News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:India follows EU's example in requiring USB-C charging fo... by ho_schi on Friday November 18, 2022 @06:46AM (#33653316)
Yes and no. This is a short/mid-term directive and as well a power-plug standard. Which is common across the world for decades. We all happily live with that already. Anyway, your basic idea is leading in a good direction and shall cover all important features:

    * Replacement parts for 5 (smartphone), 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 (plane) years
    * Open specification for replacement parts (manufacturer goes out of business, third parties take over)
    * Maintenance manuals. Like Lenovo provides for ThinkPads with explosive diagrams. FOR FREE.
    * If software is included, manufacturer must state in packaging how long upgrades and updates will be provided.
    * If software is included, it must be user replaceable. Even on an appliance, the manufacturer must provide instructions (e.g. EEPROM, replaceable chip, dongle which shows that software was user modified -> important for safety)
    * Repairability
    * More stuff...
And every half year this rules will be re-evaluated and will show it with traffic signal colors {green, yellow, red}. Therefore it will adopt constantly and not a fixed final law. The taxes for red signals will pay for this constant re-evaluation. So you can still buy an iPhone but it will show some green parts and a lot of red. And an Android will show similar things. While a ThinkPad will probably show a lot of green but one big fat red for the soldered RAM. It also doesn't state that a largely red product is from an "evil" manufacturer, maybe it is a small business shipping a small batch for a specific customer base. While, when you buy a product which is green in all areas, you probably made a long term investment.

PS: I doesn't necessarily need to rise prices, which politicians often do because it is "easy". Maybe replace the FAT or parts of it.

Re:India follows EU's example in requiring USB-C charging fo... by IfOnlyYouKnew on Friday November 18, 2022 @07:27AM (#33653628)
And this is why they don't let tech people write laws...
Re:India follows EU's example in requiring USB-C charging fo... by ho_schi on Friday November 18, 2022 @09:25AM (#33655134)
We wouldn't write every year a new additional law and instead apply one template based generic? And use tests before the high-court will rip it in pieces? And put the changing details in regulations?

Aside from that. I still love the first paragraph of the German traffic law:

    (1) Participation in road traffic requires constant caution and mutual consideration.
    (2) Anyone participating in traffic must behave in such a way that no other person is harmed, endangered or obstructed or inconvenienced more than is unavoidable under the circumstances.
The most important, sane and violated law. I mean? You don't need even one more paragraph. I says "Don't be a mad. Care about others. Be nice to each other.".