I’m in the same boat. Worse, I’ve decided I really want to be debt free.
Fortunately that’s not far off. Linux also calls me. I went for about a decade without either Windows or MacOS in my life.
But there are two problems. Devonthink and Mellel. I don’t want to lose either of them.
My last car payment is in June. I’ve already renewed my DT license. I’ve got some new writing methods worked out that leverage DT. By this summer I’ll have that new Mac, I’m guessing DT4 will be out of beta, and my only challenge will be deciding which island to buy after my new writing methods pay off.
It will be a rough life, but somebody’s got to do it.
I probably could live without DEVONthink, especially now that I’ve got a killer integration between Neovim and Obsidian working nicely, but I just don’t want to live without it. There’s too much about it that I like. I get too much value out of it. It has a few things I consider “warts” here and there, but I’ve built a lot of content in it over the years and basically take it with me everywhere I go and/or have access to it over the web. That’s crazy helpful. I guess I’m going to have to bite the bullet and buy a new Mac, but if I’m doing that I’m probably going big and dropping way more than I should on a stuffed MacBook Pro or Studio. We’ll see.
You can’t blame customers for the business model chosen by the company. If that’s how it chose to offer their product in the past that’s their decision. If they change their business model that’s fine too, and users can decide if the value proposition makes sense for them.
You forgot to mention the friendly and welcoming interactions with other forum users.