I'm going through that exact mindset at the moment with Microsoft Windows. I refuse to use anything beyond Windows 7 because quite frankly, it's utter rubbish. In the coming years, I'm converting my entire workflow and everything I do from Windows to Linux and it's not easy.
It's not easy, you are right. I did this about 1.5 years ago and managed to completely transition to Ubuntu with all my machines and have never looked back. I say I can do 99% of what I need on Linux, using a lot of very good free apps. LibreOffice is a great MS Office replacement, and there are lots of desktop publishing and photo apps (Krita, Scribus, GIMP, Pinta to name a few), tons of audio/video editing apps (SoundForge, KDenLive, HandBrake, etc), programming stuff, even some "must have" Windows programs will run under WINE directly.... but just for kicks I also installed VirtualBox to run WinXP Mode, Windows 10, Mac OS High Sierra and Android for PC... so apps think they are running on the native OS directly (virtualized) and work perfectly if WINE can't handle them.
Regarding Apple, they don't need to abandon Intel to make their machines more difficult to upgrade/emulate/copy/secure. It's not like there is a huge number of Hackintoshes around or people dual-booting Windows on their Intel Mac. It must be that they can churn out more profit spinning their own chip, as they do with the iPhone/iPad line. They may see these all "converging" in the future as the power in phones/tablets/PC's increases. Also, Apple only makes a small profit from their PC business... most of their profit is from iPhone and iPad sales. Just look here:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/382260/segments-share-revenue-of-apple/If anything, their PC business as a percentage of their overall profit is small and diminishing. This cannot be to "lock in" more people, that's already happened a long time ago, or to punish Intel (thinking they are a major competitor - given Samsung makes a lot of the screens for Apple also). I think Apple has some proprietary features they want to integrate and perhaps converge through their entire product line at the chip level for maximum performance and they feel it would be best to spin their own chips just like they do for the iPad and iPhone, and perhaps shave a few dollars off the BOM too (although I can't see this small gain in profit being a reason).
Oh yeah... and here:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-02/apple-is-said-to-plan-move-from-intel-to-own-mac-chips-from-2020... and I quote ....
Apple working on software platform to merge iPad, Mac apps
The initiative, code named Kalamata, is still in the early developmental stages, but comes as part of a larger strategy to make all of Apple’s devices -- including Macs, iPhones, and iPads -- work more similarly and seamlessly together, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The project, which executives have approved, will likely result in a multi-step transition.
.
.
.
As part of the larger initiative to make Macs work more like iPhones, Apple is working on a new software platform, internally dubbed Marzipan, for release as early as this year that would allow users to run iPhone and iPad apps on Macs, Bloomberg News reported last year.