Microsoft is Now Supporting Right-to-Repair Legislation (grist.org) 44
Microsoft's headquarters are in the state of Washington — and this year when the state legislature considered a right-to-repair bill, Microsoft showed its support.
The nonprofit "climate solutions" site Grist reports that the committee considering that bill received an email from Microsoft's senior director of government affairs, saying that the bill "fairly balances the interests of manufacturers, customers, and independent repair shops and in doing so will provide more options for consumer device repair." The Fair Repair Act stalled out a week later due to opposition from all three Republicans on the committee and Senator Lisa Wellman, a Democrat and former Apple executive. (Apple frequently lobbies against right-to-repair bills, and during a hearing, Wellman defended the iPhone maker's position that it is already doing enough on repair.) But despite the bill's failure to launch this year, repair advocates say Microsoft's support — a notable first for a major U.S. tech company — is bringing other manufacturers to the table to negotiate the details of other right-to-repair bills for the first time.
"We are in the middle of more conversations with manufacturers being way more cooperative than before," Nathan Proctor, who heads the U.S. Public Research Interest Group's right-to-repair campaign, told Grist. "And I think Microsoft's leadership and willingness to be first created that opportunity...."
Like other consumer tech giants, Microsoft has historically fought right-to-repair bills while restricting access to spare parts, tools, and repair documentation to its network of "authorized" repair partners. In 2019, the company even helped kill a repair bill in Washington state. But in recent years the company has started changing its tune on the issue. In 2021, following pressure from shareholders, Microsoft agreed to take steps to facilitate the repair of its devices — a first for a U.S. company. Microsoft followed through on the agreement by expanding access to spare parts and service tools, including through a partnership with the repair guide site iFixit. The tech giant also commissioned a study that found repairing Microsoft products instead of replacing them can dramatically reduce both waste and carbon emissions. Microsoft has also started engaging more cooperatively with lawmakers over right-to-repair bills. In late 2021 and 2022, the company met with legislators in both Washington and New York to discuss each state's respective right-to-repair bill. In both cases, lawmakers and advocates involved in the bill negotiations described the meetings as productive...
When Washington lawmakers revived their right-to-repair bill for the 2023 legislative cycle, Microsoft once again came to the negotiating table. From state senator and bill sponsor Joe Nguyen's perspective, Microsoft's view was, "We see this coming, we'd rather be part of the conversation than outside. And we want to make sure it is done in a thoughtful way." Proctor, whose organization was also involved in negotiating the Washington bill, said that Microsoft had a few specific requests, including that the bill require repair shops to possess a third-party technical certification and carry insurance. It was also important to Microsoft that the bill only cover products manufactured after the bill's implementation date, and that manufacturers be required to provide the public only the same parts and documents that their authorized repair providers already receive. Some of the company's requests, Proctor said, were "tough" for advocates to concede on. "But we did, because we thought what they were doing was in good faith."
The nonprofit "climate solutions" site Grist reports that the committee considering that bill received an email from Microsoft's senior director of government affairs, saying that the bill "fairly balances the interests of manufacturers, customers, and independent repair shops and in doing so will provide more options for consumer device repair." The Fair Repair Act stalled out a week later due to opposition from all three Republicans on the committee and Senator Lisa Wellman, a Democrat and former Apple executive. (Apple frequently lobbies against right-to-repair bills, and during a hearing, Wellman defended the iPhone maker's position that it is already doing enough on repair.) But despite the bill's failure to launch this year, repair advocates say Microsoft's support — a notable first for a major U.S. tech company — is bringing other manufacturers to the table to negotiate the details of other right-to-repair bills for the first time.
"We are in the middle of more conversations with manufacturers being way more cooperative than before," Nathan Proctor, who heads the U.S. Public Research Interest Group's right-to-repair campaign, told Grist. "And I think Microsoft's leadership and willingness to be first created that opportunity...."
