Ask HN: Any legal way against forced software upgrades and feature removal

#1

Post by djdule » Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 5:45 PM UTC

It was reported here earlier today that Apple forced OS upgrades for some users without asking (https://www.macintouch.com/post/37381/macos-sonoma-forced-installs/).

There is also situation when upgrades remove features. For example 1Password deliberately crippled perfectly fine password sync for users because they wanted to force them to new, cloud (and subscription) based version.

Is there any legal way to fight against this ? I am in EU, but I am interested in other legislative as well

Re: Ask HN: Any legal way against forced software upgrades and feature removal

#2

Post by comprev » Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 6:28 PM UTC

There's a good chance somewhere deep in the T&Cs a clause exists regarding changing the product as their business evolves to provide the "best experience" for the majority. Their argument for deprecating features might be legacy development and support costs.

Re: Ask HN: Any legal way against forced software upgrades and feature removal

#3

Post by ct0 » Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 6:28 PM UTC

You'll have to negotiate the terms of use with the software provider.

Re: Ask HN: Any legal way against forced software upgrades and feature removal

#4

Post by paxys » Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 6:33 PM UTC

The way to fight this has been out there since before most of these companies and products have existed – use FOSS. If you want more convenience and polish then just remember that you are trading it for privacy and autonomy. There is no middle option.

Re: Ask HN: Any legal way against forced software upgrades and feature removal

#5

Post by dooopdoop » Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 6:33 PM UTC

[dead]

Re: Ask HN: Any legal way against forced software upgrades and feature removal

#6

Post by donmcronald » Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 6:35 PM UTC

I wish there were legal protections against this kind of thing. Even worse, I’ve had updates break stuff that might never get fixed. For example, I have Roku TVs and a recent update broke CEC.

The updates aren’t for my benefit, because my TVs worked fine from day one. Instead, the updates are to push more and more advertising and recommendations. It’s to the point where my TVs are slow, bloated, half broken trash. They’re definitely not what I bought off the store shelf.

Re: Ask HN: Any legal way against forced software upgrades and feature removal

#7

Post by pyeri » Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 6:37 PM UTC

Switch to android and become a happy power user! It's an open and better ecosystem for almost everyone involved - users, developers and phone makers.

Re: Ask HN: Any legal way against forced software upgrades and feature removal

#8

Post by teeray » Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 6:37 PM UTC

Even if there was, and after a long, arduous class action where the company was found guilty, the penalty for violating it would have to far exceed the expected recurring revenue from forcing updates.

Re: Ask HN: Any legal way against forced software upgrades and feature removal

#9

Post by LoganDark » Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 6:38 PM UTC

paxys wrote: post #4

The way to fight this has been out there since before most of these companies and products have existed – use FOSS. If you want more convenience and polish then just remember that you are trading it for privacy and autonomy. There is no middle option.

Calling it "more convenience and polish" is a bit of an understatement. My experience with open-source software is that if it breaks or it's missing a feature and you want your needs to be addressed then you will have to hack on it yourself. While this is great for people who enjoy hacking it's not great once you get bored of it.

I always enjoyed macOS (at least pre-Catalina) because it's Unix but without the requirement to constantly hack on the OS and userland like you have to do with Linux. That means I have all the development tools I appreciate but I can focus on what I actually want to do instead of fixing system-level bugs.

When Catalina came out I stopped updating so I can't speak for how the OS is nowadays.

Re: Ask HN: Any legal way against forced software upgrades and feature removal

#10

Post by H8crilA » Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 6:38 PM UTC

Sounds like a simple case of antitrust. But antitrust is really a political process, not a legal process. Or perhaps a better way to phrase it is that it is a political process that happens to go through the judiciary branch.