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Apple's New Proprietary Software Locks Kill Independent Repair On New MacBook Pros (vice.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the no-touchy dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Apple has introduced software locks that will effectively prevent independent and third-party repair on 2018 MacBook Pro computers, according to internal Apple documents obtained by Motherboard. The new system will render the computer "inoperative" unless a proprietary Apple "system configuration" software is run after parts of the system are replaced. According to the document, which was distributed to Apple's Authorized Service Providers late last month, this policy will apply to all Apple computers with the "T2" security chip, which is present in 2018 MacBook Pros as well as the iMac Pro. The software lock will kick in for any repair which involves replacing a MacBook Pro's display assembly, logic board, top case (the keyboard, touchpad, and internal housing), and Touch ID board. On iMac Pros, it will kick in if the Logic Board or flash storage are replaced. The computer will only begin functioning again after Apple or a member of one of Apple's Authorized Service Provider repair program runs diagnostic software called Apple Service Toolkit 2.

17 of 442 comments (clear)

  1. Why should anybody be surprised? by Tough+Love · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why should anybody be surprised? It's Apple.

    Vote with your dollars. Android is better anyway and you get a whole lot more for your money.

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    1. Re:Why should anybody be surprised? by Tough+Love · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You know what they say about any product named "pro?" It's not for pros, it's for wannabes. Get roughly twice as much computer for the money by going with Linux.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    2. Re:Why should anybody be surprised? by Cito · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I work at an authorized apple repair shop and if I get the chance and if possible I'll definitely be uploading copy of the software on torrent. My shop is one that another tech here supplied Louis Rossman with pirated copy of specific apple diagnostic software.

    3. Re: Why should anybody be surprised? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Photoshop - and all of Adobe's software suite - runs on Windows. Pros stopped using Macs around the time Apple killed Final Cut Pro.

      You can see it in movies and TV shows where no one paid for product placement for laptops. Previously they would have been blatantly obvious Macs with the logos covered. Now more often then not, they're Dells or Microsoft Surface products with the logos covered.

      Pros have dumped Apple and moved to Windows 10, believe it or not.

    4. Re:Why should anybody be surprised? by msauve · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "Android is better anyway"

      If your knee weren't jerking so hard, you'd realize this is about MacBooks and MacOS/FreeBSD, so the proper comparison would be Windows, or perhaps less generally, Chrome OS/Linux. Definitely not Android/Linux.

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    5. Re:Why should anybody be surprised? by Calydor · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And that is why there will be a tiny little snitching code that tells Apple which shop leaked the tool to the world.

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    6. Re: Why should anybody be surprised? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Second this, and if your job-site purchasing wants a name-brand to contract with, you can get a damn good Dell Precision with better specs more and easier expandability than a Mac Pro for less. Used to hate Dell but the business machines they've been putting out on the whole have been pretty good for the last 8 years, from my own use and repair experience.

    7. Re:Why should anybody be surprised? by Aaden42 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      1:

      Get roughly twice as much computer for the money by going with Linux.

      2:
      Figure out how to run Final Cut or Premier on it.

      3:
      There's no step three.

      4:
      Profit!

  2. John Deere, is that you? by caladine · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Right to repair laws can't come soon enough.

  3. So people are whining about security? by goombah99 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    did no one read about the chinese compromise of the supremicro motherboards? and now people are upset that a vendor requires certified parts?
    Please... I'd pay extra for that gladly.

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    1. Re:So people are whining about security? by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The level of risk they're willing to accept should be up to the hardware's owner. At the most, there should be a warning about using unauthorized parts, not a totally unusable device.

    2. Re:So people are whining about security? by Tough+Love · · Score: 4, Insightful

      OK, you pay Apple to put spy chips in your computer. Not me. Did you know, many Apple products are assembled in China, using chips made in China?

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    3. Re:So people are whining about security? by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah. It's not about security. It's about Apple's ability to rape people's wallets by requiring them to beg their "authorized" outlets for repairs, and make repairs impossible after a certain age (sorry, our software no longer supports your model...)

    4. Re:So people are whining about security? by jythie · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Their worry probably is not users doing the replacements themselves, but unauthorized repair shops that use dodgy replacement parts.

  4. Life-limited product... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Most commodity computers can have parts replaced even when the manufacturer no longer supports them officially. The new Macbook Pro? Apple can just say that "our cloud software no longer supports computers over a certain age." Voila! Your laptop becomes a brick if it needs any sort of minor repair (keyboard or LCD are minor for any well-designed laptop).

    Bonus points if your laptop breaks in a developing country where the nearest "authorized" repair place is 1000 miles away. Piss on Steve Jobs' grave for pioneering the model of computing as a prison. Screw Tim Cook for perpetuating it and making it worse.

  5. Re:Right to repair will force apple to give this s by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not good enough unless it's made available to all OWNERS. If you bought it, you should be allowed to fix it.

  6. WTF! Warn, but do not BLOCK! by Que_Ball · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously are you not the owner of your own equipment anymore?

    I can understand them having a bios level warning that can be disabled for this kind of thing. Similar to how you can put a machine into secure boot mode or disable it if you want.

    But outright blocking the machine from operating with no "I understand the risk click OK to continue" type of thing is complete anti consumer BS.

    What is the point of this? Do they really think it's a long term benefit to their customers?