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We Need the Right to Repair Our Gadgets
- millzlane 11y agoIf it can happen for cars it could happen for electronics. http://www.autonews.com/article/20140125/RETAIL05/301279936/automakers-agree-to-right-to-repair-deal http://www.autonews.com/article/20140125/RETAIL05/301279936/... I applaud dell for making their repair manuals available online. All companies should be following in their footsteps. Apple give all sorts of information to techs but not to consumers. No repair manuals and Even the support tools are different.
- kagamine 11y agoThat's a slightly differnet scenario, as the disgnostics don't actaully "fix" anything, although you can use disgnostics software to adjust settings like ride height, injector settings etc. There really was no extra work involved by the manufacturers in the link you provided, they had all the information well documented and just refused to publish it. There is a downside to diagnostics tools being freely available, you can clear any fault codes before you sell the car to an unsuspecting buyer, this will prevent the dash warning lights appearing until the sensor registers the fault again, which could be under particular driving conditions. Of course, this is little different from the normal 'buying a used car' pitfalls. ON the other hand, I saved literally thousands of dollars by diagnosing my air-suspension fault myself, and then carrying out the work required based on that fault code. Pretty sure the dealership don't want me doing that, but then maybe they shouldn't charge a high hourly rate for a 5-10 minute process of attaching a cable and looking at the screen?
- rjsw 11y agoIf you had the full documentation on all the systems on a car you could also reset the odometer before selling it to someone else, or turn off the alarm system and unlock the doors. Before the recent examples of using internet connected entertainment systems to hack cars there was a case where someone found that there was a vehicle bus connector in the wheel arch of certain vehicles, plug into it and you could do anything to the car from outside.
- JupiterMoon 11y agoThese would not be problems if the car software/hardware is properly constructed. The issues with the odometer, alarm and doors could be solved by signing the relevant binaries/data with a digital key. The issue with the bus connector is close to negligence in my non-professional opinion (the fuel cap is locked on my car as is the switch to release the bonnet). The security by obscurity argument is pretty dead at this time -- it doesn't magically get resurrected just because the object we are securing is a car.
- Dylan16807 11y agoSigning? Or just don't let it be changed. Odometers don't need updates.
- rjsw 11y agoThey do need updates if you need to replace the ECU where the odometer reading is stored.
- Dylan16807 11y agoWeren't we talking about diagnostic tools and security as it relates to tampering? Replacing the entire odometer is a different issue entirely. And how does support for replacing a circuit board imply that the circuit board needs to support software updates? I don't understand what you're saying at all.
- rjsw 11y agoA car is basically a LAN of fairly generic microcontrollers, they are fitted to the car then programmed in place to match their required function, the official odometer value will be stored in one of these microcontrollers picked at random for that particular car. The main function of the one that gets chosen could be anything, it could control seat position or electric windows for example. If this controller needs to be replaced then the new one will need to be programmed with the correct software then the old odometer value stored into it. The diagnostic tools provided to official dealerships handle reading fault codes and reprogramming the microcontrollers fitted to the car. I think that OBD-II is about as good a compromise as you are going to get to allow aftermarket diagnostics. In hindsight, it could have been better to have treated the car as a WAN, with every controller firewalled off from each other, particularly as the manufacturers have been talking for years about allowing access to the vehicle bus from outside so that cars can be linked together into a train and all changing speed at the same time. I don't think you would choose to do this with CAN though and I don't know of any proposals for newer network standards though it is a few years since I was a member of any of the ISO committees that worked on this.
- jdmichal 11y ago> There is a downside to diagnostics tools being freely available, you can clear any fault codes before you sell the car to an unsuspecting buyer, this will prevent the dash warning lights appearing until the sensor registers the fault again, which could be under particular driving conditions. This is already reality. Any AutoZone store, and probably most other large auto parts retailers, will read and clear codes for you at no charge. Their upside is that you might buy a part to fix the code.
- kevin_thibedeau 11y ago> will read and clear codes for you at no charge. In many states they won't clear codes. Even for trivial faults that aren't safety issues.
- ArtDev 11y agoSelf-repair Manifesto: http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jerrymichalski/files/2012/12/Self-Repair-Manifesto.png http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jerrymichalski/files/2012/12/... I don't buy Apple products anyhow.
