3 ms·
Not only that, "roots of trust" and locking users out of their devices is the thing that causes the IoS omnishambles. The foundational problem is that some comp
by AnthonyMouse 1y ago
Not only that, "roots of trust" and locking users out of their devices is the thing that causes the IoS omnishambles. The foundational problem is that some company makes millions of devices and then goes out of business or otherwise stops supporting them, but because the users are locked out of the device, nobody else can do it either. Meanwhile people continue to use them because the device is still functional modulo the unpatched security vulnerabilities.
If anyone could straightforwardly install the latest DD-WRT or similar then it's solved, because then you don't have to replace the hardware to replace the software, and the manufacturer could even push a community firmware to the thing as their last act before discontinuing support.
- myself248 1y ago> and the manufacturer could even push a community firmware to the thing as their last act before discontinuing support. This should be held in escrow before the device can be sold. And the entity doing the escrow service should periodically build the software and install it onto newly-purchased test devices to make sure it's still valid. If the company drops support, either by going out of business or by simply allowing issues to go unaddressed for too long, then the escrowed BSP/firmware is released and the people now own their own hardware.
- AnthonyMouse 1y agoThat seems like a lot of complicated when the better solution is to have the people own their hardware from day one. You also need the community around the device to already exist on the day support is discontinued instead of needing to build one then around a device which is by that point years old and unavailable for new purchase.
- specialist 1y agoI really thought escrow for software would've been SOP by now. We made EMRs in the 2000s. Our customers required everything to be placed in escrow. It seemed abundantly prudent to me. Maybe even prescient; our startup was bought, then murdered in its crib, leaving our customers SOoL. But at least they got the source.
- oezi 1y agoThe issue is as much companies going out of business as consumers buying devices from shit companies. We need schemes which enforce security and which make long term economic sense. I would require software escrow for all companies to ensure a bankruptcy doesn't mean all software is lost.
- AnthonyMouse 1y agoA solid 90% of the problem is that hardware companies think that somebody actually wants their software. Hardware vendors are bad at software. They should not attempt to make software. They should make hardware with the expectation that customers will install whatever software they want on it, and then throw some open source code straight from github on it for the customers who expect it to do something right out of the box. Their code is bad. It should not be used. They should not even write it to begin with. Just ship the device with existing open source code with the minimum -- and published -- modifications to make it run on your device, and focus on being a hardware company.
- fsflover 1y agoThis is exactly the approach of Pine64.
- theoreticalmal 1y agoIsn’t this what happened with the Ender 3 pro and people griped about it?
- AnthonyMouse 1y agoPeople gripe about everything. Don't care about it unless their complaints have merit, or if they do then fix the problem.