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iFixit's Kyle Wiens On the War On DIY Electronics

Posted by Unknown on from the insert-car-analogy-here dept.

pigrabbitbear writes with an excerpt from an article at Motherboard: "Anyone planning on buying a new iPad should know what they're getting themselves into by now. In recent years, Apple and other hardware manufacturers have made it liquid-crystal clear that they're not fond of the idea that customers can tear open and fix products without the help of licensed repair specialists. Even if it's as easy as ordering a part online and following a few instructions gleaned from a Google search, hardware companies generally seem to prefer we keep the hood closed. It should not be surprising, then, that the latest version of Apple's much-desired tablet has one 'killer' feature that's finally getting the attention it deserves: A design that stops you from getting inside of it."

14 of 760 comments (clear)

  1. don't buy the fucking thing then by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    everyone knows what apple is all about by now.

    1. Re:don't buy the fucking thing then by Squiddie · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why is this modded down? For once, Anonymous Coward is perfectly correct. Don't buy their products. We already know that Apple is about walled gardens and taking control from the user.

    2. Re:don't buy the fucking thing then by mjwx · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And what does it matter? Is my refrigerator a walled garden because it's hard to get into and fix? Is my dishwasher a walled garden? How about my car?

      You think a refrigerator or washing machine is hard to fix?

      Hand in you man card right now.

      In the last six months I've replaced a leaky hose on a washer, Re-fixed the compressor on a fridge (it was making that shaking sound all night because it had come loose) and lets not get started on my car. In the last six months I've replaced an actuator in the right rear door (central locking stopped working on the rear RH door), replaced my left wing mirror casing (thanks to some douchebag trying to pass me on the left at 60 and that's a right hand drive and KPH, I live in Oz) and replaced the clutch. The engine my have "no user serviceable parts inside" but the engine is not the entire car and the only reason I dont touch the engine is because I dont know that much about their internal workings.

      If you think whitegoods or cars are walled gardens, you clearly dont know much about either of them or walled gardens.

      This is the problem people are trying to point out, so much could be repaired but people treat it as disposable, creating waste and wasting money.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    3. Re:don't buy the fucking thing then by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      My car now has a fancy computer that needs a special adapter and software to interface, is that a walled garden?

      It is, and that's a problem. If your dishwasher is obfuscated to make it harder for third-party mechanics to fix it, that's a problem. If your washing machine refuses to work if it contains socks from a non-partner clothing manufacturer, that's a problem. Any time a device you own acts in a way to benefit its manufacturer at your expense, that's a problem which wouldn't occur in an ideal free-market, but may require legislation to prevent in the real world.

    4. Re:don't buy the fucking thing then by Pseudonym · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Even if you can't fix your fridge, there are plenty of people who can, none of whom require permission from the manufacturer. This prevents the manufacturer and the repairer forming a cartel.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    5. Re:don't buy the fucking thing then by jandrese · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So long, commercial-free e-mail.

      Oh man, you're going to flip out when I tell you about this thing we call spam.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
    6. Re:don't buy the fucking thing then by justforgetme · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The problem is that the apple2 came from a company that shared Woz' philosophy and the iPad came from a company that shares Jobs' philosophy.. Same trademark different companies.

      --
      -- no sig today
    7. Re:don't buy the fucking thing then by justforgetme · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Now think of how much bone idleness stands between that and:

      FBI’s Joint Regional Intelligence Center heavily implies this [tinkering being suspicious behavior], suggesting that individuals engaged in certain technical activities should be regarded as “suspicious” and specifically mentioning people who "download or transfer files with ‘how-to’ content, such as [] information about timers, electronics, or remote transmitters/receivers.”

      Well done modern society, you made your visionaries and future inventors criminals in order to help the establishment to even more money.

      --
      -- no sig today
    8. Re:don't buy the fucking thing then by adolf · · Score: 5, Interesting

      And you know why? It's because it's the only way to make a battery cover that doesn't take up huge amounts of volume with the latching mechanism. Short of going the Apple way, it's practically impossible. And the plastic has to be flimsy because it has to have elasticity so it doesn't break the first time you take it out of the box to put in the battery.

