[ntp85]

Broken, as in physically broken? Sure, but that can be fixed/repaired if it's not beyond any hope of that.

Broken, as in "the software is broken"? Well, at least all my devices are repairable, if that happens. Even if it might require the nuclear option of reinstalling/reflashing. But at least there are no shenanigangs such as these and the ones OP described happening.

[mckn1ght]

But now we’re just going down a path where it’s not a binary broken/not broken but “how broken is it?”

If I change the oil in my car but forget to put the plug back in and then start it and drive off and seize my engine, it’s basically broken. With enough effort, it could be rebuilt. Is it the responsibility of the manufacturer to expend the necessary effort to do so, though?

[pferde]

I'm sorry but that's false equivalence. If you do something to your device and it stops working as a result, sure, that's on you. But if your device is untouched, but stops working because the manufacturer rejiggered some virtual ones and zeroes on a server possibly halfway around the world, that's a completely different situation.

[_factor]

This is more equivalent to garaging your Tesla for 10 years, firing up for a drive and wondering why the cell network no longer works. Tools that require infrastructure are dependent on things that can cease existing one day.

[pferde]

Yes, and if I had a car that depends on Internet connection to function as a car, I'd be quite pissed. :)

[heavyset_go]

It was only a couple of years, nowhere near 10 or even half of that.

[mckn1ght]

No need to apologize. I didn’t say they are equivalent, I’m trying to draw analogies. If you leave your car sitting for 5 years, you will probably have a bit of a hard time starting it too. If you leave a garden or house untouched for 5 years, it’s not going to be pretty.

They didn’t give us much to go on about their situation. I’ve not heard of an iPad not being able to be turned on and unlocked with its passcode because of an iTunes account or server issue. If that is indeed what happened, I agree that is not cool. But I doubt that is what is going on. I’m curious to know more.

[ben-schaaf]

And yet I guarantee the Linux computer that's been sitting in my closet for 10+ years will boot up just fine. As would it's Windows partition. As would the old MacBook I don't have anymore. Those are a lot more analogous than cars or gardens.

[paulmd]

Ssds don’t hold data for 10 years so there’s a strong possibility that in fact it would not “boot up just fine”.

If there’s critical keys that have been lost etc it might indeed be unrecoverable, especially in this era of automatic bitlocker.

[ben-schaaf]

It has spinning rust. Additionally it's true that SSDs have trouble retaining data for long periods of time, but afaik this is separate to actual degradation. So if it had an SSD it might not boot off it, but the hardware is otherwise fully usable. Same situation if you lose an encryption key.