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Re:Apple must ensure interoperability of iPhone with rivals,... by szvsw on Sunday December 22, 2024 @07:44PM (#42490583)
I think you’ve articulated it pretty clearly here, but I still have minor quibbles. Back to the original point… I might be misconstruing it, but reads a bit like this to me: something should be free of consumer protections if consumers have cheaper alternatives; they chose the more expensive option, and therefore they should suffer the consequences of that good or bad; and furthermore, we shouldn’t care if the company selling the product (allegedly) actively works to make it harder for them to transition to the cheaper alternatives in the future should they so desire.

Does that seem like a misconstruction of the part of the argument that we originally started this string of comments on? I think there are other slightly better arguments against it but this one seems pretty flawed to me.

It seems reasonable to me that when a product hits some critical, hard-to-define adoption threshold, even if it is a “luxury” choice by your definition, there is still a good argument for placing consumer protections in place. It’s also reasonable to believe those actions would be nanny-state failings, stifle innovation, drive business away etc etc, but I do think the first point of view is reasonable.

Re:Apple must ensure interoperability of iPhone with rivals,... by Dalewyn on Sunday December 22, 2024 @07:56PM (#42490673)
I'm not passing judgment one way or another regarding consumer protections here, though I personally find EU more draconian than my preferences and whether they're effective is up for debate (GDPR is a hilarious failure, USB-C mandate is a resounding success).

Though, I think that when someone deliberately chooses to buy a luxury good (much less one that costs a 4 figure sum) they lose some of their standing to complain. Kind of like how I don't complain about my beer because someone will yell at me that I just shouldn't buy the beer if I don't like it and he would be absolutely right.

Re:Apple must ensure interoperability of iPhone with rivals,... by WWLink on Sunday December 22, 2024 @08:02PM (#42490715)
> I'm not passing judgment one way or another regarding consumer protections here, though I personally find EU more draconian than my preferences and whether they're effective is up for debate (GDPR is a hilarious failure, USB-C mandate is a resounding success).

The hell are you talking about GPDR being a resounding failure? It's been pretty awesome. I love bills like that.

Re:Apple must ensure interoperability of iPhone with rivals,... by jandrewrogers on Sunday December 22, 2024 @08:39PM (#42490924)
My experience is that GDPR added a lot of compliance activity at companies but did not materially improve actual privacy. Companies pretty much do what they did before GDPR, just with a layer of bureaucratic indirection in between now. I'm pretty sure that wasn't the intent but that's where we are, and in that sense it was a failure.
Re:Apple must ensure interoperability of iPhone with rivals,... by matheusmoreira on Sunday December 22, 2024 @10:58PM (#42491627)
It's not a "luxury good". That's just what Apple's marketing department would have you believe.

It's a handheld computer. That's what it is. That's what it should be. And we should own our computers. And those computers should run whatever software we choose. And they should be able to network with every other computer on the planet. No bullshit restrictions.

Re:Apple must ensure interoperability of iPhone with rivals,... by Dalewyn on Monday December 23, 2024 @12:04AM (#42491926)
Libre Computing is an entirely different matter from whether iPhones are luxury goods.
Re:Apple must ensure interoperability of iPhone with rivals,... by matheusmoreira on Monday December 23, 2024 @01:36AM (#42492310)
I'm glad you agree. Because it's not about libre anything.

I don't believe I should "lose some of my standing to complain" after buying any product whatsoever. Cheap, expensive, "luxury", you name it. I believe I should gain standing after paying for something. I believe should fully own the thing after buying it. Especially $1000+ "luxury" smartphones. I believe I should never end up being a serf in the corporation's digital fiefdom.