hey everybody how's it going i just want
to follow up on this video i did
yesterday bizarro world microsoft
commits to releasing schematics and
supports right to repair this is based
on an article from bloomberg that said
the software giant signed a commitment
to allow repairs and share part
schematics for its surface computers to
those not on its list of authorized
providers according to documents viewed
by bloomberg news the title of this
article is microsoft will allow more
repair shop after activist protest and
this article is something that has been
in the pipeline for quite a while
because if you take a look you'll see
that there were shareholder resolutions
that were pending as of several months
ago where shareholders of microsoft were
saying listen it looks like you guys
talk a big game about being sustainable
and renewable and green and friendly and
progressive
but then you release devices that you
literally have to break to open the
older surfaces actually require that you
destroy the keyboard to get inside the
device you had to physically destroy it
to get inside of it which is absolutely
insane and
we would like you to actually fix that
we would like that your rhetoric be in
line with reality and it seems like
they've been moving closer to that
admittedly not as fast as i'd like but
they have been trying in 2019 they had
this gentleman get up on stage and say
that they value repairability and they
designed the surface to be more openable
so he was saying that look you can have
a device that's aesthetically pleasing
thin looks nice but you can also just
take the top case off like that without
destroying it which is a really nice
step forward and also completely um
it just destroys the argument that you
see here where someone goes so stupid
the person in the video referring to me
only way to get a device to be thin
enough to make people happy is by gluing
it same way the ipad is glued my
response being incorrect citation
microsoft's own presentation on the
newer surface which is designed to be
more accessible without compromising
aesthetics or slimness which which is
where the person that works at microsoft
says look we we were able to keep it
thin and make it something you could
take apart but anyway besides this
fanboyism in general is cancer it
doesn't matter if it's apple microsoft
razer tesla
fanboyism in general tends to make
people allergic to facts and evidence
but besides from this i've been getting
a lot of feedback and criticism from
this video and a lot of
interestingly angry emails from people
who are saying you shouldn't be
congratulated i can't believe that you
trust them i can't believe that you're
stopping your advocacy work or any of
the stuff that you're doing because one
company decided to commit to release
schematics next year particularly when
it's microsoft again i i grew up in the
90s i was used to everybody seeing
microsoft as the evil empire and it's
very difficult to to adjust from that
but that's not what i said and i just
feel like i have to do this follow-up
video to clarify that
i am not stopping any of the work that
i'm doing simply because one company
said that next year maybe you'll get
schematics and stuff that they haven't
actually done yet
we have lobbyists in about six states at
this point i am going to continue
pushing forward for more we are also
issuing grants out to smaller activists
and advocacy organizations to educate
both companies and other organizations
on what right to repair is so that
people who are not likely to watch some
guy on youtube that rants into his
camera discus to talk about right to
repair to understand what right to
repair is so that they know what they
can do they know how it affects them and
they can get involved even if they're
the type of person that would look at my
channel and go who is this
all of that work is still moving forward
just because we've gotten to the point
with my analogy where i said that we
have pushed a boulder up a hill and now
it's starting to go back down the other
side i'm still going to be there behind
that boulder making sure it does go down
the other side i'm not i'm not just the
type of person that's not going to trust
microsoft i'm the type of person that's
not even going to trust that gravity
will pull that boulder down when i see
that it's rolling i would still stay
behind it and continuously push it down
the mountain and i am going to make sure
that this actually happens i'm not going
to tell the lobbyists you can go home
i'm not going to stop my work because
one company does this and above all
just to make sure the right impression
is out there i don't trust them i don't
trust anybody i mean framework is a
company that seems like they are run by
genuinely good people that really mean
well but i do not trust them did not
trust them until the moment i was able
to see that they were actually willing
to release a schematic and the same is
true here and i think it is important to
be vigilant to again you can trust
but verify and make sure that you verify
so with paypal here this is something
that happened a few months ago paypal
