For the right to repair our devices against the technological 2018
For the right to repair our devices against the technological 2018
If you bought a Microsoft Surface Latop or a MacBook Pro and it stops working normally, forget about putting it in your hand . Trying to repair these devices is increasingly complicated, and the fault lies with manufacturers who want control over not only the hardware or software, but also the potential repairs needed by those products.
Not only Apple, Microsoft, Sony or Samsung put it crude to repair our devices: all kinds of companies in all kinds of fields – they tell John Deree – they want to restrict our rights to what we buy. We have reached a point where when we buy a product, this is not ours : we can only use it (a little).Neither your products are yours, nor can you repair them
You buy a smartphone and enjoy it until it starts going slower ( whatever it may be ) or it breaks. You buy a Tesla and if you use it to work as a driver, forget about loading it in the superchargers. You buy the latest album in digital format of your favorite artist and you can not lend it to someone or transfer it to a certain device. You buy a printer and you can not use cartridges or toners other than the official ones .
The situation is beginning to become almost absurd, because in addition to the restrictions imposed by the terms of use of all these products, skipping them to use as we please is increasingly difficult. That includes, of course, the repairs of our products and devices, which are becoming an increasingly controversial terrain because of the obsession of the big companies in the industry to also control how we repair our products when they break.
Being able to tinker with an electronic product and do a bit of home reverse engineering not only extends the life of those products, but has been in some cases the germ of some of the companies we have today. The founders of Apple were messing with electronic products in the Homebrew Computer Club , and that restlessness and curiosity hacker has been fundamental so that many entrepreneurs before and (much less) now are formed and learn independently.
That is beginning to become increasingly difficult because of the ironclad policies of companies like Apple, Microsoft, Samsung or Sony, which invalidate warranties almost by looking at their products with a screwdriver in hand.
The methods followed by these and many other manufacturers have become increasingly sophisticated, and we have gone from the integration of physical barriers (special screws, proprietary connectors, welded components or simply glued with no mercy glue) to which the software now imposes .
Doing what you want on an iPhone is possible thanks to a jailbreak that is increasingly more complicated (and less frequent) , and that strong integration of hardware and software in products such as the iPhone, a Pixel 2 or a Tesla car makes that getting into these products has an important risk: if you do you can end up disabling products whose firmware is much more protected from the curious than the hardware.
The “screwdrivers” to modify the proprietary software of these and many other products are more scarce and complex, and companies not only do not loosen in that sense, but increasingly integrate more software components to discourage the most painted . Chips and software that begin to offer certain artificial intelligence advantages to our devices (such as the computer photography of Google Pixel 2) are a good example of this.
Better not touch it, we already do it (for a price)
As pointed out by our Applesfera colleagues , Apple managers have specific arguments to discourage this practice. For example, trying to manipulate components such as batteries could result in them exploding , but even if you can actually try it, doing so will invalidate the product’s warranty: once you touch it, Apple (like many others) washes its hands if do you have any later problems?
If you bought a Microsoft Surface Latop or a MacBook Pro and it stops working normally, forget about putting it in your hand . Trying to repair these devices is increasingly complicated, and the fault lies with manufacturers who want control over not only the hardware or software, but also the potential repairs needed by those products.
Not only Apple, Microsoft, Sony or Samsung put it crude to repair our devices: all kinds of companies in all kinds of fields – they tell John Deree – they want to restrict our rights to what we buy. We have reached a point where when we buy a product, this is not ours : we can only use it (a little).Neither your products are yours, nor can you repair them
You buy a smartphone and enjoy it until it starts going slower ( whatever it may be ) or it breaks. You buy a Tesla and if you use it to work as a driver, forget about loading it in the superchargers. You buy the latest album in digital format of your favorite artist and you can not lend it to someone or transfer it to a certain device. You buy a printer and you can not use cartridges or toners other than the official ones .
The situation is beginning to become almost absurd, because in addition to the restrictions imposed by the terms of use of all these products, skipping them to use as we please is increasingly difficult. That includes, of course, the repairs of our products and devices, which are becoming an increasingly controversial terrain because of the obsession of the big companies in the industry to also control how we repair our products when they break.
Being able to tinker with an electronic product and do a bit of home reverse engineering not only extends the life of those products, but has been in some cases the germ of some of the companies we have today. The founders of Apple were messing with electronic products in the Homebrew Computer Club , and that restlessness and curiosity hacker has been fundamental so that many entrepreneurs before and (much less) now are formed and learn independently.
That is beginning to become increasingly difficult because of the ironclad policies of companies like Apple, Microsoft, Samsung or Sony, which invalidate warranties almost by looking at their products with a screwdriver in hand.
The methods followed by these and many other manufacturers have become increasingly sophisticated, and we have gone from the integration of physical barriers (special screws, proprietary connectors, welded components or simply glued with no mercy glue) to which the software now imposes .
Doing what you want on an iPhone is possible thanks to a jailbreak that is increasingly more complicated (and less frequent) , and that strong integration of hardware and software in products such as the iPhone, a Pixel 2 or a Tesla car makes that getting into these products has an important risk: if you do you can end up disabling products whose firmware is much more protected from the curious than the hardware.
The “screwdrivers” to modify the proprietary software of these and many other products are more scarce and complex, and companies not only do not loosen in that sense, but increasingly integrate more software components to discourage the most painted . Chips and software that begin to offer certain artificial intelligence advantages to our devices (such as the computer photography of Google Pixel 2) are a good example of this.
Better not touch it, we already do it (for a price)
As pointed out by our Applesfera colleagues , Apple managers have specific arguments to discourage this practice. For example, trying to manipulate components such as batteries could result in them exploding , but even if you can actually try it, doing so will invalidate the product’s warranty: once you touch it, Apple (like many others) washes its hands if do you have any later problems?
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