So by now, all three of the biggest companies in technology have had some form of announcements done in the last month or so. Apple and Google had their developer conferences where they announced new products and software updates, and Microsoft has announced both new tablets and mobile platform updates. I watched (or read live blogs) of all these events, and as I watched it become just that much more clear that all of these companies are working to tie people to their ecosystems.

Some of you reading this just said “well duh” to yourselves and you’re probably wondering why I didn’t see this before now. Well, sorry to disappoint, but I saw it before now, I’m just saying that it’s become more obvious as these companies announced products recently.

We’re getting ever closer to a digital life where you have no choice but to “pick your poison” to garner the benefits of these particular eco systems. And I’ll admit that mostly I’ve picked the Google poison, but I have mixed feelings about that. While Google goes to great lengths to ensure that my data stays mine, having so much of it in the control of a single company scares me a bit. Sure, the integration I get is really nice, but obviously it comes at a price. What is that greater price? We don’t know yet. Some of these ecosystems are going to be more locked than others, but still, giving into a single ecosystem is a kind of lockin in and of itself.

Right now I don’t have an obvious solution to this problem. I use an Android phone, an iPad for tablet, a Macbook Pro for work, and a Linux desktop for my home computing and this has helped me notice how much the use of these different ecosystems can effect the ease of use of any specific one.

Has anyone else noticed this? Especially those that use a plethora of devices and operating systems, have you noticed how the differences in ecosystems makes it harder to enjoy the benefits of any particular one?