying to safeguard against.

Change can be slow, but it always is when trying to ensure care and thought and consideration, and that red tape was put there by us because of the concerns we had that things could go wrong.