There was a short period of time when I thought that they finally solved this problem, when they deferred the browser updates to Google Play instead of being part of the whole OS update. I really thought that they would move everything there slowly over a year or two, and it would stop being a shitshow... but I realized fairly quick how wrong I was.

That was bout control. They reduced the usefulness of Android Open Source Project without Google Play Services.

Yes, and then Google hyped up project treble but that apparently didn't mean we will get more updates

Or fix it over the three next years, if that is the average lifespan.

And yet Wintel figured this out almost 30 years ago.

Do you understand what the most ARM systems still doesn't have anything resembling ACPI?

Yes, Wintel figured this out, after the legacy of IBM PC.

And Windows compatibility was a complete shit show before the OS vendor - Microsoft - worked with Intel and the other hardware vendors

Google just can’t manage a platform or more realistically doesn’t care to as long as they can serve ads on the device.