- gurkendoktor 11y agoBuying Apple products is great if you plan to fix them yourself - just look up the difficulty on iFixit and go for an easy-to-fix model. Vote with your wallet! My MacBook Air 13" is trivial to open and actually looks gorgeous from the inside. No matter which iPhone you buy, YouTube is full of video guides and you can buy DIY repair kits on eBay for most tasks. It's unfair, because big brands don't have to do anything for these benefits, but that's the way it is. Buying niche products makes DIY repairs a lot harder.
- dmschulman 11y agoHow are they great for fixing yourself? They're specifically engineered to be completely unserviceable by a regular consumer. Yes you can watch a Youtube video and figure out how to take them apart, Apple's devices have to be serviced by someone after all, but a ton of money, thought, time, and effort go into designing methods and hardware for obscuring the typical consumer's ability to dig into an Apple devices. I've taken my Mac Mini apart multiple times, an impossible task without buying an iFixIt kit first. The reason I took the computer apart was to stuff a second hard drive into the machine. I had to remove every single component of the machine in order to access the hard drive. It was a huge pain in the ass just to add a second hard drive. Good luck doing that to a Macbook. My Thinkpad features a single screw that lets me access the hard drive caddy. The product doesn't suffer at all from providing this feature and it gives me the ability to upgrade my machine as I see fit.
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoIt isn't free to design for serviceability. It can compromise heat transfer, have more assembly steps (more screws), increase the part count (access panels and gaskets). That said, the newer Mac Mini is much better than the old one in this regard. Some steps were made to reorder the layers in the package, so you no longer have to remove ALL the screws (25? 30?)
- bobbles 11y ago>Samsung wants people to go to “qualified” technicians. In a statement, a spokesman said, “The technology found in TVs today is more sophisticated than ever before and often requires a level of expertise and technical proficiency to repair most of these high-quality products.” >I’ve heard this argument echoed elsewhere in the electronics industry. But the view is not unanimous: Dell, for one, makes repair guides and parts widely available on its site. So do H-P and Lenovo. Are we to believe that repairing a TV is so much more complicated than poking at a laptop? Opening up a laptop and replacing a part available from the Dell online store is an entirely different scenario to fixing a burnt out TV... Would the author be arguing the same thing if he'd tried to fix something himself and been zapped in the process?
- mahyarm 11y agoDo LCDs have the high voltage death risk that CRT TVs had?
- mirimir 11y agoSome LCD displays are backlit by CCFL lamps, which require HVAC. But the voltage is lower than CRTs need, and there's less current too. There's no HV for LED-backlit displays.
- callesgg 11y agoIt has mains power in it. 230v in my country which is fairly lethal. But as i see it we already have the right to fix or own stuff. I mean the warranty will be voided... which i my mind seams fair.
- kagamine 11y agoThe author does mention unplugging it before starting a repair. I think the mains voltage isn't the issue unless you are feeling really down about the device breaking, so down in fact that you would leave it plugged in before commencing work. Or do I not understand some fundamental of electronics repair that has high voltage on a unplugged device? (genuine question, not an electronics repair shop employee)
- acomjean 11y agoOlympus cameras are another nightmare to repair. The button broke, but they 1) won't sell the parts to the repair store, 2) want it shipped to the factory and $200 to repair. A button that shouldn't have broken in the first place (I've take thousands and thousands of pictures and never had one fail before. Its micro four-thirds so my next camera will be panasonic.
- kagamine 11y agoOur oven broke due to a fault in a circuit board, also a common and well documented fault for the model, and the replacement, while available, was 2/3rds the cost of the oven. New oven, different manufacturer.
- teh_klev 11y agoYou'll probably find that it's the same manufacturer, same parts, just a different retail brand and a slightly different case/chassis design. I just had my hob replaced, turns out the new hob, branded as Neff is exactly the same hob branded by about 10 other electric hob makers you see in your local white goods outlet. All they did was change the knobs. It's the same with bog standard fridges/freezers. I used to service computer equipment for a company that manufactured floor standing fridges/freezer combos. I was told by staff there that they manufactured them for nearly every conceivable well known brand in the UK - Hotpoint, Electrolux, Indesit. All that really changed between brand were the plastic moulded insides that held the shelves, door handles, and possibly the door facings. The actual refrigeration/control electronics meat and potatoes, chassis, power supply were pretty much the same across all the brands.
- stevehawk 11y agoThis. My GE fridge was all Samsung parts. Which were all made by someone else.
- msandford 11y agoMy "GE" fridge was all "Samsung" parts.
