Fuck John Deere, Apple, Tesla, and anyone else who tries to lock up hardware that we paid for. The unbelievable gall of these people should render them unworthy to ever do business with again. It should be criminalized, like predatory loans and monopolies... When are the common people going to get our teeth back? We're all so fat and complacent now. It's a shame.
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Honorable mention for BMW trying to lock features like seat warmers behind a monthly subscription. Fuck them all.
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Sounds great, and it should've always been like that. The owner of the equipment should be able to use and repair it as he desires.
Tractor maker John Deere has agreed to give its US customers the right to fix their own equipment.
Unfortunately this only applies to the US. The fight must go on for the rest.
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On a Bitcoin standard, John Deere would not have access to a money printer and there would be no need to enforce this sort of law against them since upstarts would bring real competition and they would simply get crushed since non-repairable is no different from a higher price.
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Lots of fascist governments have existed without being supported by money printing.
Bitcoin is good. But let's not get carried away here. It doesn't solve all problems.
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Didn't realize Massachusetts already had laws in place for this. Cool to know. Still ridiculous that we need laws to force companies to let us repair our own stuff.
I've got piles of random old computer hardware sitting on the floor right now just waiting to be a new Plex server (or some kind of media center). The fact that everything is modular and easily repaired is what keeps the hardware valuable. I still buy new parts for this old gear, though! New memory, motherboards, etc., and the companies still make money.
The same goes for old tools and motors out in my garage, or the old music equipment in my room. Really can't understand why they would want to lock down my hobby altogether, and lose the revenue I've been supplying them with for 30+ years now.
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