Companies should be required by law to completely open devices when they end support for them
-
@magnetichuman @thomasfuchs We'll let 'em use tomato sauce, we aren't monsters

@brad @thomasfuchs employees say Terry is the best CEO they can remember
-
Companies should be required by law to completely open devices when they end support for them
If they don’t, the penalty should be that the CEO has to eat the bricked devices
@thomasfuchs and all schematics and documents should be given to states in case the company doesn't survive.
-
Companies should be required by law to completely open devices when they end support for them
If they don’t, the penalty should be that the CEO has to eat the bricked devices
@thomasfuchs @Gargron
Yes, with these tweaks:
1) The law should say they are automatically open on lack of support.
2) Details on opening devices is kept as a wind down plan.This covers collapsing companies and closing legal entities as well as lazy ones moving on.
-
@mihamarkic @thomasfuchs There's no legitimate reason to #EoL almost all devices…
- We don't EoL pacemakers either!
@kkarhan @thomasfuchs Not forcibly, but eventually every device meets its end.
-
Companies should be required by law to completely open devices when they end support for them
If they don’t, the penalty should be that the CEO has to eat the bricked devices
@thomasfuchs it doesn't seem like this will prevent people from emailing books (bought or downloaded elsewhere) to their kindles, no? it's a pretty simple operation and if anyone (like me) is still holding on to a 2008 kindle it's worth it to learn it

-
@thomasfuchs I can tell you what I won't be doing, and that is buying a replacement. Like my nest thermostat, I'll be replacing it with a device off their network.
Less reason to have Amazon devices in my house.
@m750 @thomasfuchs i think you can still email ebooks to your kindle after this. you just have to download or buy them elsewhere
-
@thomasfuchs it doesn't seem like this will prevent people from emailing books (bought or downloaded elsewhere) to their kindles, no? it's a pretty simple operation and if anyone (like me) is still holding on to a 2008 kindle it's worth it to learn it

@thomasfuchs idk what the new ones are like, but mine is old enough that i can plug it into my computer and drag books to it lol
-
@mijndert @thomasfuchs And this is why I bought a roomba that isn't connected. It doesn't care about servers shutting down because it doesn't know about the internet.
Old tech is sadly sometimes more reliable.
@karl @thomasfuchs which one do you have if I may ask?
-
@kkarhan @thomasfuchs Not forcibly, but eventually every device meets its end.
@mihamarkic @thomasfuchs yes and no.
- Yes as in there are things that will inevitably die over use and time (like #RAM, #SSD|s, #HDD|s, Electrolytic Capacitors, Batteries, …) but there are standardized form factors for these (or in the case of Capacitors: Solid Caps!) so they can be replaced and made #repairable…
- No as in stuff like #Nissan's #Cars and #Amazon's #Kindle devices are artificial " #ReducedLifecycle " have no legitimate reason to get bricked remotely!
-
@thomasfuchs it doesn't seem like this will prevent people from emailing books (bought or downloaded elsewhere) to their kindles, no? it's a pretty simple operation and if anyone (like me) is still holding on to a 2008 kindle it's worth it to learn it

@budin @thomasfuchs it's unclear how usable kindles that have been reset/deregistered for re-sale if you cannot register them any more. Can these be used with calibre/sideload if reset after this date?
Also, it means that people like me with multiple kindles cannot sync books and reading position across such devices
-
@karl @thomasfuchs which one do you have if I may ask?
@mijndert @thomasfuchs 782e, it is quite an old model.
-
@dnparadice @thomasfuchs I have been trying to 100 percent avoid Amazon, but with a lot of places to buy eBooks from, it's more walled gardens. Kobo requires their own hardware or an Adobe ID. The books I want to buy are rarely available at other sources. I have tried so much, but everything is so complicated and time consuming and in the end I'm not owning my books.
I am back to sailing the high seas and instead of paying publishers I'm donating to the authors directly. If they offer that.@Eatsbluecrayon Didn't know about the Kobo limitations (Adobe ID, indeed!). I'll have to look further afield.
-
Companies should be required by law to completely open devices when they end support for them
If they don’t, the penalty should be that the CEO has to eat the bricked devices
@thomasfuchs
> “The challenge is that these devices were built for a different era and are not equipped to run newer, more data-hungry services and features,” he told the BBC, adding that “ageing hardware” could also pose problems.It's a fucking book reader, why would it need any "newer, more data-hungry services and features"
-
@thomasfuchs
A helpful reminder that digital goods don't "exist". Access is only at the benevolent grace of EvilCorp ass-hats, non perpetual untouchable for your children and friends.Give real books a try. They're easy on the eyes and never become e-waste.
@TrimTab @thomasfuchs that's easy to say if your eyesight is good. But frankly, the ability to make letters on my e-reader bigger has been a real lifesaver for me - there are many books, especially reference books, that in print for are just nor really readable for me without literal headaches.
-
@thomasfuchs
A helpful reminder that digital goods don't "exist". Access is only at the benevolent grace of EvilCorp ass-hats, non perpetual untouchable for your children and friends.Give real books a try. They're easy on the eyes and never become e-waste.
@TrimTab @thomasfuchs also DRM-free ebooks definitely exist? I bought a ton of those over the years and I feel pretty good about it. Yes, ebooks from amazon are shit due to DRM, but in many other ecosystems (like for example almost all online bookstores in my home country) you can just buy a DRM-free file.
-
@mijndert @thomasfuchs 782e, it is quite an old model.
@karl @thomasfuchs Interesting! I guess my Roomba i7's are working still, and I hope they will for a while. Otherwise I hope they will either open up the API for these devices (not holding my breathe) or we find a way to reverse engineer. Don't want to throw away perfectly usable hardware obviously.
-
@dnparadice @thomasfuchs I have been trying to 100 percent avoid Amazon, but with a lot of places to buy eBooks from, it's more walled gardens. Kobo requires their own hardware or an Adobe ID. The books I want to buy are rarely available at other sources. I have tried so much, but everything is so complicated and time consuming and in the end I'm not owning my books.
I am back to sailing the high seas and instead of paying publishers I'm donating to the authors directly. If they offer that.@Eatsbluecrayon @dnparadice @thomasfuchs they do? I have a kobo account and can read on my phone with the app - I don’t have to have an ereader (but I do).
I’m unaware of the need for the Adobe ID? -
J jwcph@helvede.net shared this topic
-
@thomasfuchs it doesn't seem like this will prevent people from emailing books (bought or downloaded elsewhere) to their kindles, no? it's a pretty simple operation and if anyone (like me) is still holding on to a 2008 kindle it's worth it to learn it

@budin @thomasfuchs Check out whether you can use Calibre to get ebooks onto the device.
Works fine for my Kobo.
(Although I refuse to use versions >8.9.0 because of the introduction of "AI" features)
-
Companies should be required by law to completely open devices when they end support for them
If they don’t, the penalty should be that the CEO has to eat the bricked devices
@thomasfuchs The best alternative is to buy a real book, it is almost the same price than a kindle book, does not require technical support or any DRM restricted implementation software. Just a simple book
-
@dnparadice @thomasfuchs I have been trying to 100 percent avoid Amazon, but with a lot of places to buy eBooks from, it's more walled gardens. Kobo requires their own hardware or an Adobe ID. The books I want to buy are rarely available at other sources. I have tried so much, but everything is so complicated and time consuming and in the end I'm not owning my books.
I am back to sailing the high seas and instead of paying publishers I'm donating to the authors directly. If they offer that.@Eatsbluecrayon @thomasfuchs well if I'm going to live in a walled garden I would rather it not be owned by a billionaire. I do like your other approach 🦜