Windows and Linux are desktop OSes and should be compared to macOS, which does allow you to run your own software without paying the fee.
I will concede that Android does allow you to install apps for free and if that is a feature that is really important to you, you should switch to that platform. iOS has always been this way, there wasn’t a bait and switch, and many people (myself being one of them) consider the higher barrier to entry to be a feature of iOS, not a bug.
I will concede that Android does allow you to install apps for free and if that is a feature that is really important to you, you should switch to that platform. iOS has always been this way, there wasn’t a bait and switch, and many people (myself being one of them) consider the higher barrier to entry to be a feature of iOS, not a bug.