Any computer can talk to any other
But may they communicate?
Every time some tech company erected a 10-foot enshittifying fence, someone would show up with an 11-foot disenshittifying ladder.
Those 11-foot ladders represented the power of interoperability, the inescapable bounty of the Turing-complete, universal von Neumann machine, which, by definition, is capable of running every valid program.
-- Cory Doctorow (https://pluralistic.net/2025/05/14/pregnable/)
Today I'm going to reiterate this idea. If you have a pair of bluetooth headphones & a device capable playing music over bluetooth, then you have everything you need to play your favourite album without anyone else hearing it.
There is little in the way of these two devices communicating with one another, the main blocker is very likely: one of the manufacturers doesn't want you to connect their device to that of someone else. There are valid exceptions, such as hardware limitations – maybe your device is way too under-powered, for example.
How does a manufacturer prevent anything the don't want to happen? It is simply a case of instructing the software to enforce this. Anti-circumvention laws (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-circumvention_laws) prevents anyone from publishing (technically, from even attempting) a workaround. This is why Browsers work for you, not apps (https://algamest.ghost.io/browers-work-for-you-not-apps/).
In most cases, if you have two devices & they have a way of communicating: bluetooth, wifi, ethernet, etc., then with the help of a third machine like a laptop, there are no physical restrictions in updating or modifying these devices to work together.
Someone might argue that you'd need specialised knowledge, but this is what software is great at: defining a set of instructions by someone, which anyone can then benefit from. The process of making a phone & a headset connect would be far less complex than, say, digitally transferring money between bank accounts. It can be done.
What gets in the way is companies that want to lock you in to their ecosystem (https://algamest.ghost.io/locked-in-by-design/) by making it harder to switch. They might even get in the way of their own devices. Like when Apple was found to be slowing down older iPhones, as a way of encouraging you to buy a new one.
Apple agreed to settle the lawsuit in 2020, stating at the time it denied any wrongdoing but was concerned with the cost of continuing litigation.
-- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67911517
As bad as it is that Apple did this, it is standard behaviour these days. Most smartphone manufacturers would gladly prevent your phone from working if you used a third-party screen protector. The difference there is that these companies have little sway outside of their digital worlds.
What will help tech being better is keeping this idea in mind. I don't intend to induce aggravation in people, but instead it can be an explanation for why things can be difficult sometimes, when you want your tech to do something that you've seen happy before, that should be easy.
It's similar to the idea I keep in my mind that All tech is written for the future (https://algamest.ghost.io/all-tech-is-written-for-the-future/); it's a way of understanding the motivations behind what I'm experiencing. With an explanation, as wrong as it might feel, I'm less disturbed by it.
Then one day, when there's enough of us able to vote (in whatever way will work) for a change that puts an end to these practices, we can connect more devices, update them so they're better & more secure, & not need to replace them so soon.
