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[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

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In a first-of-its-kind victory for the right-to-repair movement, Microsoft has agreed to take concrete steps to facilitate the independent repair of its devices following pressure from its shareholders.

On Monday, Microsoft and the investor advocacy nonprofit As You Sow reached an agreement concerning a shareholder resolution As You Sow filed in June urging the tech company to analyze the “environmental and social benefits” of making device repair easier. After months of negotiations, Microsoft has agreed to comply — and then some. Not only will the company study how increasing access to the parts and information needed for repair can reduce its contributions to climate change and electronic waste, it has also agreed to act on the findings of that study by the end of next year.

This is the first time a U.S. manufacturer has agreed to change its repair policies following investor pressure. But it might not be the last: In September, Green Century, a mutual fund company focused on environmentally responsible investing, filed two similar right-to-repair resolutions, one with Apple and another with Deere & Co., the agricultural equipment manufacturer best known for the John Deere tractor.

More information in the link but it's nice to see consumers gaining control over their devices post warranty or official support and have options combined with availability. Probably a win for small tech business repairs too. I have to agree with the article about this is a solid win for device repair instead of replacement and a victory for climate change and reuse over replace.

EDIT: Nice mistake in the title by me "it's should have been its". Sorry grammar police, I offer nothing to make amends.

 

[godhandiscen]

Right now, right to repair is an advantage for Microsoft since it is a diffentiator against their competition, Apple. Good move.

 

[nush]

I can see Microsoft repair franchisees popping up. They'll have found a way yo make some coin off this.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

I can see Microsoft repair franchisees popping up. They'll have found a way yo make some coin off this.

Parts sales and distribution I'd say. Sell the parts, let the dealers/repairers do the servicing and extended warranties etc.

Funny how such things could take us from the original centralised networking models of Unix days through home desktops/devices and likely back to cloud processing in the future. Repair and low grade devices will do plenty with cloud processing in not too long e.g. take your desktop and files anywhere on any device. We're basically there already but the adoption and up take rates will keep going up.

 

[Pagusas]

Love it. I wonder if I’d be willing to deal with bulkier phones if they were user repairable though. I think in certain situations Im ok giving up right to repair if it equals a better product in the end.

 

[Winter John]

Right now John Deere's CEO will be throwing a shit fit

 

[LordCBH]

So will they actually design their surface products to be repairable now? Because right now they’re an absolute nightmare to work with.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

Right now John Deere's CEO will be throwing a shit fit

Apple too. They design products to be replaced.

So will they actually design their surface products to be repairable now? Because right now they’re an absolute nightmare to work with.

It says by end of next year so I'd imagine any newer products coming out will be designed with this in mind and the after sales parts/servicing too. Existing products I'd guess they're just going to provide parts and a how to to dealers/repairers.

 

[Winter John]

I wouldn't be surprised if Deere's CEO is heading over to BIll's mansion right now with a rope and a shotgun.

 

[Ionian]

I can't imagine the smile on Louis Rossmans face.

Then again it's who they partner with to make it easier, I never had an issue with MS devices but I havn't repaired one in years.

Apple is the big one.

 

[Zenaku]

I remember thinking a year or so back how cool it would be if Nintendo released official info on their older hardware, how to fix/replace things etc, so seeing any company take steps towards that end is great in my book.

 

[ManaByte]

So will they actually design their surface products to be repairable now? Because right now they’re an absolute nightmare to work with.

This. Aren't the laptops glued shut?

 

[The Pleasure]

Fix my laptop microsoft! One month out of warranty and you wanted 800 to repair it for a known hardware issue!

 

[strange headache]

There used to be a time when companies released manuals on how to repair their products. In this day and age of throw-away consumerism, people just don't give a sh*t about sustainability anymore.
I'm glad Microsoft is leading the charge, it is about damn time somebody does something in that regard.

The right to repair is important because of 3 things:

1) Upholding consumer rights
2) Producing less waste
3) Saving money

Unfortunately, Apple zombies don't care about consumer rights, nor do they give a crap about the environment. Just keep buying the next product, that's all that matters.
For all their whining about creating a better world, they are some of the worst offenders when it comes to producing needless electronic waste.

 

[theclaw135]

Step by step. I can't wait for more proprietary components to be phased out. Every device having a different battery and charging port has gone too far.

 

[prinz_valium]

Nice.
The Xbox is already proving this, since Xbox One X and s.

So easy to repair.
Surface now also gets replaceable SSDs.

Now imagine if you could source power ICs that broke.

 

[HoodWinked]

Serviceability is good for certain things and products where bulk doesn't matter but it's tough because for laptops and phones form and weight is vastly more important.

