We are headed to a crazy world. Cory Doctorow's message on the War on General Purpose Computing is more relevant than ever. For anyone that hasn't seen his Cory, he's got numerous videos on Youtube. Check out some of his talks at Google.
The idea that something like that could be locked behind components that can't be fixed or replaced cheaply is astounding to them.
I feel like it's the same as asking Henry Ford what he thinks about all the electronics in today's cars. It'd blow his mind.
For me, yes. I do think differently about these warnings.
We are in an interesting time. How we resolve these basics are going to impact people and the planet for a very long time.
It also impacts what I do. One thing is I am extremely reluctant to depend on things I cannot repair. Grew up rural, and repair was a basic skill in life.
I am thankful for it. Has saved me so many times.
Right to repair is a major issue, close to my heart.
As far as I am concerned, this is exactly what I expected, and I am seriously surprised anyone could be surprised by it. Like, I was not necessarily thinking specifically about tractors 15 years ago, but I think it was just obvious that DRM would be used to gain control over devices that are run by software, and obviously pretty much all devices sooner or later would be run by software, and as such, of course, tractors would be, too, sooner or later.