Like other consumer tech giants, Microsoft has historically fought right-to-repair bills while restricting access to spare parts, tools, and repair documentation to its network of "authorized" repair partners. In 2019, the company even helped kill a repair bill in Washington state. But in recent years the company has started changing its tune on the issue. In 2021, following pressure from shareholders, Microsoft agreed to take steps to facilitate the repair of its devices — a first for a U.S. company. Microsoft followed through on the agreement by expanding access to spare parts and service tools, including through a partnership with the repair guide site iFixit. The tech giant also commissioned a study that found repairing Microsoft products instead of replacing them can dramatically reduce both waste and carbon emissions. Microsoft has also started engaging more cooperatively with lawmakers over right-to-repair bills. In late 2021 and 2022, the company met with legislators in both Washington and New York to discuss each state's respective right-to-repair bill. In both cases, lawmakers and advocates involved in the bill negotiations described the meetings as productive...
When Washington lawmakers revived their right-to-repair bill for the 2023 legislative cycle, Microsoft once again came to the negotiating table. From state senator and bill sponsor Joe Nguyen's perspective, Microsoft's view was, "We see this coming, we'd rather be part of the conversation than outside. And we want to make sure it is done in a thoughtful way." Proctor, whose organization was also involved in negotiating the Washington bill, said that Microsoft had a few specific requests, including that the bill require repair shops to possess a third-party technical certification and carry insurance. It was also important to Microsoft that the bill only cover products manufactured after the bill's implementation date, and that manufacturers be required to provide the public only the same parts and documents that their authorized repair providers already receive. Some of the company's requests, Proctor said, were "tough" for advocates to concede on. "But we did, because we thought what they were doing was in good faith."
Microsoft hardware is an lot smaller then others (Score:2)
Microsoft hardware is an lot smaller then others who make big parts of the $$ on it / repairs.
Like
APPLE
John Deere
The car dealer ship network.
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I'd rather pay $10/m for GamesPass than Apple.... (Score:3)
Also, they are secure in their software and their push to reoccurring fees for licensing their OS and all other software while they simultaneously push advertisements to you.
I am much happier with my MS subscriptions than Apple purchases. $10/m for more games than me and my entire family can play?...and ones we actually enjoy playing?...that drastically reduced how much we were spending vs the Nintendo Switch or even my PC. I know it's fashionable to hate on MS, but since they got rid of Balmer, they're a much nicer company. I love the Surface and I love my XBox. My Apple devices? Expensive AF, often crippled. For example, both the LG/Apple UltraFine 5k and the Apple Stud
But didn't they just announce . . (Score:4, Insightful)
cutting back on their own hardware offerings?
https://www.theregister.com/20... [theregister.com]
Let me know when they support a "right to repair Office or Windows."
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But didn't they just announce . . cutting back on their own hardware offerings?
Their own hardware offerings are grossly unrepairable, so cutting back on them is improving the right to repair.
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Their hardware offerings are getting better and better. Even now they offer repair kits for a lot of their hardware, a huge step up from when they were awarded the first ever 0 out of 10 from Ifixit for one of the surface devices.
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Re:But didn't they just announce . . (Score:4, Insightful)
Not sure why you think an announcement about a company doing a subset of its unprofitable hardware business is related to the topic at hand.
Equally not sure why you think software has anything to do with the discussion.
We're you just so upset that a somewhat positive Microsoft story was posted on Slashdot that you started rambling pointlessly?
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The Office "Repair" button is right next to the "Uninstall" button in the Programs and Features control panel applet. Has been for decades now.
Repairing Windows is a bit harder, true. You have to go all the way through Start > Settings > Update & Security > Recovery and "Reset this PC" before you can push the actual button.
This doesn't sound any better than what Apple and (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: This doesn't sound any better than what Apple (Score:2)
Re: This doesn't sound any better than what Apple (Score:3, Funny)
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Last time I checked Microsoft's Surface machines were made of glue. Even authorized repair shops could not dismantle them for repairs, they had to throw away the entire case after breaking it to get in.
Which is funny that microsoft would do this (Score:2)
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Right To Repair Windows? (Score:5, Funny)
Can I have some of that juicy source code so I can fix my own Windows? I mean I did pay for it!! What? Hardware only?! Rats!!!
Schematic inside (Score:5, Interesting)
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To be fair to the mid 1970s you could buy the components from radio shack and fix anything with a soldering iron as thick as a thumb. Schematics are the least of your problems when repairing modern electronics.
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And here I thought you needed to know what was broken before even attempting a repair.
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You do: You replace a broken "camera module". Or a broken "logic board". Seeing a schematic is pointless when you don't have the tools to fix certain problem. We're now just entering the age of complete irreparability. Not even a well equipped repair shop can remove something like an electronic component embedded within layers of a circuit board, which is what we are starting to see on ultra compact circuits these days.