- samuellb 11y agoBut you can still buy some types of appliances without circuit boards (and with minimal complexity in general). When my fridge/freezer broke down, I bought one with a mechanical thermostat and no circuit board. Slightly higher power consumption and no display, but much cheaper and probably lasts longer. And since it has only high-voltage components, they are probably of higher quality thanks to certifications etc.
- Fradow 11y agoThe title irks me a little: you already have the right to repair, provided you have enough knowledge. What the author demands is documentation. I would love more documentation, like anyone, but you don't really need any documentation to replace a broken capacitor (a very common failure for most screens, I guess): you need to know how to spot a broken capacitor, find a replacement, and basic soldering skills. There are tons of videos that teach that, but few people really want to research that (generally because they are afraid of electronics, or think they are not smart enough). On the other end, some issues can't be fixed at all, because repairing is so close to the full price of the device. Some examples that happened to me: inflating smartphone battery that damages the motherboard, damaged screen due to shock (wide vertical band of dead pixels). Between that, there are probably a lot of small problems that are specific to a particular model. It would be great that those ones are documented, indeed. Some other basic things, like replacing a smartphone/laptop battery and screens would be very welcome on the manufacturer website, but like capacitors, you should be able to find tutorials for a lot of devices. The truth is, to repair things, you need mostly knowledge to identify problems and labor time to fix things. Both of which is what makes it expensive.
- belorn 11y agoLimited access to parts is mostly about patents so even if you had all the knowledge in the world you are prevent by the state to create what is needed to do the repairs. After the patent is expired we often find that the social contract between inventor and state is violated, and society do not in fact gain the necessary information to replicate the invention by reading the patent. There has been some political discussion to force car manufacturers to provide equal access to parts in order to protect the free market for car repairs and maintenance. Then we have digital locks (DRM) which the article brings up which artificially prevents customers from repairing. You can have all the knowledge in the world and still not be able to fix a simple issue since the digital signature of the part won't be accepted by the device. There has been political discussion around the world to forbid this kind of technical restrictions in cars or at least force retailers to inform the customer about the limitations. Both issues impacts customer rights and is entirely political in nature. The problem of having enough knowledge, access to documentation, or skill to perform repairs is all secondary problems once the political right to repair is granted.
- kmfrk 11y agoMy MacBook Air 2012 shuts down at ~50% battery, and my iPhone 5S at 15%. Meanwhile, my ancient Thinkpad T500 I owned before the MBA is alive and kicking, and when its battery gave out after three years, I could just order another battery to replace it with. On my MBA, everything is glued together, so I have to pay a couple of hundreds for a 1st og 3rd party shop to replace it instead - with no guarantee what the end result will be. The future really sucks this way, especially since it’s not a secret that batteries do worse over time - it’s in the friggin’ manuals for Apple’s devices. Apple’s products are a lot more affordable than they used to, when we criticized them for being for the rich, but now they seem to expect us to replace our products far more frequently than we used to. — On a lighter note, the remote for my Pioneer remote broke, and I literally can’t adjust some of my speaker settings without it, and Pioneer have taken weeks to respond to my query. It’d be ridiculous if I had to get a new sound system, and surely losing a remote isn’t some obscure scenario to these people.
- buffoon 11y agoSimilar in experience here. I bought an X201 a few years ago. I fed it an SSD when they made finincial sense and a new 9-cell battery once a year when the capacity drops to ~60%. I wear out a keyboard every 3 years or so which is a 5 minute job to replace. I can't see myself buying a new machine for at least 3-4 years. Edit: to add context, my wife's 2013 MBP already needs a new battery but that's glued in and they want to charge me to replace it. It hangs off the charger all day with only short disconnects to move it around. And the space bar only works on one end.
- kaolinite 11y agoYou can take it into an Apple Store and they will replace the battery and recycle the old one. Cost varies by device but I suspect it'll cost $200 or so. Far less than replacing the device. This isn't a conspiracy. If you want a thin (and light) device, you have to make compromises. A user replaceable battery on a MacBook will add a slight amount of thickness and weight (same with soldered vs in soldered components). I totally understand if you're not a fan of it, but in that case you probably ought to buy a ThinkPad instead.
- 11y ago
- gurkendoktor 11y agoHardware may become harder and harder to fix. But what about software? If Apple can't be bothered to release security fixes for the iPhone 4, should they be forced to let us flash our own OS on these devices? I'd love to see this happen, but I don't know how realistic it is (unwieldy binary driver blobs come to mind).