      I only mention this because it is impossible, but: The original Motorola Droid/Milestone uses a battery cover consisting of a very thin piece of neatly stamped aluminum, and the latch is both minimal and elegant.

      And before you write another novella about how flimsy it must be, please also allow me opine that I used the battery cover on this phone (with a bit of steel adhered to it) as a magnetic dash mount for years in my work truck. Accordingly, the battery cover has about 30,000 miles worth of holding the whole rest of the phone to the dashboard.

      It doesn't seem to have suffered from this use in any way that I can observe.

      Just sayin'.

      --
      Kid-proof tablet..
    9. Re:don't buy the fucking thing then by Raenex · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Lets go back and look at what YOU said.

      It wasn't me that said it, but he's spot on.

      I posed the hypothetical question of devices being difficult to fix for any lay person of the general populous.

      You tried to equate how hard it was to fix a refrigerator to the "walled garden" iPad, and specifically said it was difficult, then claimed in a later post that it wasn't, just not worth the time. There are a lot of do-it-yourself laypeople that can and do make simple repairs to their home appliances, which are often designed for accessibility. You can't even simply replace the battery on an iPad, the kind of thing that lots of laypeople do. In other words, your comparison was ridiculous.

      Aside from just laypeople, this also impacts recycling. From a link in the article: "Apple claims the new iPad is environmentally friendly with a 'recyclable aluminum and glass enclosure.' The materials may be recyclable, but the assembled unit is not. We spoke yesterday with Steve Skurnac, president of SIMS Recycling Solutions--one of the largest electronics recyclers in the world. He told us, 'Sealed units make it difficult to remove the batteries. From a recycler's point of view, the hazardous components [like batteries] need to be easily separated or removed.'"

  2. Maybe iFixit should try building an iPad 2 one day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Rather then complaining about how difficult it is to strip one down and reassemble it.

    Even Apple can't tear down and reassemble an iPad 2 or iPad 3. There is no magical service manual for doing so. If a device is found to be defective, it gets replaced. Internally, they get torn down and a lot of parts are recycled- but this procedure is ONE WAY ONLY. These devices were built with the assumption that they would NEVER be opened up.

    The reason for this, contrary to iFixit's belief- is not to screw the user over.

    The truth is that the tolerances inside these devices is so astoundingly tight, that there simply isn't room for clamps, latches, and screws (which require threaded posts on the other side- this always takes up more space then the screwhead does). In order to produce a device as sturdy as the iPad 2 and iPad 3, they *had* to use industrial adhesive over a large surface area to literally fuse the thing together. Screws wouldn't cut it. Clamps make for a rickety squeaky device when you torque it between two hands. And the iPad 2/iPad 3 chassis isn't like the iPad 1, which was thick and sturdy enough to survive that sort of mechanical abuse by itself (in other words, the iPad 2 & 3 design depend on everything being fused together- otherwise, the pieces by themselves lack the structural integrity required to withstand daily use).

    Apple makes money by selling slim, sleek, and sexy hardware. iFixit is blaming them for not producing thick, heavy, and over-engineered equipment instead that is easily serviceable and modular. The only time frame I'm aware of where iFixit's views were societally acceptable was around 1995-1998, where we saw pieces of equipment like the IBM Thinkpad 760XD (still own one of those- it's an awesome laptop). Chunky as hell, weighs as much as a tank (and is otherwise built like one), totally modular, everything is user serviceable. Compare that to a modern day Apple laptop though, and it looks like it was manufactured on a different planet.

    TLDR; iFixit is stuck in the past because their business model depends on it. Boo hoo.

    -AC (because I work for the aforementioned company as a tech during the day)

  3. Re:follow my lead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    microUSB is so widely used now i would consider it a standard...

  4. Re:Apple / Macintosh's ideal of a closed system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Excuse me, but as an Apple user I find your use of factual information to rebut an Apple Superiority Claim as downright offensive.

    I totally refuse to accept your reality, and insert my own.

  5. Re:follow my lead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    microUSB is so widely used now i would consider it a standard...

    Actually, microusb is a standard in the EU to cut down on electronic waste.

    Even Apple is grudgingly complying with a dock-microusb adapter:

    http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/10/apples-iphone-micro-usb-adapter-complies-with-eu-charger-standards.ars