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Is Microsoft Quietly Lobbying Against Right-To-Repair Legislation? (mspoweruser.com)
Microsoft "has been quietly lobbying against Right to Repair legislation, which would prevent Microsoft from penalizing customers when they open up their devices," claims MSPoweruser:
Jeff Morris, Democratic member of the [Washington state] House of Representatives claims Microsoft has blocked legislation from being passed despite strong bipartisan support. In an interview on iFixit's Repair Radio [YouTube], Rep. Jeff Morris said that "word on the street" was that Microsoft, "marshalled forces to keep the bill from moving out of the House Rules committee." He claimed "there was a tax proposal here ... to pay for STEM education," and that "in exchange for Microsoft support[ing that tax,] having Right to Repair die..." was a condition, as well as another privacy policy Microsoft wanted to advance.
The state representative hedged that "I can't confirm or deny this, because I have not seen a smoking gun."
But he also told his interviewer that to paint a discouraging picture of the landscape after passage of the bill, "Microsoft was going around telling our members that they wouldn't sell Surface Tablets in Washington any longer."
The state representative hedged that "I can't confirm or deny this, because I have not seen a smoking gun."
But he also told his interviewer that to paint a discouraging picture of the landscape after passage of the bill, "Microsoft was going around telling our members that they wouldn't sell Surface Tablets in Washington any longer."
which would prevent Microsoft from penalizing customers when they open up their devices
That's not right to repair. That's settled case law under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. Right to repair is about availability of parts and documentation.
The company that brought us the BSA and their reign of terror would NEVER stoop so low as to prevent consumers from doing whatever they want with the property they paid for.
BSA
Links to articles that show Microsoft's VERY poor management.
"Microsoft was going around telling our members that they wouldn't sell Surface Tablets in Washington any longer."
Why would anyone buy anything from Microsoft, let alone a tablet? Who will this affect, their one customer?
To be fair, lots of gov agencies use their Cloud products, mostly I assume because politicians like to be bought.
--XYZZY--
It's funny to see MS thinking it still is some big power in the IT market. I guess old habits die hard.
But I've seen more Zunes in my life, than I have seen anyone owning MS hardware. The last thing was one of those fake-ergonomic keyboards of the 2000s, that had the looks but none of the actual.ergonomics, and deliberately so.
I think you missed the elephant in the room. Or forest for the trees. Let's settle on elephant for the graveyard. :)
Funny. I didn't even associate the XBox with Microsoft. :/
Just like I always forget that Minecraft has been Microsoft for a long time.
Alright then... not that I ever was against stopping what Microsoft is trying to do. No mattter what it was. Given the by now probably preer-reviewed statistical six sigma guarantee that it's something evil. ;)
Wait...Not selling Surface Tablets, or rather anything with Windows on it, would be a *good* thing!
How about this instead: keep the right to repair, and let Microsoft die.
Please don't fall for the old "He's not evil when he beats me up yet again. He's just stupid, in a bad situation, ${insert excuse}!"
There's clear method for telling evil (or good) from incompetence (that I came up with. Even if the acting happens through puppets of a different level of competence. :
If the actions convege towards goal, the (real) actor is by definiton competent.
If they diverge into a broader, random distribution, with barely any or no higher likelihood in any place, the actor is either incompetent, or non-existing.
Beware however, that "the actor" can also be a swarm entity, without any of the parts that make up the sum being aware of it. It is still an actor... a "person" then. Just not what laypeople usually would call that.
Reality is usually somewhere in-between.
But please check, with a rational mind all your past observations for this, and don't just jump to the clear, easy, comforting but wrong "Never attribute to malice, what you can attribute to stupidity." mantra.
You know girls prefer boys, right? :)
They just didn't prefer you. ;)
Here's your D&D membership card and Yoda/Yaddle doll. Welome to Slashdot!
Its me, im the dumb asshole who spends my life on the internet bragging about a piece of shit text editor I cobbler together in between bouts of frothing at the mouth
apk
"I'm going to take my ball and go home!" is only a threat if the ball isn't flat and somehow infected with herpes.
In a world of the blind, the one-eyed man is king--and the two-eyed man is a heretic.
The Blue Screen of Death.
The Red Ring of Death.
and now... The Death of Right to Repair.
Is Microsoft the "Grim Reaper" of technology or something?!?
.
I wonder how far off-base the above is?
And there was great rejoicing in Washington and much sadness elsewhere
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
"Microsoft was going around telling our members that they wouldn't sell Surface Tablets in Washington any longer."
Next you know, they will threaten to stop selling Zunes.
in Washington anymore>"
And the down side is?!?
Even if you could repair a device which many are designed not to be repair friendly. The device makers seem to want to build in planned end of life for devices. So when they do break, fail, or even just have a worn battery they are not easily fixed so the user simply buys a new one. I think most people have been pretty much discouraged from considering repairing most technology. This goes way back to TV's and other consumer electronics, the TV repair business went away decades ago. Disposal technology is what is being manufactured today.
What would that mean for outside bug hunters and any bug-bounties MS has on its software? Isn't debugging Windows an attempt to repair it?
MS was always the villain that harassed by proxy behind the scenes trowing money or lending patents to copyright trolls to threaten competitors that are a menace to their business model, Linux included. If you call that "quietly" you have been living under a rock in the last 5 decades.
I want independent repair and extension of their software dammit! Decades now and they still are nowhere near getting it right. Multiple security problems every damn month and absolutely no effort expended on the hundreds of thousands of less serious bugs.
Starlord will be mighty disappointed once he's unsnapped.
America is over it no longer exist.
As a 60 year old I really cant wait till I die.
The stupid is so think I predict we will accidentally nuke ourself.
Why would anyone buy anything from Microsoft, let alone a tablet? Who will this affect, their one customer?
Millions of Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One video game consoles have been sold to people who prefer the convenience of letting Redmond manage their home entertainment experience.
"Microsoft was going around telling our members that they wouldn't sell Surface Tablets in Washington any longer."
Big corporations saying stuff like this should be a crime if it isn't already. Manipulative, low balling garbage.