- sageikosa 11y ago22 years ago: new toaster oven as wedding gift. 3 months later: oven died; I planned on fixing it as I assumed it was just a simple component failure. In the meantime, we pulled out an old unopened (ergo, in the box-new) toaster my wife had inherited from her grandparents. 22 years later the chrome encased, thick woven cabled toaster needs an occasional emptying out, but otherwise goes on and on. We'll probably pass it on to one of our kids one day.
- arbitrage 11y agotoaster oven != toaster
- DiabloD3 11y agotoaster oven also != oven. That whole story was very confusing.
- at-fates-hands 11y agoThe point of the story is back in the day, things were built to last a lifetime. These days, EVERYTHING you buy is disposable and not expected to last very long.
- sageikosa 11y agoPretty much that. The toaster looks retro, but only because it was built before that type of product hit commodity market saturation and manufacturers realized that cheap meant both better sales (and margins) and a built-in time lagged replacement market. The toaster-oven, with its newer features, had not the staying power.
- jimmaswell 11y agoI've read that this is more due to increased complexity and smaller parts. Maybe it's both that as well as companies wanting to make money off repairs/replacements as implied.
- wtbob 11y agoI completely agree that it should be possible to repair things, but this: > Mr. Wiens is also part of a coalition pushing legislation in Minnesota, Massachusetts and New York that would require “digital electronic product” makers to provide owners and independent repair businesses with service information, security updates and replacement parts. This would, he says, increase choices and lower prices. …is asininely stupid. In what possible world would the cost of writing, illustrating and editing service information and maintaining security updates not increase costs, which will end up being passed on to customers as part of the cost of doing business? I'd love for equipment to be supported, but I'm not so daft as to think that means it'll be cheaper. Heck, even mandating repairability can have costs: for one thing, it would have prevented the existence of smartphones.
- jellicle 11y agoAny electronics product from a major manufacturer will have provisions made for repairs. Some repair/refurbishing center will have bid for the repair contract, promising to repair FooPhones at $23/unit or whatever. They will get documentation, parts from the manufacturer, and train a bunch of people in FooPhone repair. Then when Timmy drops his brand new FooPhone, the manufacturer can tell him that for just $79.99, he'll get a factory refurbished one in 2-3 weeks. Those supposed costs you talk about were already incurred. It's just a requirement that the manufacturer not just limit repairs to "factory authorized" repair centers. There's a very similar debate going on about repairability of automobiles.
- sp332 11y agoIt's a heck of a lot cheaper than trying to secure something without manufacturer support.
- thomholwerda 11y agoMandating the availability of such service information etc. to 3rd parties is entirely normal in the automotive world. Why do we always treat software and technology as some sort of super special case that should be held to different rules and standards?
- kej 11y ago
- tmaly 11y agowe have UL labels, energy star ratings, and various organic labels. Why not have some form of repairable rating system that people can place on electronic products?
- at-fates-hands 11y agoYou can also draw an analogy with cars. When I was in college, I drove several 1970's Chevy Trucks. All big block 350 engines. It broke down several times and all I had to do was to visit the local junkyard, go get a part from a junker truck for under $50, and within a few hours, I was able to fix my truck. These days, no way you could that with a truck bought as far back as 1995. This is the same issue with smartphones. Back in the day, it was easy to get your phone fixed. I ran both a Verizon and a Nextel service shop. The carriers were more than happy to provide training and access to tools and parts. For a mom and pop shop it took several hundred dollars for tools and a good starting point with parts (antennas, replacement screens, keyboards, flips, and main boards). Then you had a list of what they charged for each repair. Parts and costs and a set price for repairs. The carriers really don't see this as a revenue driver anymore and dropped their service centers. Now you see other "unathorized" shops springing up that handle repairs these days. the problem is the cost of the parts. A display assembly for an LG2 is somewhere in the neighborhood of $75.00. Add in labor and now you're around $125-$150 to get your screen fixed. Not bad, but most people balk at those prices and simply opt to trash their phone and find something on craigslist or ebay. Until the carriers get back involved, it's an expensive proposition (on both sides of the equation) to do phone repair.
- JustSomeNobody 11y agoWell, for one, there weren't near the EPA regulations back then...
