Slight difference is that Zuck has had control from the start, whereas other companies might have had "don't be evil" leadership that was… optimized away for financial reasons.

Not that it really matters nowadays. Just an observation.

I don't really see the point of this comment.

• Is it that we should not hold Threads at arms length because [citation needed] Zuck was once a tech idealist and had lots in common with current fediverse denizens? (setting aside my doubt for the moment)

If so, I don't really care how nice and kind Zuck was when he was a freshman in college. I care about what he has done since then, and leading up to now.

• Is it that one day I may not like something large Lemmy instances do, so should not be so anti-Threads?

I don't even get that idea, so I am guessing that can't be it.

Much the same as Reddit, Google, Apple, etc. Do you remember? Those of us who lived through it remember.

I lived through using 8" floppies, so yes, I remember.

Which of those are open source projects that anyone can fork and/or run their own instance of at any time, providing a place for people to seamlessly transition from Reddit, Google, or Apple if they don't like what those companies do with their platform? The comparison you are trying to make falls apart immediately.