Technology
This is the official technology community of Lemmy.ml for all news related to creation and use of technology, and to facilitate civil, meaningful discussion around it.
Ask in DM before posting product reviews or ads. All such posts otherwise are subject to removal.
Rules:
1: All Lemmy rules apply
2: Do not post low effort posts
3: NEVER post naziped*gore stuff
4: Always post article URLs or their archived version URLs as sources, NOT screenshots. Help the blind users.
5: personal rants of Big Tech CEOs like Elon Musk are unwelcome (does not include posts about their companies affecting wide range of people)
6: no advertisement posts unless verified as legitimate and non-exploitative/non-consumerist
7: crypto related posts, unless essential, are disallowed
view the rest of the comments
Huh, I had no idea that tractors etc. were also facing this no-self-repair crap. Always though them to be something like the gold standard of repairability.. but apparently it was just the old ones.
Near as I can tell, this whole thing started with John Deere tractors. US farmers wanted to repair tractors themselves, because the alternative was calling up someone to have their tractor towed to an official John Deere™ repairshop, which was usually hundreds of miles away. The tow alone would cost them hundreds of dollars. So, they sought legal help, went to court and this is when other companies like Apple and Microsoft caught wind of this story and didn't like the precedent one bit. After all, why let the users repair their own stuff, when the companies could be earning money on repairs? That's why this outcome is so important.
Anyway, that's the quick and dirty version. If you'd like to know more, Vice made a really good video about it two years back: https://youtu.be/EPYy_g8NzmI