California, the biggest state in the US when it comes to both population and the sheer volume of tech companies squeezed into its borders, has just passed the country’s most extreme right to repair bill in the US (via Ars Technica). It’s the third state to pass such a bill, but goes further than either Minnesota or New York in that it forces companies to support their products for longer. But while it will cover gaming PCs and laptops, games console manufacturers get a free pass.
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There are exceptions, however, and it seems like games consoles are somehow exempt from this right to repair requirement. Guess someone’s been lobbying against the inclusion of consoles, eh? The bill itself talks specifically about an “electronic or appliance product” or just a “product”, but stipulates that doesn’t include a video game console.
“‘Video game console’ means a computing device, including its components and peripherals, that is primarily used by consumers for playing video games, such as a console machine, a handheld console device, or another device or system. ‘Video game console’ does not include a general or an all-purpose computer, which includes, but is not limited to, a desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or cell phone.”
So, that means your Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch consoles are all seemingly exempt from having to offer long term support, but at least in the computing space your PC and laptop will be covered.
It being harder to repair means it shouldn’t be repairable? That’s an… interesting stance to take. Right to Repair is all about giving people the information and resources necessary to make a repair, especially if it’s not designed to be repaired.
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The bill is not asking for things to be redesigned to be more repairable. It is more focused on being able to get the spare parts, chips, tools and docs that make more repairs of the devices to be viable. Many places can already do component level repairs of boards. It might not be worth it if the SOC dies, but a board has many other components on it that are far more likely to fail and much easier to replace than the SOC. If a power regulator fails why should you have to buy whole new board? Or if a few resisters/caps get burned out/shorted they can be replaced without needing a whole new device.
No not everyone can do these repairs - but why should those that can be blocked from doing so? Why should companies be able to deny chip manufacturers from selling a 12c chip that can fix a several hundred dollar board? Why should chips be serialised so that you cannot swap them out with working chips from donor boards? Why cannot tools be made available to calibrate sensors after they have been replaced? Why should any company be able to stop you getting the parts and tools needed to fix the stuff you own? Or be able to go to someone else to fix it?
Not every device will be fixable - but why stop any device from being fixable just because a few cannot be?
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That’s not necessarily the point.
The point may be to make everyone else stop reading the topic / conversation and move on to read something else, to “pollute the waters”.
To shape and steer the narrative away from being able to repair devices freely, to sow doubt that devices can and should be repaired by regular people. To plant the seed of doubt, and then prevent others from removing that seed.
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Fair enough, as I wasn’t trying to get you to not read it, just give an alternate reason why they wrote such a long wall of text.
Ever seen the inside of a SteamDeck? If the device is designed in a modular way you replace one small circuit board instead of the whole thing.
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Why can’t spare parts and schematics be available to a third-party repair center that has experience, so that we can take it to them … so they can fix it?
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I feel like they’re being disingenuous. Lots of what-aboutisms and moving goal posts and ignoring the issues that got us to needing right to repair laws in the first place, namely Apple and John Deere and all the copy cats, but also with the goal of reducing e-waste.
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That’s exactly what “they” (aka ChatGPT/shill) are doing.
That’s one hell of a straw man you have going there. Most people would just unsolder the chip from the circuit board and replace it with another one, or just replace the whole circuit board at once.
You’re not being intellectually honest in trying to argue the other side of this topic.
Seriously, go watch YouTube videos on the subject.
The whole Steam Deck is $400 so its chip is not that expensive
Watch YouTube videos showing component level repairs of gaming devices.