decided that they were going to do
something that was very non-standard in
our business which is when you refund a
customer they would not refund the
merchant services fee so let's say you
buy a thousand dollars of merchandise
with me using paypal i get charged 29
bucks from paypal for the ability to
take money from your credit card and
have a deposit in my bank account now if
you call me up and you say hey louis i
bought the wrong thing i'm so sorry can
i get a refund right after you make the
order i used to be able to refund you
and i you know i would get the 29 bucks
back you get your thousand dollars back
and i would only be out the 30 cent flat
fee for the transaction no big deal then
they decided they were going to not
refund the 2.9 fee anymore so if you
order a 1 000 cleaner from me you call
me up five seconds later and say hey man
i made a mistake when i refund you
i don't get the 29 dollars back when i
refund you the thousand bucks
and that is something that that's pretty
bad because it means that
you're not going to have a restocking
fee free experience unless you go to
amazon that means that you need you
can't be a small business anymore if
this practice takes hold by every other
company and be able to say no restocking
fee to your customers amazon will be
able to not have a restocking fee but
small businesses won't which would then
slowly start to lead consumers towards
buying from the walmarts and the amazons
rather than the small businesses which
is not what we need more now they
decided after there was a large public
outcry to say okay you know what we're
not going to do it but then about six
months to a year later they did it
anyway when people forgot about it and
i'm i wouldn't be surprised if something
like that happened here where microsoft
sees where the direction the wind is
blowing they see that that biden signed
an executive order on right to repair
they see the ftc talking about it in a
50-page paper and they say okay you know
what we'll allow more repair shops in
but then one year passes and then once
everybody's forgotten about it and
they've moved on to something else then
at that point well okay it's just water
under the bridge hopefully nobody
noticed and cared that is most certainly
a possibility and i'm definitely going
to be focusing on all of this i'm going
to be following up on it i am going to
continue to do all of the advocacy work
that i'm doing and i suggest that all of
you
do the same i suggest that all of you
continue to put pressure on your local
politicians and legislators continue to
inform the people in your life as to why
this is an issue that matters continue
to get people involved and excited and
above all keep an eye on what they do
one year from now if they go do a
complete about face on this then ask hey
remember remember remember this remember
when there was going to be a shareholder
resolution you headed it off at the pass
by claiming you were going to make
things available
where is it where is it
that's what i'm going to be doing
i have absolutely no intention of
letting up on any of this stuff because
one of the things that i've learned
whether it is with paypal
or with apple in the irp program or
anything else it's that many of the
whether it's politicians whether it is
companies whether it is portions of your
local government
they will say what is necessary to get
them through the day to get them through
the week to get them through the month
and then once that month is over and
everybody's attention is on something
else
whatever they said they don't live by
they because it just doesn't matter like
when uh in 2018 and in 2019 when a lot
of attention was being put on apple for
anti-competitive practices they decided
that they were going to come out with
the apple irp program and that a lot of
legislators said oh okay i guess they
have a repair program i don't know why
these independent repair people are
complaining and then it came out that
you can't buy charge ports for phones
you can't buy lcd screens by itself for
a macbook or the lcd cell without the
assembly you can't get schematics or
diagrams or parts or boards or anything
through this irp program it's pretty
useless but by then we moved on to
something else because by then we had um
you know the impeachment stuff and then
covid and then be and then the the
blm and then after that we had the
capital right and then after that we had
like like there's always something else
to happen tomorrow and when tomorrow
comes people tend to forget about what's
happening yesterday and companies and
politicians often use this to their
advantage so i'm gonna stay focused and
i suggest that you do the same
pointing this out was not done
solely for the purpose of saying okay
we're done everybody go home you know we
won no we didn't we've made progress and
making progress is different from a full
victory it is a small victory it is a
small victory but you need many many
many many many many many many more small
victories to get an actual win that's it
for today and as always i hope you
learned something let me know what you
think in the comments down below bye now