Though it's why we have multiple product skus. Ultralight laptops vs standard laptops. Ultra light the trade off is less serviceability, more proprietary parts to get it down to the size and fit.

 

[UnNamed]

Yeah... Good luck to remove the Surface monitor.

 

[Zeroing]

Apple will never follow and allow it. They clue, solder and even take out anything if it makes repairs impossible.

 

[Punished Miku]

There used to be a time when companies released manuals on how to repair their products. In this day and age of throw-away consumerism, people just don't give a sh*t about sustainability anymore.
I'm glad Microsoft is leading the charge, it is about damn time somebody does something in that regard.

The right to repair is important because of 3 things:

1) Upholding consumer rights
2) Producing less waste
3) Saving money

Unfortunately, Apple zombies don't care about consumer rights, nor do they give a crap about the environment. Just keep buying the next product, that's all that matters.
For all their whining about creating a better world, they are some of the worst offenders when it comes to producing needless electronic waste.

Chip shortages and mineral shortages might make this trendy again.

 

[Fbh]

Good hopefully more companies follow.
If nothing else I think the environmental concerns of younger consumers will start to push more companies to do things like that. The throwaway product mentality is shit anyway.

Love it. I wonder if I’d be willing to deal with bulkier phones if they were user repairable though. I think in certain situations Im ok giving up right to repair if it equals a better product in the end.

I'm the other way around I guess.
I'd be willing to take a bulkier phone with an ugly plastic back if it means it's easier to repair and simple stuff like a battery replacement can be done by myself in a couple of seconds.
I miss the times when a battery would start to fail and you could just go to the store, buy an original replacement for like $20 and change it yourself in literally 10 seconds. These sleek glass back covers do nothing for me since I put a case on all my phones anyway.

I also think if companies start to care and invest in R&D for more repairable friendly products you can still find a compromise between repairability and design.
Like the Framework laptop looks pretty good IMO for a repairable/upgradable focused device.

 

[M1chl]

This. Aren't the laptops glued shut?

Now they are not, you can open it quite without hassle, but what you find is small board, few flex cables and batteries. There isn't anything repairable to common tools there. It's almost incredible how nothing there is on latest laptops and yes I have one and if it wouldn't be moneymaker, I wouldn't buy it.

 

[V1LÆM]

i don't know about their surface products but the new xbox consoles are a joy to disassemble (yeah i'm a nerd who loves taking stuff apart). they are very modular and very well designed. good on microsoft.

next up google, amazon, and ultimately Apple.

Apple will never follow and allow it. They clue, solder and even take out anything if it makes repairs impossible.

i miss the days of the 3G/3GS. i remember cracking my screen. bought a cheap replacement glass/digitizer, frame, LCD, and thought fuck it a new battery too. replaced it all myself with ease. my old 2008 macbook originally came with 2GB RAM and a 250GB HDD. i swapped that shit out for 8GB RAM and a 250GB SSD. after a few years once my battery had worn out i slapped a new battery in. now you need to future proof/spend more (A LOT MORE...you pay what Apple wants!) for your RAM/STORAGE at purchase cause if you run out then you're fucked cause: "just buy a new mac" - apple. and eventually once your battery degrades: "just buy a new mac" - apple.

 

[FunkMiller]

Excellent news.

 

[daveonezero]

That isn’t how rights work.

the problem is more regulatory and restrictions on manufacturing that doesn’t allow companies to make innovative new devices with things like modular design.

or it is just prohibitively expensive.

FCC has denied devices that have hardware switches.

 

[AngelaLifman]

There used to be a time when companies released manuals on how to repair their products. In this day and age of throw-away consumerism, people just don't give a sh*t about sustainability anymore.
I'm glad Microsoft is leading the charge, it is about damn time somebody does something in that regard.

The right to repair is important because of 3 things:

1) Upholding consumer rights
2) Producing less waste
3) Saving money

Unfortunately, Apple zombies don't care about consumer rights, nor do they give a crap about the environment. Just keep buying the next product, that's all that matters.

For all their whining about creating a better world, they are some of the worst offenders when it comes to producing needless electronic waste. I would recommend all such people to go to the website and read what resource recovery is and how important it is. Because I didn't think about it before, but then in college we started studying this problem and I found this site. He then helped me write my assignments, so I am confident in his usefulness.​

It is very cool that Microsoft has started to develop this area and makes device recovery more affordable. I will be very happy if the company promotes the idea of less frequent release of new models, so that people use their device longer, and not chase after new products. Here they can increase prices, but the number of changes over time may increase. It is possible that Apple will one day abandon its annual release of similar models.