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Spoiler alert; this has been looking us all dead in the eyes for years. And no, it's not just Apple or just Google. Tech in general is made to be depreciated.

Spoiler alert; this has been looking us all dead in the eyes for years. And no, it's not just Apple or just Google. Tech in general is made to be depreciated. This is a conversation we love to terminate by saying that bootloaders shouldn't be open and tech shouldn't be updated by a third-party or community effort. But neither of those are written in stone, and as time goes on a lot of us actually want to keep our depreciated iPhone Minis or quirky Android devices. The only people stopping us are the OEM; when they turn off the lights, we have to leave even if we own the hardware. And that really shouldn't be the case; homebrew and third-party firmware has kept devices like the Nintendo Wii and Pebble Watch alive for many more years than they would have gotten officially. It's time to rip off the band-aid and tell people what we want. If there is no way for us to decide for ourselves when our phone is obsolete, then our OEM will decide on our behalf. Depreciation is the proverbial "finger on the scale" that all manufacturers wield to stop anyone from using hardware that works for them already. Making it possible to unlock your bootloader gives the manufacturer a de-facto incentive to make devices that aren't merely a side-grade from your current phone.

fragmede 2y ago
> It's time to rip off the band-aid and tell people what we want. that seems to have been true from Apple for quite a while.
- talldayo 2y ago
  It's true on Android, too. People struggle with the same problem under Google and other OEMs. What's new is the legislative response. We're starting to see the FTC scrutinize monopolistic practice in technology and tackle right-to-repair under one administration. If that's not a rallying call to demand higher standards, I don't know what is. The only thing left to do is agree collectively that yes, our status quo fucking sucks and the businesses are to blame for making it that way.
  - zeagle 2y ago
    I suspect one day they will look back at the last 30 years and refer to it as the tech robber baron era. So much wealth and value seems to be from the lack of legislation or social conscience in terms of privacy, planned obsolescence, and fraud.

fragmede 2y ago

> It's time to rip off the band-aid and tell people what we want. that seems to have been true from Apple for quite a while.

talldayo 2y ago
It's true on Android, too. People struggle with the same problem under Google and other OEMs. What's new is the legislative response. We're starting to see the FTC scrutinize monopolistic practice in technology and tackle right-to-repair under one administration. If that's not a rallying call to demand higher standards, I don't know what is. The only thing left to do is agree collectively that yes, our status quo fucking sucks and the businesses are to blame for making it that way.
- zeagle 2y ago
  I suspect one day they will look back at the last 30 years and refer to it as the tech robber baron era. So much wealth and value seems to be from the lack of legislation or social conscience in terms of privacy, planned obsolescence, and fraud.