I'm all in favour of giving the people who have the ability to fix something a schematic.
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Seeing a schematic is pointless when you don't have the tools to fix certain problem.
Without a schematic, you don't even know what tools you need.
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I disagree. The components may look different and be more specialized, but I can repair my Fairphone 4 on the level of an average repair shop myself. The parts come from the manufacturer, true. But if this was standard, the components would get standardized as well and you could get them from different manufacturers. That you generally cannot repair things is manufacturer policy, not engineering requirement.
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You can repair your one example. That doesn't generalise. We're entering a world right now where parts are embedded in PCBs. Not sitting no top of them, but literally embedded within their layers. Your ability to repair high end electronics extends no further than swapping out certain boards. A detailed schematic won't help you. In fact it won't help most people without thousands of dollars of equipment.
By the way I'm not saying you shouldn't be able to get the schematic on request, just that there is ZERO
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Indeed. Back when I was a teenager, I learned a lot about electronics from some of these schematics. "Deny repair" is a newer trend.
Put your money where your mouth is (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe start by dropping arbitrary hardware requirements for your software that makes perfectly working computers obsolete by not being allowed to run your OS.
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Except there are no arbitrary requirements. All the requirements relate to features used by the os. You may argue that you don't want said features but that's a while different discussion.
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The requirement for TPM is arbitrary. Yes, I might lose some "feature" if my computer doesn't have it. Ok. I accept that "feature" loss. Now drop the requirement.
Re:Put your money where your mouth is (Score:4, Informative)
The requirements are arbitrary with regards to what users actually need. The TPM, for example, offers no tangible benefits to users but causes a lot of problems. "Secure boot" really is "restricted boot" and basically serves only to make Linux installation harder and hence is an illegal anti-competitive thing.
In addition, I may simply not want it. Making it a requirement is unacceptable. Making it a default that I can turn off (and that then _stays_ off) would be fine. Claiming it is necessary is a lie on the same level as "IE cannot be removed from Windows" was.
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Yep. And requirements that make very little sense in addition. This is a gift from MS to the hardware makers and should be illegal.
Where can I get the parts (Score:2)
to repair Windows 11?
{O.O}
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www.debian.org has everything you need for an excellent price.
Let's nail the revolving door shut (Score:5, Insightful)
The Fair Repair Act stalled out a week later due to opposition from all three Republicans on the committee and Senator Lisa Wellman, a Democrat and former Apple executive.
Right-to-Repair would be much less problematic, (and much less of a 'straw cow' for Microsoft to milk for PR purposes), if the country wasn't literally run by people who pass each other daily walking through the short, broad corridor that connects the government to big business.
We need to dynamite this corridor and enforce a separation between corporations, (arguably a religion BTW), and the government. Until we do that, we likely won't be able to restore truly responsible governance, and we'll keep having our blood sucked by corporate parasites. To add insult to injury, we'll also be subjected to more bullshit PR window dressing like this latest bit of Microsoft posturing.
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Indeed. Well said.
In particular, I agree that in the US, "business" has devolved into "religion" and is both take as "obviously good whatever it does" and as "obviously the only way to do things". Just as religion claims and just as wrong and unethical and destructive. In essence, it is a form of deep corruption.
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If you haven't already, you might want to check out Joel Bakan's "The Corporation" and "The New Corporation" films or books. There's probably not a lot there that you don't already know, but I found that they both focused my thinking and pointed out just how much worse corporate abuses are than even my worst imaginings. The scale, the scope, and the sheer matter-of-fact deliberateness of routine corporate wrongdoing are really driven home. The fact that corporations as they are currently constituted literal
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No problem. I do agree, this has to be solved and it has to be solved with people being held _personally_ responsible. Nothing else will work.
Corporations must be forced (Score:4, Insightful)
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Indeed. A corporation doing this without being forced to is either a very rare case of an ethical corporation (does not happen except some times with family ownership) or they already know it will cost them nothing or next to nothing and they are basically just virtue signalling for free.
Essentially, MS doing this is strong indication that it is meaningless to them and will not make a noticeable difference.
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Right to repair? (Score:1)
Right to repair? so when my Windows is broken I can fish around in the code and fix it?