Steve Wozniak calls out former employer Apple for their stance against Right to Repair

[NotTheFirstDaniel]

Summary

In a video directed towards Louis Rossmann, Steve Wozniak, a co-founder of Apple, spells out his grievances against Apple specifically about their stance against Right to Repair. Wozniak, a subscriber of Rossmann's, recalls Apple's success in the early days with the Apple II, claiming that Apple wouldn't be as successful as it is today without the openness of the Apple II and it's architecture. Back in the day, Wozniak would go as far as to include a schematic in the box of every Apple II. 

 

He ends the video with the statement "Is it your computer, or is it some company's computer? It's time to start doing the right things."

 

Quotes

Quote

In the video, Woz goes on to illustrate how the prevalence of open-source tech was instrumental to many of his and Apple’s early breakthroughs

 

Of course. the irony here is that even though Woz hasn’t been an official Apple employee since he left the company in 1985, Apple along with other major tech giants like Microsoft have been some of the biggest players in the fight against the right to repair movement

 

Apple, for its part, has vigorously fought right to repair initiatives in the U.S. and abroad, lobbying against bills that would expand consumer repair options beyond first-party services and company-authorized facilities.

 

My thoughts

I don't know if this belongs in general discussion or if this belongs in tech news. If a mod wants to move it to general discussion, I'll completely understand, but I thought that since this is tech, and technically "news" (A person like this supporting right to repair in the way he called out Apple should be news), I'd post it here.

 

First of all, the irony. It's just funny how the co-founder of Apple is calling out Apple decades later for not respecting the repair industry. But Woz has always been a quaint man in my opinion. He never saw dollar signs, he saw fun and joy out of his products. That's what, in my opinion, makes him so wholesome. Someone who actually cares about the industry, and isn't in it for the money, fame, or power.

 

Hopefully this, including with the awaiting directive from the POTUS, puts the Right to Repair movement in the mainstream, enough for people to donate to the cause, and enough to make it a direct ballot initiative. That's what we want. That's the fastest and easiest way to pass something as big as a Right to Repair Act. With big names like the POTUS and the literal inventor of one of the most successful computer lines ever being in support of Right to Repair, maybe millionaire donors will donate to the cause, because from what I hear, direct ballot initiatives cost a lot of money especially when you are dealing with the biggest names in technology, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, who can afford to spend billions lobbying against it.

 

Sources

Steve Wozniak Supports the Right to Repair Movement (gizmodo.com)

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is a right to repair advocate | AppleInsider

 

[CommanderAlex]

32 minutes ago, NotTheFirstDaniel said:

I don't know if this belongs in general discussion or if this belongs in tech news. If a mod wants to move it to general discussion, I'll completely understand, but I thought that since this is tech, and technically "news" (A person like this supporting right to repair in the way he called out Apple should be news), I'd post it here.

 

 

32 minutes ago, NotTheFirstDaniel said:

with the awaiting directive from the POTUS, puts the Right to Repair movement in the mainstream, enough for people to donate to the cause, and enough to make it a direct ballot initiative.

 

32 minutes ago, NotTheFirstDaniel said:

maybe millionaire donors will donate to the cause, because from what I hear, direct ballot initiatives cost a lot of money especially when you are dealing with the biggest names in technology, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, who can afford to spend billions lobbying against it.

I really hope we don't get political about this topic now... 

 

 

[NotTheFirstDaniel]

21 minutes ago, SpiderMan said:

I really hope we don't get political about this topic now... 

I wouldn't say this is getting political. Getting political is talking about specific people/parties. The POTUS will have a directive on this. Right to Repair has been lobbied against. These aren't politics, they're just facts.

 

But, to preserve the thread I can clean the post up a bit at a mod's request.

[CommanderAlex]

Just now, NotTheFirstDaniel said:

I wouldn't say this is getting political. Getting political is talking about specific people/parties. The POTUS will have a directive on this. Right to Repair has been lobbied against. These aren't politics, they're just facts.

 

But, to preserve the thread I can clean the post up a bit at a mod's request.

Still sounds like it skims the line of politics as The President and lobbying are associated with, well you guessed it, politics. 

 

 

On the other hand, I'm surprised that Wozniak spoke up about the Right-to-Repair movement and how Apple's business practices are usually against this. 

[Spotty]