Apple fucked us on right to repair (again)
Time was when a person could build and program their own computer using any parts they wanted. Tech types valued their ability to build, diagnose, repair, and optimize their own equipment.<p>From the responses here, I can only surmise that&#x27;s attitude is considered old fashioned now.<p>I lost interest in Apple product after going go through a Kafkian experience trying to use the standard serial port on the early iPod&#x2F;iPhone connectors. Was trying to build a prototype of a handheld compass app, using a magnetometer board we designed that plugged into the connector and drew power from the phone. Everything worked fine, except I couldn&#x27;t get the serial port software working in the phone app. Apple wouldn&#x27;t let me use the serial port without a special MFI chip, requiring me to fill out tons of financial paperwork (Dun and Broadstreet etc), business plans, sales estimates, target markets, etc. They were not interested in helping me out at all.<p>Not sure why Apple decided that serial ports were off limits. This is about the oldest comm technology out there. <i>sigh</i><p>Anyhow, I read that hobbyists were working around the limitations by using the microphone port as a modem. Basically modulate the serial data, send as a waveform into microphone port, then demodulate the audio stream in software. Clever.<p>So I went and built this. Only to find that Apple had recently decided to close the &quot;audio hole&quot;, forcing me to use an MFI chip to get access to the microphone port.<p>The more I dug, the more I found everything locked down. I realized Apple didn&#x27;t want me actually using any of the standard interfaces I&#x27;d come accustomed to using in my decades long career in tech. Beautiful phone, I just couldn&#x27;t use it outside of the curated experience. Not without their permission (read: tax).<p>It was the most anti-consumer piece of electronics I&#x27;d ever enountered. I&#x27;m assuming it&#x27;s much much worse now.<p>If Apple dared, they&#x27;d consider locking down WiFi access as well. I&#x27;m sure they&#x27;ve toyed with the idea of forcing all WiFi router manufacturers to purchase an MFI chip to interoperate with Apple product.<p>What the kids here seem to want is a curated experience, and they&#x27;re willing to pay $$$ every month for a device they can&#x27;t open, repair, modify, etc.<p>Good luck to you and your leased phone experience, you only compute at Apple&#x27;s pleasure. I fear for the subsequent generations raised in a market where this exploitive behavior has become normalized.<p>&#x2F;old-timer-rant