This, absolutely, yes
We need to stop allowing manufacturers to force people to throw away well working products
To add to that, it must be prohibited to make products that are designed to fail early
this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2026
136 points (100.0% liked)
Technology
41238 readers
289 users here now
A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.
Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.
Subcommunities on Beehaw:
This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
Yes. If the source is so important to them then they should have to continue supporting it.
Now, I'm not asking companies to open-source their entire codebase. That's unrealistic when an app is tied to a larger platform. What I am asking for: publish a basic GitHub repo with the hardware specs and connection protocols. Let the community build their own apps on top of it.
I agree with this. I think the most important thing is not necessarily the original company releasing their proprietary code (although that would be nice), but it being easy (and legal!) for hackers to reverse engineer and/or build on top of the platform.
The irony is that, since most such products will have some GPL'd code in there somewhere, most products already basically have such a requirement, thanks to the section requiring complete corresponding source including installation instructions. Hopefully, the Vizio case will establish the precedent that users, as well as copyright holders, can take action against such companies.
For new products made going forward, they should have to release all the code, period. No good reason for keeping hidden security flaws
Toyota abandoned the infotainment system in my Tacoma. A few people have tried to create a custom ROM for it, but have stopped for fear of bricking their own.
Because it was abandoned, I can no longer get map updates, I do get traffic updates.
Currently there is no way to get Apple auto or Android auto onto it.