An unpleasant surprise for My Book Live owners

Posted Jun 30, 2021 21:27 UTC (Wed) by rgmoore (✭ supporter ✭, #75)
In reply to: An unpleasant surprise for My Book Live owners by Wol
Parent article: An unpleasant surprise for My Book Live owners

But what's wrong with saying that, once YOU are no longer interested in supporting your products, you are *obliged* to *make*it*easy* for someone else to do so, if they think it's economic.

There is actually a robust market for non-OEM car parts. Some parts are highly standardized, so there's no problem getting them. A lot of other parts are made by subcontractors, who IIRC are allowed to keep making them for the aftermarket if the manufacturer gives up on them. In the USA, there is even a law saying owners who are still within their warranty period may substitute aftermarket parts during repairs without voiding their warranty.

But there are plenty of important parts that don't fail often enough to make it economical for anyone to bother making them at scale. For a mechanical parts, custom machining is often a reasonable option. But for a lot of the electrical parts, it simply isn't practical for a shop to try making them custom, at which point you're stuck scouring junkyards for the part you're after. A friend of mine is probably going to have to replace her car because she simply can't get the wiring harness she needs to have it repaired for love or money.