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Its planned obsolescence. <br>
<br>
At one time many companies were run by engineers; sadly, now the
MBA's are in charge so "the art of the scam" takes centre stage,
which means that, rather than providing value, it is better to fool
people into paying up for something that is of less value than is
generally perceived.<br>
<br>
/gary<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 19-03-07 11:17 AM, Don Tai via talk
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAKF=Av0of7R9Hviq_DxCLLnx=SKTncPVCp+La76EQF=8+vM=Xw@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">It is not advantageous for hardware companies to
make devices serviceable. A device that is not serviceable can
be designed to be more cheaply manufactured. Consumers, apart
from the geek crowd, don't seem to care about repairability when
they flip their devices every 2-3 years. Batteries are also
close to exhausted around the 2-3 year mark. Gluing together
pieces is a really pain in the butt. I much prefer screws.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>If it broke, I will likely take it apart, if only for fun.
You can tell a lot about the quality of a manufacturer from
the inside of a device. I don't think this proposal will go
anywhere, but hope that it does. Keeping an old laptop or
desktop in service has led me to Linux, the only OS that is
still mildly viable.</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, 7 Mar 2019 at 10:02,
Giles Orr via talk <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:talk@gtalug.org">talk@gtalug.org</a>> wrote:<br>
</div>
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0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">On Thu, 7 Mar 2019 at 08:50, Stewart C.
Russell via talk <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:talk@gtalug.org" target="_blank">talk@gtalug.org</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px
0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">On 2019-03-05 10:04
p.m., Howard Gibson via talk wrote:<br>
> <br>
> One of the basic rules of Design For Manufacture
and Assembly is that<br>
> you should not use screws. The preferred way is
for everything to<br>
> snap together.<br>
<br>
Snaps are okay for a short time if you can access the
service manual to<br>
see where they are. Slide the spudger in the wrong
place and you'll<br>
break a snap, ending up with a case that sags in one
spot. So /design<br>
for manufacture/ can be counter to /design for
repair/.<br>
<br>
The original Apple Macintosh was one of the first
/design for<br>
manufacture/ computers. It required the dealer-only
"case cracker" tool<br>
- a long Torx T15 bit with a spudger lever on the end:<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/a/118/439"
rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/a/118/439</a>
- that told the story<br>
that Users did not belong inside the case*. Apple's
previous computers<br>
invited you inside - the Apple II's top just lifted
off without tools.<br>
<br>
Right to Repair is important. I'm slightly
disappointed by the general<br>
reaction on this list. We'll spent lifetimes fiddling
with software<br>
configs to keep it running against all odds, but
hardware gets short<br>
shrift. I know that processing power and storage
improvements have made<br>
it poor business practice to get sentimental about
keeping older<br>
computers running, but some curiosity over how repair
and replace is a<br>
good thing. We can't live on a growing mountain of
e-waste, after all.<br>
<br>
Stewart<br>
<br>
*: the Macintosh had a CRT inside and thus hilariously
fatal voltages<br>
for the unwary. It could be said Apple were only doing
the right thing<br>
keeping Users out. But other computers had built-in
CRTs with only the<br>
usual warnings and mounting screws. One example would
be the Commodore<br>
SX-64, a device clearly designed for confusion. The
SX-64 appears to be<br>
a random collection of boards held together by ...
another random<br>
collection of boards and little else.<br clear="all">
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Totally with you on snaps: even with cautious
disassembly you're likely to have breakage by the
third time you go into the case. Screws are
definitely the way to go. Tedious, yes, but sturdy
and repeatable.<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Also totally with you on Right to Repair: I
volunteered for Repair Cafe ( <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://repaircafetoronto.ca/" target="_blank">http://repaircafetoronto.ca/</a>
) for about three years, and even in that time saw how
much harder it was getting to get inside a standard
laptop.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Upgrading RAM used to be a common activity, even on
a laptop. But now the manufacturers solder RAM to the
board (and glue the case shut even if it's not
soldered down). Yes, this makes the machine
marginally slimmer, but it also makes it totally
non-upgradeable. Same with hard drives (spinning,
SSD, NVMe ... just give us an access hatch.)<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Another major argument in favour of right-to-repair
is something as simple as cleaning dust out of your
processor fan. I think it's a bit crazy to have to
pay the manufacturer several hundred dollars to do
that for you. These are all things that used to be
simple and still could be, but consumers have been
deliberately locked out for a small increase in
profits - and to the detriment of the environment.
<sigh><br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
-- <br>
<div dir="ltr"
class="gmail-m_-2988768321393057096gmail_signature">Giles<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.gilesorr.com/" target="_blank">https://www.gilesorr.com/</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:gilesorr@gmail.com" target="_blank">gilesorr@gmail.com</a></div>
</div>
</div>
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