For tech-weary Midwest farmers, 40-year-old tractors now a hot commodity
This is one of the single best examples of the ludicrous nature of the recent pattern of loss of right-to-repair with regards to software and hardware control.<p>John Deere is literally bottom-barrel scum of, well, I guess, now - the tech industry - and it&#x27;s their own fault that farmers are turning to purchasing older models.<p>&#x27;“There’s an affinity factor if you grew up around these tractors, but it goes way beyond that,” Peterson said. “These things, they’re basically bulletproof. You can put 15,000 hours on it and if something breaks you can just replace it. It&#x27;s not even just the price difference - the newer machines, any time something breaks, you’ve got to have a computer to fix it.”&#x27;<p>The article then goes on to mention they&#x27;re SOL, with the tractor stuck in the field for potentially days while they wait for a technician to come and charge $150&#x2F;hr to fix it.<p>First off, farmers are not, for the most part, computer or software technicians. While there are certainly exceptions (I was only a farmer for 4-5 years of my life, total, I don&#x27;t think I count), I&#x27;ve spent years on and off living on farms, and a lot of farmers in the rural US and Canada are lucky to even just have access to Satellite internet. I imagine doing a case study of farmers who would have an identical tractor with and without the software, and seeing how many would actually even use or miss it. I&#x27;m guessing not a lot.<p>The idea of relying on software technology is profoundly alien - and high-risk - to even just the culture of most farmers. To then put arbitrary restrictions on repair is far more than enough reason to ignore the newer products, especially with the familiarity and known reliability of older models.<p>It&#x27;s a 2011 vs. 2017 MacBook Pro kinda deal - pretty much the same insides, but with out the ability for the user to go in and upgrade the RAM or the SSD to add any value afterwards, and the removal of familiar and useful ports. And if one part breaks, you&#x27;re screwed and stuck travelling to an Apple store, if you&#x27;re fortunate enough to have one in your area.<p>Right to Repair is one of the most critical things we as tech users need to be defending in the upcoming years. I&#x27;ve been buying Apple computers exclusively for 15+ years, and I will be buying a Lenovo next, as Apple has taken away my right to repair and upgrade the device myself, while simultaneously removing features, and raising the price.<p>If I was still a farmer, you wouldn&#x27;t catch me dead buying a new John Deere - I could never bring myself to support such obvious greed and stranglehold control.<p>At least with a Tesla, you&#x27;d get the benefit of it being an EV. Maybe that&#x27;s a fair enough trade to lose your RtR.<p>But with John Deere and Apple, by buying a new product of theirs, you are literally removing the rights and abilities you had several years ago. That is just pure greed - and we need to vote with our money.