“ Farmers now have the right to repair their John Deere tractors themselves or through independent third parties, ending a lengthy battle with the agricultural machinery company. On Saturday, John Deere and the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) outlining the company's responsibilities to provide diagnostic tools and software outside of the company's official authorized repair centers.

The right for consumers to repair their own property, be that cars, electronics, or farm equipment, has been growing over the past few years, with some states taking action to enshrine the right for their residents. Farmers have been at odds with John Deere since 2016, when the company changed its end-user license to require that any repairs involving embedded software be carried out only by authorized technicians. “


[arstechnica.com]

wow! a big win for consumers

will this result in a solution like forcing Apple to offer repair options for certain devices and they end up offering something that requires a $1000 tool rental and done in a way that a normal person would never want to try? The language of lawsuits/settlements like this are sometimes done in a way that while it is technically a victory, the end result isn't a solution that is terribly consumer-friendly. Hopefully this settlement results in something that most John Deere owners would consider a win.

Makers want to control the whole widget, but J-D is far more like an automaker, dependent on adapting subsystems designed by others. The only difference here is the size of the user base. J-D depended on farmers suffering in silence, a thing Chevy owners would not do. They learned their customers won’t, either. In short, this outcome was predetermined by the auto industry going back to the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act of Jan 1975.

Are they going to allow use of the software to diagnose? We have a JD cab tractor going in tomorrow for a computer diagnostic, it's been giving the 'Red Ring of Death', stopping forward motion for no reason.

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Grateful11

I don't trust JD and see this as their way of trying to avoid legislation that they can't get round.

This is the key clause in the memorandum of agreement :-

Quote

AFBF agrees to encourage state Farm Bureau organizations to recognize the commitments made in this MOU and refrain from introducing, promoting, or supporting federal or state "Right to Repair" legislation that imposes obligations beyond the commitments in this MOU.

In other words we have given you the absolute minimum and don't you dare take it a single step further.

Profit before people, an example of rapacious capitalism, it's the American way.

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Comedy Central: Best news channel that isn't a news channel.

Fox News: Best comedy channel that isn't a comedy channel.

JD is now a software company that happens to put their products in tractors.

They deserve every single seed of doubt and public scorn.

They chose this business model. They could have gone a different route.