iFixit

On Controversy

Managing the internet controversy book coverOur screw post has stirred up a hornet’s nest. The folks in the MacRumors forums think we’re Apple haters (never mind our dozens of teardowns showcasing Apple’s hardware in glowing detail) and the commenters at Boing Boing are thrilled that we’ve finally stuck it to the man. Marco Ament, a developer I respect very much, thinks that the existence of our solution validates Apple’s strategy.

I hope you’ll make up your own mind. Peter-O weighed in on our post, and I think his perspective is worth sharing:

MJ, that was excellent. Just excellent.  A clear and concise summary of a perspective I wholeheartedly subscribe to.

To those people who hold a different perspective, it’s all good—no problem-o.  We can agree to disagree, and our respective opinions are no worse for wear.  Together, we remain, after all, totally jazzed with our Mac gear.

I think, however, hurling guff and attitude at iFixit for offering a solution to those people who share in their perspective serves only to erode the joint respect for differing opinions and to undermine the weight of your personal opinion.

From my perspective, iFixit is about a community giving each other the cognitive tools to demystify, understand, and return ownership to our devices that are too often veiled to keep us hostage to the service shop.

That iFixit also sells physical tools and supplies is merely a convenience to those people who need them and a means to offset the cost of running the website.  Last I checked, there are no hopping bunnies, spinning monkeys, weight loss discoveries, nor erectile dysfunction solutions littering the site.  Also, unless I missed something, iFixit’s repair manuals are free, and of far, far greater value than any screwdriver or repair kit they sell.  I see no conflict of interest.  I see liberation.

iFixit Pentalobe screw liberation kit