Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines

ifixit.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 326 posts

Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines

#91

Post by johnnyanmac »

BadHumans wrote: post #88
kiba wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone believe they need copyright, therefore it is the status quo.

No one has put forth a good argument about why I don't need copyright.

There's definitely tiers of copyright to consider, which is part of the divisiveness on the issue. You wanting to protect your creation and get compensated for its IP for 10-20 years (so, a good portion of your life career) is very different from Disney wanting to delay Mickey mouse going into public domain. an IP its creator and studio already reaped trillions from over the century.

Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines

#92

Post by entropicdrifter »

edm0nd wrote: post #81
coconut08 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

then why is it that its only the ice cream machines that have problems not not things like the soda fountain any other food production tool?

Perhaps because the environment the ice cream machines create are the most friendly to bacteria and other things that cause the most issues?

Then why does the Frosty machine always work at Wendy's? That's made by Taylor too.

Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines

#93

Post by PedroBatista »

Does anyone else thinks this is actually a great incidental marketing campaign for McDonald's? Not only the free reach but also tons of people discussing the "problems" with a big co and how to "fix" them as they are an essential part of society, and this case ice-creams.

Sure we focus on the big brain things like copyright, business malpractice and MBA lore but with it comes McDonald's embedded.

I know this might sound a bit snobby, but just don't play the game, ignore them. If there is criminal activity let who gets paid deal with it, otherwise just move on and stop "fixing" problems that are not of your concern, let alone "fixing" them for free.

Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines

#94

Post by kelnos »

BadHumans wrote: post #88
kiba wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone believe they need copyright, therefore it is the status quo.

No one has put forth a good argument about why I don't need copyright.

No one should have to. If we're talking about putting/maintaining restrictions on people, the onus should be on the proponents to put forth a good argument why we need it.

Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines

#95

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

twothreeone wrote: post #64
coder543 wrote: post #10

I wish we would just repeal the DMCA. Under no circumstances should we need an exemption from the copyright office just to be able to repair an ice cream machine. It's not even a permanent exemption! The DMCA causes many weird problems.

It's still weird to me that we ended up in a world in which every bit of information can now be copied at zero cost and instead of heralding and building upon that technological achievement we've somehow decided that instead we're going to make laws to protect and enforce rent seeking instead. I assume it's one of those things where a few corpos just outplayed 99% of the population; just like universal health care, o…

This seems like a very one-sided take. Just look at all the artists (actors, painters, musicians, etc.) that are fighting tooth and nail against AI, and for good reason. While there are plenty of issues with copyright, I don't agree at all that just because the marginal cost of copying is 0 that if someone puts a ton of time and effort in creating a piece of work that I should just get to copy it for free.

Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines

#96

Post by johnnyanmac »

Teever wrote: post #85
kiba wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone believe they need copyright, therefore it is the status quo.

Does everyone believe that we need copyright to be the exact way that it is though? I'm pretty sure that the reason that copyright laws are the way they are is because certain industries in the US lobby the government to strong arm other countries into adopting onerous copyright restrictions as part of free trade agreements. Whatever you feel about the merits of intellectual property laws the idea that they're wrappe…

I'm fine going back to the old 14+14 rules copyright originally. having your creation for an entire generation seems appropriate. But opinions are all across the spectrum on this issue.

I think the primary reason the "spirit" of current copyright broke down is because it's been reduced to hoarding over protecting. the idea is that I can license out an idea if I really want to make use of it. So creations flow and the company makes their own cut out of it.

But I can't just walk up to Disney and pay 100 dollars ,1000, maybe even 1 million to grab Mickey Mouse and work with something. Depending on their products, they may not want anyone using Mickey period, even if there is no mickey product cycle. You basically need to be EA or Mattel or Warner Bros. to even begin being considered for such a thing.

That's their right but it spoils the social contract. When everything by default is locked down, there is no creation flowing. Just broken dreams for abandoned franchises everyone else would love to make use of.

Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines

#98

Post by dang »

mcdow wrote: post #9

Here's a great YT video on why McDonald's ice cream machines are always broken: https://youtu.be/SrDEtSlqJC4 TL;DW: there are some perverse incentives to keep them broken. Basically the owner operators are forced to use a particular brand by corporate. Corporate McDonalds has a deal with a particular ice cream machine company. That particular company is the only company owner operators are allowed to buy from, and th…

Stories and comments about that video:

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

List of related threads:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41949811

Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines

#99

Post by slipperybeluga »

valbaca wrote: post #83
coconut08 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

then why is it that its only the ice cream machines that have problems not not things like the soda fountain any other food production tool?

soda is syrup and carbonated water, neither becomes a breeding pool at room temperature

It's not a self-contained TPN compounder in a hospital cleanroom. It's a machine that has many parts that get wet with sugary water. It has parts that need to be cleaned that seldom are, and judging by the average fast food employee, would probably be better off left alone than further contaminated by them attempting to clean it. Google "soda fountain mold" and you will be stunned to see how nasty these can get. I don't eat fast food often, but I skip the drink unless it's from a meticulously clean place.

Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines

#100

Post by dkarras »

twothreeone wrote: post #64
coder543 wrote: post #10

I wish we would just repeal the DMCA. Under no circumstances should we need an exemption from the copyright office just to be able to repair an ice cream machine. It's not even a permanent exemption! The DMCA causes many weird problems.

It's still weird to me that we ended up in a world in which every bit of information can now be copied at zero cost and instead of heralding and building upon that technological achievement we've somehow decided that instead we're going to make laws to protect and enforce rent seeking instead. I assume it's one of those things where a few corpos just outplayed 99% of the population; just like universal health care, o…

I don't understand this. Copyright law does not prevent people from sharing their information freely. It gives the option for "rent seekers" to do their thing. Enforcing your rights for return is optional for people that don't want to do it. I'm not talking about right-to-repair here, but the idea of copyright in general.

A lot of information is generated by taking some financial risk with the hopes of creating something of value and recouping that investment + some profit. Copyright makes that kind of venture possible. It doesn't prevent altruistic souls from putting in the same effort without any expectation of return. We always had this, by default. Copyright framework allows pursuit, generation and dissemination of huge swaths of valuable information that would otherwise not exist.

Post reply on HN