most apps won't work.

You need to do everyone a favor and stop spreading this nonsense. It's absolutely false. Every app I've installed on my phone works fine, including banking apps. I use cards to make payments instead of NFC. That's literally it.

I'm tired of people painting ROMs and Linux as if you have to step into the stone age if you want to use them, as if it's a massive inconvenience.

If having to use cards to pay is enough of an inconvenience for people to rather lick Google's boot... I don't even know what to say.