There’s a free market to sell laptops in. What terms are attached are up to the consumer to consider.
Many people are happy with Apples terms. That some technologists are not is not evidence of a conspiracy.
Contemporary problem solving does not have to contort itself to the philosophy and nostalgia of some computer nerds. Same as we don’t have to kowtow to a Bible; it’s not about the what but who; present/future meat bags don’t owe past meat bags. No one asked to be born.
Apple and customer are free to set the terms of their relationship without your input.
Freedom from, freedom to; law is semantic games not physics. You have the rights agreed upon by the rule makers.
Currently the free market you envision is not the status quo.
The only mechanism allowed in our social system to change that is vote em out or build a company that works how you want. Posting here is equivalent to echo “impotent rage” /dev/null imo
> Apple and customer are free to set the terms of their relationship without your input.
Thats not true. We can make laws that force Apple to support the right to repair, and force them to open that market up to the free market.
Which is what is happening here. It is because of legislative pressure that Apple is now engaging in some actions, to allow users to have access to the free market of device repairing.
As in, we are literally commenting, on a thread, about how Apple is now being moved in this direction.
> The only mechanism allowed in our social system
No, we can force Apple to allow the free market into their device, with laws, and take away they money via fines, if they refuse.
Which is what is happening.
> Currently the free market you envision is not the status quo.
Actually, with many of the upcoming laws, the status quo is about to change, so that Apple is forced to allow the free market into many of their markets. The one that is most obvious is the App Store Market, which they are being forced, under legal threat, to open up on.
But, also, the other market is the right to repair market. I can't remember the exact laws that are going to force Apple to support more repair options, but I am pretty sure that they exist and are coming into effect soon.
Tim Apple built his computer so that if I bump it off my waist-height table, it will shatter into a million pieces and I'll be out >$500. Conveniently, Tim Apple also sells a peace-of-mind insurance policy that replaces your Mac no-questions-asked. Does this create a conflict of interests that encourages them to design fragile display assemblies, unfixable Logic Boards and un-upgradeable storage? You decide!
