If by changing you mean weakening.

See my other comment in the thread; based on the information out there, it really feels like the standards have not kept up with what's going on in the real world, and may be too strict in their definition of whether something's recyclable.

Of course, it's hard to say for certain, because the actual criteria aren't public -- some digging around turned up the fact that you have to buy the documents from IEEE.

i think more realistically, they are abandoning govt procurement as a business decision. for apple, i think this is smart, it allows them to avoid all of the bureaucracy of selling to govt agencies and better focus on consumers.

i don't buy any of the "IT lifecycle" arguments wrt apple equipment here either. for a massive govt contract like the state of california, the vendor is almost certainly required to replace any faulty equipment upon request...from the govt's perspective, reliability is simply a cost issue for the vendor themselves, not the buyer/govt