Shrinking Distinction between OS and Applications

Good OS etiquette used to be to leave everything that doesn’t seem “baseline functionality” to the applications that people make. So like, file system, initial web browser, reasonably good antivirus, text editor, some other “need to have” applications that don’t come to mind, etc, should be included.

Now it seems that the overarching goal of larger software companies that make their own stacks (Microsoft, Google, Apple) is to Sherlock as many smaller companies as possible, or at least that’s how I see it currently.

Only reason I mention this is that I just considered the existence of Microsoft Whiteboard and Apple Freeform. They look like the kinds of applications that’re left to the “others” to build, as in it doesn’t seem to be one of those things an OS would be incomplete without. They’re OS-level, native, free alternatives to applications that could pretty much make industries: Figma and Miro.

I just think it’s strange, that maybe some fateful day some company decides they want a Spotify song comparison chart generator and *poof!* goes my application.