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Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, defends the right to repair, arguing that the company was established on open source.

Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, defends the right to repair, arguing that the company was established on open source.

When it comes to giant co-operations like Apple and many others, they usually hold the power of monopoly, whether it’s their app store policies or in this particular case, right to repair policies. People like Louis Rossmann and many others are constantly battling against the technology giants to get loose from their monopoly policies.

steve wozniak co founder of apple defends the right to repair arguing that the company was established on open source 2
Image by Gage Skidmore from flickr under licence CC BY-SA 2.0

In the recent events, the co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak himself jumped into the debate regarding right to repair policy of the company. According to Wozniak, he supports the movement against the monopoly of the Apple.

When it comes to the right to repair, Apple is frequently mentioned, mainly in relation to their anti-repair policies. Steve Wozniak spoke for about ten minutes in response to a Cameo request about the importance of the right to repair and how it has influenced his life.

Apple’s battle for “Right to repair”

Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, defends the right to repair, arguing that the company was established on open source.
Photo by zhang kaiyv on Unsplash

Louis Rossmann is well-known for his ongoing efforts to pass legislation allowing for right-to-repair. He wrote Wozniak a Cameo request, inquiring about the right to repair. Wozniak began by saying that he is quite busy and hasn’t had much time to get involved with the movement, but that he supports it.

Wozniak said that if he hadn’t grown up in a really open world of technology, then he wouldn’t have had an Apple in the first place. He further added that back in the days when they bought electronic items like televisions and radios, all the circuitry and designs were printed on paper. “Completely open source.”

He went on to say how easy it used to be to repair things. Even non-technical members of the household could remove the tubes and locate a tube tester and if it was a bad tube, get a new one. Back then, everyone did it all the time.

Steve Wozniak’s thoughts on “Right to repair”

Steve then went into detail about how the open schematics of the time influenced Apple’s early development. He said that he could never afford a teletype for input and output when he first started Apple. He then explained how he was able to produce the signals using a television. It all stemmed from his ability to fix, modify, and tap into things on his own.

Why end the self-repair community? He wondered, moving on from his personal repair experience. Why should the right to mend individuals be restricted? Steve reminded us about the Apple II. It came with complete schematics. He said that for the first ten years of Apple’s existence, this product was the only source of profit.

Approximately 6 million Apple II machines were sold during its lifetime.

Steve said that he feels that firms hinder it because it gives them power and control over everything. Wozniak also stated he believes that it is time to respect the right to repair more fully. And finally, he ended his cameo with the following thought;

“Is it your computer? Or is it some companies’ computer? Think about that. It’s time to start doing the right things.”

– Steve Wozniak, Co-founder of Apple

I strongly advise you to watch Wozniak’s entire cameo below, since he gives a lot of fascinating personal experiences.

Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, defends the right to repair, arguing that the company was established on open source.

Rossmann responded to Wozniak’s reaction with a YouTube video, seeking for financial support in launching a direct-ballot effort.

Rossmann responded to Wozniak’s reaction with a YouTube video

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