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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.

12 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 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.

    2. 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.
    3. 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
    4. 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 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. 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. 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.