John Deere did a similar thing in the USA, they locked all there agricultural machinery software, so to diagnose and repair anything was dealer only, as farmers and independent workshops had no access to the diagnostic kit, repair manuals and data etc.
So, if your combine harvester broke down in peak harvest, with 3000 acres left to cut, rain on it's way, and the dealer can't come out for a week, you're absolutely f****** All for what could be a simple broken wire on a sensor, and a 10 minute repair.
But! The farmers viciously fought back, big law suits followed and the 'right to repair' bill was passed, which gave farmers and independents access to diagnostic kit, and all the manuals and repair data.
Hopefully this will be the start of a sea change in this software ownership and secrecy nightmare, if people walk away from locked in products, the manufacturers will have to change their game. Although the likes of Apple are too big to fail in this respect, and the dedicated Apple disciples don't seem to care that their products become slow, unusable and obsolete after a couple of years, as they are constantly being sold the latest 'must have'.
So, if your combine harvester broke down in peak harvest, with 3000 acres left to cut, rain on it's way, and the dealer can't come out for a week, you're absolutely f****** All for what could be a simple broken wire on a sensor, and a 10 minute repair.
But! The farmers viciously fought back, big law suits followed and the 'right to repair' bill was passed, which gave farmers and independents access to diagnostic kit, and all the manuals and repair data.
Hopefully this will be the start of a sea change in this software ownership and secrecy nightmare, if people walk away from locked in products, the manufacturers will have to change their game. Although the likes of Apple are too big to fail in this respect, and the dedicated Apple disciples don't seem to care that their products become slow, unusable and obsolete after a couple of years, as they are constantly being sold the latest 'must have'.
