This is the weirdest news I’ve seen so far, but I just saw Louis Rossmann talk about how Microsoft will now share parts schematics with all repair shops starting in 2022, after numerous investor complaints.
It’s really bizarre seeing this happen so quickly, but it’s good news for everyone nonetheless. Framework’s modularity should hopefully keep the company afloat as right-to-repair standards slowly become more commonplace.
What do you think?
This is a big win, but the win is only one small battle.
There’s a long way to go to get to obtaining an actual right to repair. It’d be much better if they stopped lobbying anti-right to repair legislation, but something is better than nothing.
Honestly, I feel like this is more of a method to turn the tide of anger from MS insisting perfectly capable hardware is incapable of running Windows 11.
There is no way they are not seeing an uptick in Linux adoption in the wake of it. (Valve’s posturing with the Steam Deck and Steam OS has some pretty massive implications, and MS, or rather their board is not blind to it.)
By embracing right to repair, or at least giving the impression that is what they are doing, gives them an opportunity to extend an olive branch to that crowd. If it sticks this is a good thing.
Could you imagine a Surface pro made to be repairable in the same way as the Framework laptop?
I am just glad the GPL is a thing in all of this corporate adoption of free-r hardware. Because a lot of people are (rightfully) still skeptical of Microsoft looking to expand and conquer everything. Imagine if Linux got scooped up by a giant company and turned proprietary or even dead because it didn’t have the crucial GPL license of “anything you make with this must be open-sourced too”
Call me a cynic, but we have yet to see what they actually will do, as their agreement hasn’t translated to actual policy yet. We also have seen recent designs like the new surface lineup, which appears to be about as difficult to repair as laptops can get. The road ahead still has a long way to go.
You mean like red hat or canonical?