- ericabiz 11y agoCounter-point: I co-own a repair shop and we do a ton of phone repairs, including the LG G2. Wholesale cost on the screen for a G2 is $53 right now (not $75), so we do the repair for ~$110. Given the small number of G2's still on the market, we do a fair amount of repairs on them. Sometimes people will opt to replace them, especially since the G4 is out now and the G2 is 2 generations behind. But most people don't have an upgrade available right now, can't afford to live without a phone, and -- perhaps most importantly -- really like the phone they have, and the data that's stored on it. People also hate buying on craigslist or eBay because of shoddy quality and scammers -- we've seen a ton of people get scammed with iPhones that are iCloud locked that people bought on craigslist not understanding that you can't remove an iCloud lock from a phone and it's only good for parts. This has been my experience; we do over 100 phone repairs a week on average from a single store.
- chdir 11y agoA 3rd world country perspective : I've seen an increasing trend of appliances at home that are intentionally designed to make repair difficult. The manufacturer/dealer nexus forces you to depend on paid but poorly trained mechanics that quote ridiculous prices for repairing (essentially using re-furbished parts). Another case, I've got a water purifier at home that uses a series of filters (sediment, reverse-osmosis, UV radiation, carbon etc.). Due to the quality of water supply, the sediment filter requires manual cleaning every month or two, else everything down the line stands a chance of getting damaged. These filters aren't cheap ($100 every 2 years in a 3rd world country). I find it annoying that the design of these filters is such that it is cumbersome to remove that simple sediment filter. Almost everyone I know ends up paying the service provider for annual maintenance. In reality, a simple design change can make the maintenance super easy. It's the same story with modern cars, gadgets, washing machines, everything. The money to be made from repair is a whole industry. On the brighter side, the industry is begging to be disrupted. P.S. I've tried repairing my laptop for broken hinges, displays, heat sink etc. by watching youtube videos & ordering cheap parts from ebay. It's an immensely satisfying feeling when the gadget starts working again. You not only save money & environment, you can justify your engineering degree too :-)
- kevin_thibedeau 11y agoWhy not insert another sediment filter stage in front that uses easily serviceable cartridges? Then leave the problematic one empty or in place with longer service intervals. Bonus points if you can find a suitable filter media and rebuild your own cartridges.
- chdir 11y agoThat's exactly what I did last year :-) A stand alone sediment filter where I turn two valves to reverse the flow of water. It's not very aesthetic and it takes more space but it does make my life easy. Regarding your 2nd point, most of the cartridges use a "Welded Housing" and carry the "Dow Filmtec" brand. However there are sellers on ebay that supply housing that can be opened and you can fill your own filter material. I'm a little skeptical on taking this route without an understanding or testing ability of what effect it would have on drinking water. I wonder if there's an off-the-shelf complete water test kit or a lab that would do that for me.
- compactmani 11y agoThe author wrote all this and not one word on proprietary software.
- JustSomeNobody 11y agoYes, this should have been brought up too. We have gone back to proprietary messaging formats. Home automation, I feel, will always be held back because everyone wants to do their own protocol. The list goes on. There should be a push for as many open protocols as possible. Differentiate yourselves by what you DO with the open protocols.
- begriffs 11y agoWendell Berry's criteria for technical progress: 1. The new tool should be cheaper than the one it replaces. 2. It should be at least as small in scale as the one it replaces. 3. It should do work that is clearly and demonstrably better than the one it replaces. 4. It should use less energy than the one it replaces. 5. If possible, it should use some form of solar energy, such as that of the body. 6. It should be repairable by a person of ordinary intelligence, provided that he or she has the necessary tools. 7. It should be purchasable and repairable as near to home as possible. 8. It should come from a small, privately-owned shop or store that will take it back for maintenance and repair. 9. It should not replace or disrupt anything good that already exists, and this includes family and community relationships.
- mattholtom 11y agoNice to see it's not just me with this frustration. I had the same problem with my Sammy LNT4061. One capacitor and 5 years later, and it's still going strong. If only my Kobo aura H2O had the same story. One drop on an airport floor and it's an expensive paperweight. Kobo does not repair, nor sanction repair, nor is it even really possible.
- chrisBob 11y agoThe "right to repair" really only means that the government shouldn't be allowed to create laws stopping you from making these repairs. You may not technically have that, but I am also not aware of any laws that prevent you from fixing things you own. As for the actual repairability, this is something that the consumer actually gets to help decide! Unfortunately checking on the repair documentation before purchase is way way down the list. If it is something expensive and it is important to you then by all means, do the research. I am strongly against mandating that a manufacturer provides you any information or parts that they don't want to. Let the market decide and vote with your own dollars.
