US farmers win right to repair John Deere equipment

"once a farmer learns how to repair this version of the device, they aren’t going to want to change to a different tool"

There's the reason for all this obfuscation and anti-repair BS. How can John Deere sell new Tractors, and how can McD's help their Ice Cream Repair friends, if everything is fixed on-site, and each Purchase lasts 2-10 times as long? Very bad for Profits.

Thing is, Deere's entire business model is built around trying to be the most repairable brand around. Hell, they even own A&I Products, the leading aftermarket farm equipment part supplier. If you didn't want people to repair equipment, being in the business of selling aftermarket parts targeted at the self-repair market would be a strange one to be in.

The contention, of course, is around their software systems that have paid upgrades. If they supply tools and manuals you'll be able to enable paid features for free and that's what they want to avoid. Same as every other software business, frankly. Not even HN gives you the ability to fix problems with this forum because they're afraid of what you'd be able to enable if they gave you access.

When, exactly, did we become not permitted to repair our own equipment for this to change anything? I own some John Deere farm equipment and repair it myself, when I don't hire my mechanic neighbour to do it for me, all the time. The parts desk down at the Deere dealership never had any qualms giving me the parts I needed.