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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.

25 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 Tough+Love · · Score: 5, Informative

      Tried Krita? For artists, it's way better than Photoshop. Plus, completely free, no need to make yourself a criminal by stealing it or get trojaned by a hacked copy. And free updates for life. Totally awesome.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    5. 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
    6. Re: Why should anybody be surprised? by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 4, Informative

      It needs to be cracked to remove the "tether" to Apple's servers before it can work as a pirated tool.

    7. 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=-
    8. Re: Why should anybody be surprised? by sg_oneill · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Krita is awesome. But its a different beast to photoshop. Its a strictly painting tool (I suppose you COULD do photo touchups , but eh..... )

      However it runs like a slug as soon as you start using the better brushes and larger canvasses.

      If they sort out that performance, it'll be up there with Corel Paint (Kritas true rival). But its not a photoshop replacement.

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
    9. Re:Why should anybody be surprised? by drnb · · Score: 5, Funny

      Linux does not even have a decent application for reading emails

      No one has had a decent email client app since pine :-)

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

    Right to repair laws can't come soon enough.

    1. Re:John Deere, is that you? by dslbrian · · Score: 5, Interesting
      What they are describing is already illegal under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. An excerpt:

      Warrantors cannot require that only branded parts be used with the product in order to retain the warranty.[7] This is commonly referred to as the "tie-in sales" provisions[8] and is frequently mentioned in the context of third-party computer parts, such as memory and hard drives.

      And from the summary:

      The new system will render the computer "inoperative" unless a proprietary Apple "system configuration" software is run after parts of the system are replaced.

      So in effect they are saying "oh sure put whatever part you want into it, but it's not going to work unless we allow it". Thereby creating the onus to use "branded parts". Yeah good luck with that. I fully expect them to land in court over this.

  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 Daemonik · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yeah, and good luck to you when Apple designs a circuit board with the wrong transistor, refuses to admit the mistake exists and when they finally get sued over it they make a repair program that manages to not cover the boards produced the year you bought yours.

      Won't be the first time!

    4. 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...)

    5. 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. Use what you got... by berchca · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I guess since Apple is selling less computers these days*, they have to squeeze more money out of their customers.

    *https://www.macrumors.com/2018/08/01/fewest-quarterly-mac-sales-since-2010/

  6. Right to repair will force apple to give this soft by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 4, Informative

    Right to repair will force apple to give this software out to 3rd party shops.

  7. 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.

  8. Warranty Act. Doesn't void the warranty by raymorris · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The drafters of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act wouldn't like this at all. They did not, however, make illegal. The Act, in 15 USC 2302 (C), says that the WARRANTY may not be conditioned on using Apple-branded parts. They can't (and don't) void the warranty if you use unauthorized parts. Here's the text of the statute:

    https://www.law.cornell.edu/us...

    The people who wrote that might wish that they had written "also, you can't arrange for the product to stop working when unauthorized parts are installed", but they didn't write that. Maybe a lawmaker should write that now.

    It's possibly unlawful under other laws. There are quite a few different unfair competition laws and some may apply.

  9. 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?

  10. Thats it Apple. We're divorcing. by sg_oneill · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Fucking hell. This has gone from "Apples stuff is hard to repair because of wonky design decsions" to straight up malevolence.

    I've been using Macs since Vista completely murdered my will to use windows ever again. New laptop, constant blue screens of death on "Certified for Vista" laptop. After being told I had to pay $100+ to upgrade back to XP I threw the towel in and got me big desktop imac and then later a mac laptop. It had unixy underbelly so my BSD background fit right in, it just seemed to work really well, and once I got over the slight behavioral differences (command-C vs Ctrl-C, menu on top etc) it was a system I really enjoyed working with. Ended up with an iPhone too to cash in on the new iPhone dev stuff (I was formerly a Symbian dev, hell on earth). I was the model of an Apple Fanboy. Shit Apple where so good to me that when a fucked up contract that was about to land me in court was caused by app store delays I actully emailed Steve Jobs, and he *fucking emailed me back* and put his personal assistant in charge of getting my shit through the store. Thats how great apple used to be.

    But man, modern Apple sucks. My last apple purchase was a 2017 macbook pro to finally replace the trust 2011 MBP, the keyboard *sucked*, it only had those whack thunderbolt-3/USB-C ports which I had precisely zero perhipherals for and all the adaptors where ridiculously expensive and kinda unrelaible, and when I accidently dropped it and cracked the screen apple quoted me well over $1K to repair it.

    So I ended up taking it to a third party indian repair dude who fixed it for $400. Not a great job, but at least I could afford it.

    Also someone then broke into my house and stole the laptop. Admitedly I can't pin that one on Apple (I think?!).

    Heres the thing. Without that cheapo unauthorized repair, I'd have been stuffed. With a nearly brand new laptop, unable to be used.

    Apple want to take THAT away too?

    Maybe its time I just swallowed my pride and built myself a Linux/Windows dual-booter.

    --
    Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.