- Silhouette 11y ago...I am also not aware of any laws that prevent you from fixing things you own. There are numerous examples where intellectual property laws have been abused for this purpose. Token encryption on most physical media means that building anything that can play that media without the appropriate licensing arrangements is illegal in many places, for example, and suitable terms may or may not be offered by the IP rightsholders. That led to dumb things like not being able to buy a DVD/Blu-ray player that would skip the pointless junk at the start and just play the movie, because no-one was legally allowed to make such a machine and compete for business with the ones everyone hates. It also meant that when my PVR failed, the manufacturer wanted the whole box back and couldn't let me swap out the (apparently fine) hard drive with all the programmes I'd recorded (that data being the entire point of the device) because, they claimed, of some terms in their own agreement that let them manufacturer a device that could play OTA HD content. Onboard electronic and diagnostic systems in cars is another field where manufacturers are very cosy with their franchised dealerships in a lot of countries and plenty of shady things happen to prevent otherwise perfectly competent local garages from competing for servicing and literal repair business. Exactly none of these things are in the customer's interests, and exactly none of them have anything to do with whether a third party has the technical capabilities to produce or repair the equipment as required. It's just huge corporations and special interests abusing laws intended for very different purposes to lock up their markets against otherwise normal (and obviously likely to be successful) competition.
- mschuster91 11y agoLike with automobiles, where the law mandates fair availability of both manuals and spare parts, the electronics industry should be regulated. I'd like to see: 1) in case there is any (F)OSS component in the firmware, the device manufacturer or distributor must provide the source of all (F)OSS components and a working build environment, for every firmware version available, as well as the neccessary tools/keys to upload said firmware to the device. 2) Disassembly and reassembly instruction manuals, as well as spare parts, should be provided nondiscriminately to both the manufacturer and any interested party. In case the device is "repaired" by swapping the defective unit with a working one, the manufacturer is exempt. 3) In case proprietary screws, glues etc. are used, the manufacturer must provide the same tools as used by official service at fair conditions. 4) All requirements above must be kept valid over the expected life time of the device, plus two years. In case a manufacturer or distributor fails to adhere to these rules, the regulatory body must have the power to ban the product from sale until manufacturer or distributor comply.
- Silhouette 11y agoThe trouble is, while it's easy to write that kind of wish list, it may simply not be commercially realistic to grant all your wishes. Imposing burdens on producing detailed technical documentation usable by anyone without the manufacturer's own in-house training could be a huge cost, for example, and totally blocking sales because someone objected to an unintentional omission in such documentation would be wildly disproportionate. That's before you even get to issues of trade secrets and the like. What you can reasonably legislate/regulate is that manufacturers/suppliers can't actively impair third parties who want to provide alternative services and are able to do so to a sensible standard. Just blocking the kinds of legal shenanigans that these giants use to tie up small/local potential competitors would be a good start.
- ddingus 11y agoI had a coffee spill on my MacBook Pro. It's $2K machine, and of course, Apple suggested I get a new one! Apple also said, I need to get a different one, because mine is old. Not that old, but just old enough that I should get a new one. Slick, those guys. Real slick. :) Turns out, I can order keyboard and top case for $150 from Hong Kong. Got it, and moved all the parts from the old machine to the new one. And it took a long day. Mine is a 2012 model, and it's reasonable to perform many repairs on it, though I did need to source a few odd screwdrivers. Harbor Freight had them in one of those kits with 20 some odd bits. Honestly, I really like this machine. I could get a new one, but I don't like the new ones as much as I like this one. The repair day was totally worth it. Growing up, I didn't have a lot. Spend to solve a problem generally was not a viable option. Fix to solve was, and I did a lot of fixing, scrounging, combining, etc... growing up, and I'm really noticing how hostile some products are turning out to be. Doesn't have to go this way. I know a lot of people are making a lot of money, but that's artificial value. I hate artificial value. If people are going to make lots of money, let them! Heck, any of us here would gladly join them, or do our own thing to get our share too. The more the merrier. But let's make damn sure that money is made on real value, not artificial value, or we all will be losing out.
- carapace 11y ago"We Need the Right to Repair Our Gadgets" Holy Space Pope! Isn't that pretty much exactly what started RMS on the Free Source mission!? He wanted to repair [the code in] his printer.