Let's say that you own an automobile. It is beyond the warranty period. There is a problem with the car, so you take it to the dealer to have it repaired.
When you get the car back from the dealer, it is fixed, but you discover they have also locked the hood so you can no longer access the engine. In fact, nobody can access the engine except them.
How would you feel about that?
Well that is exactly what Apple is doing if they repair your iPhone.
Of course you can always find, or make, the special screwdriver you need, but that isn't the point.
Here is the point.
A manufacturer has every right to design their stuff to be tamper resistant, and sell it that way. I am agreeing to the design specifications when I choose to buy the product. If I don't like what they do, I can always buy something else, or sit on the sidelines of the market. I've got no problem with whatever kind of fasteners Apple wants to put into a new iPhone.
BUT once I buy the product, it is mine.
If they modify the product in a way I do not agree to, especially one which diminishes its utility to me, I do have a problem with that.
Of course there isn't a helluva a lot I can do about it except this -
Apple today is the very monolithic IBM they railed against in the famous Superbowl commercial that launched the Mac. For the very reason that people bought Apple products then, I choose not to buy them now. For the same reason, I avoid (when I can) Microsoft products. That isn't as easy, but my desktop computer runs Ubuntu Linux, and the only Microsoft product associated with it is a mouse that I bought at Boeing Surplus Sales for $3 about 10 years ago.
We fortunately live in a world where we have some choices. We should work to preserve them. No product is a must have.
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