Man, IP, you're bending the truth just a little.
Where am I bending the truth exactly?
The part where I said that Apple's "security" design is terrible engineering?
The part where I stated that fingerprint biometrics are terrible security?
The part where I pointed out the most common repairs are capable of causing this problem?
How is it the repair houses' faults for Apple locking them out of the supply chain?
How is it the end users' fault for wanting to repair their devices on their own?
How is it the consumers' faults that the phone is so poorly engineered that they have to practically wrap it in OtterBox™ branded bubblewrap to keep the thing from breaking in day to day use to begin with?
So no, I'm sorry. I can't agree with your other points.
As for apologists versus fanboys... there's a very big line between the two. Fanboys are obnoxious zealots that can and do play the defend and excuse cards heavily, but I'm not talking about fanboys. I'm talking about
apologists, people who have the equivalent of battered spouse syndrome with corporate overlords and consumer junk. "I hate this, it makes me miserable, but what're you gonna do? It's the only device I like, so I'm just going to put up with what they dish out, no matter how much it hurts. They told me they're doing it for my own good, so I guess it's okay."
I don't say this to belittle actual battered spouses, by the way. I say this to highlight exactly how foolish it is to defend crappy and abusive consumer practices from greedy corporations who are selling a device designed to bleed you of money in the first place, just to make excuses to keep using and consuming the device you yourself don't like. If the manufacturer can brick your phone for doing something it doesn't approve of, it's not a tool, they're pretty little shackles. If it was a tool, you'd have the freedom to use it how you want and need. Nobody's holding a gun to anyone's head telling them to buy these bloody things.
For crying out loud, all I did was warn iPhone users of the new problem and point out that it's this sort of corporate thinking that makes the iPhone specifically such an anti-mustachian moneypit. After all, there's no shortage of threads ON THESE VERY FORUMS of people bragging about fixing their own iPhones at home to save money. I thought it a reasonable thing to do, you know, alerting people
in the very thread talking about how to buy an iPhone for as cheaply as possible... the exact same sort of cheap thinking that leads people to get repairs done at the kiosk instead of spending $200+ to repair the $700+ handset that they specifically jumped through hoops to buy for under $300, especially when for most people, a new $150 phone could
still do everything they needed and more... if they even
needed to buy a phone at all.
You can't do your own repairs now, it's for
ridiculous reasons, and the very people that it impacts the most are likely the last to know, so I try to pass word. Instead, I get a doctor who takes issue with my supposed "scare-mongering" by responding with Apple fearmongering to justify the added cost and to normalize the act as something to be tolerated as a risk of using the fool thing in the first place.
I appreciate you trying to be sympathetic and play the mutual ground card, Gimp... I really do. I've tried to do it a few times myself over the years, but this thread is just absurd from stem to stern... and the fact that I'm getting flack for WARNING people about a legitimate problem borne out of greed, terrible engineering and comical security practices is just the cherry on top of an absurdest consumer trainwreck.