--All that being said, I have a question for the posters in this thread, hoping that I will not engender, more wasteful and meaningless hostility, but just more reasoned argument. Does anyone here seriously contend that by making its products increasingly more fortified against even the most mundane maintenance, that Apple is merely pursuing efficiency, and not trying to create a proprietary empire?
I'm fairly sure they're doing both. I don't much like being locked out of hardware, either from a maintenance perspective, or a software one, but at least in Apple's case the products are generally good. And on the few occasions where I *have* needed to get inside something to fix/upgrade, it's been possible, just somtimes hard. And they're doing exactly what every single other hardware manufacturer would do, if they could afford it. Apples pockets are just deeper and their top to bottom integration lets them do more.
However some things are definitely more about the product design rather than about making things difficult. The new retina screen, for example, is tough to repair, with the whole top of the laptop being the display assembly, rather than it being a shell with a display inside as a seperate unit. Yet I can see the advantages of doing that, in keeping the unit thin, and not having additional layers getting in the way of the display. Repair possibilities seem largely limited to replacing the whole display, rather than swapping any of the innards, but provided it is still *possible* I'm not sure it's the end of the world.
However using 5-pointed screws? That's just plain wankery.
I hope it's just a phase they're all going through, and once the dam finally breaks on controlling content, they'll stop, because it's an expensive waste of everyone's time, as with software DRM, etc.
--What if you were forced to buy a new car every 2 to 4 years? Or else, take it to the dealership where they could remove the special proprietary glue, in order to do a $300 oil change, an $800 tuneup, or a put on a $2000 set of tires. And if you were to need a new transmission, you could only sell your beloved hooptee for scrap metal and get a new, and very different one, lacking some of the now obsolete features, you had grown to depend on. And used vehicles would be relatively new, few, and far between.
Well, you're not *forced* to buy a new Apple product every 2-4 years, and they're considerably cheaper than a new car. Computers are generally well supported for a long time. Phones, pads, etc. less so - maybe 2-3 years before you can kiss goodbye to updates (though nothing stops you from continuing to use them as-is). I mean, our household has many Apple products, we like most of them a lot. But I don't think many of them are particularly new. There's an iPad 2, which is over a year old, and thats easily the newest. I like the new stuff they've brought out since, but I simply don't need any of it yet, because my old stuff works fine.
I get that some people *must* have the latest gear, and I envy their money if they can afford to keep up, but it's certainly not necessary. And to be honest, it's not an Apple specific thing. Long before Apple came along, most people I know upgraded their damn phone once or twice a year. Indeed the folks that I know who have iPhones probably upgrade *less* than those who are using Android phones or whatever.
But I follow your general argument. Regularly Apple wave some new shiny thing in people's faces, and it offers a few new features people want, but at the same time, quitely removes some previously available freedom. And once its accepted, everyone else follows suit, and soon people forget that their phones used to have removable batteries. And some people complain, but most don't care because they've never removed the battery from their phone except by accident.
However, I'm sorry to report, but cars are *already* doing down this route. A modern car is computer controlled, and I can assure you they're locked down pretty tight, with the main ECU in a sealed can and communication around the car encrypted. New parts, even relatively mundane ones, are coded to the car and can typically only be fitted by the dealer, unless hacked.
The newer model of my own car has several new features which I'd like, and which are *entirely* software based, with the onboard computer being exactly the same. However if I want them, I have to buy a new model, as the manufacturer will not release an update for cars even a few *months* old.
These things are, of course, hackable - but in the case of a car, you may not only invalidate your warranty, but could potentially run the risk of invalidating your insurance...
I suspect car manufacturers are fleecing individual customers for *far* more money than Apple are.
Ultimately I think that the possibilities for repairing electronics are reducing *regardless* of the deliberate attempts to obfuscate or obstruct. People simply want smaller yet more powerful devices, and that means miniaturistion and integration, which results in modern hardware consisting of SoC devices with only a small amount of supporting circuitry. I think as a result, unless a device is built with maintenance *specifically* in mind, its only a matter of time, even if some companies didn't have their foot on the accelerator.
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