Lars WirzeniusThe difference between "someone, somewhere, could, in principle do this thing, but it'll not be easy or cheap" and "absolutely no-one can ever do this thing" is huge. The difference between "possible, but difficult" and "possible, and convenient" is minor in comparison.
Consider cars. Up to about the 1970s or 1980s, it was common for people to fix their own car. (Common != everyone.) In recent years, it's much harder, but usually possible, if difficult and expensive. The difference is one of degree. (Car manufacturers are working hard to make it impossible, if only to ruin this example.)
Consider desktop sofware vs SaaS: if it's on your computer, you can, in principle, modify it, even if you have to de-compile it by hand and edit with a hex editor. If it's on a server that you can't access except via a constrained user interface, you can't modify it. It's a matter of being possible at all, not a matter of degree.
Tzafrir@liw
I'm a computer power user and a cars luser.
A while ago I read The Grapes of Wrath. In that book, among other things, they (in 1936?) drive a car and have to constantly maintain it.
There are stories I remember about how cars were a few decades ago.
And nowadays cars actually are way closer to Just Work[tm]. I hardly need to actively maintain my car.
Frankly, I'm not sure how useful that analogy is.
Santiago Lema 
@liw@toot.liw.fi I remember decades ago my father sold his old Peugeot 504 to a guy who resold the os French cars in Africa (Senegal I think ?). The car was worth nearly nothing in Switzerland but had value in countries where people wanted to be able to fix their cars themselves without having to order electronics & motherboards in Japan or Korea.
In retrospect I realize they understood the issue before we did — because of course cost was relatively much higher over there.
In retrospect I realize they understood the issue before we did — because of course cost was relatively much higher over there.
@liw@toot.liw.fi Since moving to Brazil — where the average worker doesn’t even dream about a Swiss salary — it became even more evident that open hardware & software , be it in home appliances or anything else is crucial to preserve the revenue of the working class.
When you call someone to fix your washing machine it is not uncommon that the material is more expensive than a day of work. Meaning a lot of the value of the repair goes back to the wrong place.
When you call someone to fix your washing machine it is not uncommon that the material is more expensive than a day of work. Meaning a lot of the value of the repair goes back to the wrong place.