We have to go further than that. Naming and shaming Tim Cook hasn't changed anything from Butterfly keyboards to cringeworthy "mother earth" interviews to exploitative Chinese manufacturing schemes. Apple doesn't speak your language, you can only communicate to them by showing them a world where they hurt.
So outlaw this. Follow the EU's lead and fix this decade-old problem that has damaged the progress of personal computing irreparably. Apple's legacy should be the least of their concerns when they're forced to pay the piper for what they've done. If their recompense was proportional to the money they've stolen from creators and developers then I doubt Apple would even be solvent.
All it took was four years, an impending major redesign and a few class-action lawsuits over switch failures. Apple was definitely super responsive about that one. Or maybe it was their courage speaking.
Apple laptop chassis generally have 4 years in the market before refreshes anyway so although it felt like they were pressured and it took 4 years it was more it was shown to be faulty when it hit the market and then the next iteration arrived on schedule and fixed the issue.
Still shocking such a bad an sonically ugly keyboard launched though.
While that's all very true, I find it notable to point out that the company stopped making butterfly keyboards 5 years ago. The folks out there that are still bitter about this really need to find something else to occupy their mindspace.
In related news, I just got my keyboard settlement check!
I'm not bringing it up apropos of nothing; it's evidence that Apple doesn't listen to blatant (and epistemically correct) outcry from their customers when they make a mistake. When the Butterfly keyboard released people were literally shocked; I remember getting messages from people asking if their Macbook keyboard shipped broken after the honeymoon phase wore off. There were SGA members on Twitter bemoaning how they hated their job on the new laptop; programmers everywhere plugging in USB-C keyboards to make their Starbucks workstation tolerable. It was inconceivable that you'd pay a price premium for thinness when all it got you was a miserable keyboard and thermal issues.
For crying out loud; you just got your settlement for a hardware flaw Apple doesn't admit exists 8 years after they shipped the flawed product. Mankind cannot sustain this pattern of business refusing to back-down from demonstrably harmful practices that their customers can identify and isolate. The Butterfly keyboard is a microcosm of how Apple ships deliberately flawed products in an attempt to market a solution they are exclusively qualified to sell. And despite all this, people still rush to Apple's aid like it's wrong to call them out for being so greedily obstinate. The reality distortion field is still in full effect.
I think you’re really blowing this out of proportion and treading into conspiracy theory territory. I don’t think this is at all an example of a deliberately flawed product, that’s a tall accusation.
I don’t think any corporation goes into product design hoping to give out free repair service and settle class action lawsuit claims.
Remember that when Apple finally introduced the 2019 MacBook Pro that reverted the keyboard design, it was only 3 years after the original 15” MacBook Pro butterfly model came out. It’s not like they were sitting on their hands for an extremely long time ignoring their customers as you accuse. They completely reverted the design in about 3 years and seemingly forced their lead designer into retirement.
As far as admitting the problem exists publicly, offering proactive refunds, etc, find me a public corporation that will do that and I’ll give you a pot of gold. And recall that the service bulletin and offer to provide free repairs is an acknowledgment of the problem.
There's nothing "theoretical" about it. Apple has a history of deliberately designing their products so they are both fragile and impossible to traditionally repair. Examples:
1. iPhones (starting with iPhone 6) being constructed to have fragile and DRM-encumbered components (display, battery, camera)
2. Macbook topcases with unibody constructions that can only be replaced as a single $600 finished assembly
3. Macbook bottom chassis for using glue instead of tapped screws to prevent safe disassembly and repair
4. Airpods being entirely impossible to service in any way (and conveniently removing the 3.5mm jack for alternatives)
5. Vision Pro being designed to stop functioning if non-essential features like the eye-tracking or the glass panel up front are broken.
Why is this a conspiracy? Because we can easily prove Apple knows about the pressure they're creating for customers. At first it was AppleCare that capitalized on these insecurities, giving the rich a solution that doesn't even repair their Apple products in the first place. Before being criticized for it, Apple themselves did not even want to repair Apple products. They'd rather trash your old one and give you a new one. Then the criticism came in, and instead of designing their products better Apple creates a new first-party repair program with worse DRM problems. Worse yet, they're still forcing you to buy entire component assemblies to fix a single broken part. Did your display's power IC break? That's a $2 Texas Instruments component you'll be paying $150 to get replaced. Don't forget your $49 repair kit rental. $200 to fix a $2 part.
You might say this is all very smart, on Apple's behalf. Too much so; with the DRM scheme they've created it's impossible for you to do cheaper repairs even if you wanted to. You have to buy first-party components, and even donor-boards won't work as sources of cheap spare parts. So Apple went out of their way to stop third-parties from being capable of performing profitable repairs. They've prevented users and repair shops from buying the components they need and using software they have blocked you from even attempting to fix things yourself. Sound like John Deere yet?
You know why Apple takes 3 years to sheepishly fix a mistake they don't admit exists? Because they make money off it. People stuck on old models are forced to get one with a usable keyboard. Hell, before they started (2 years after shipping btw) the free repair program as a response to lawsuits, they were charging users for new keyboards. It's a racket; you would have to be actually blind to look at Apple's history of behavior and assume it is not arranged for profit over any other single value.
BTW, this is not my opinion but instead a re-hash of the criticisms that Apple-certified repair stores have levied against Apple. People have been complaining about this since 2016 and if you step outside HN you may notice that people care about Right to Repair.
So outlaw this. Follow the EU's lead and fix this decade-old problem that has damaged the progress of personal computing irreparably. Apple's legacy should be the least of their concerns when they're forced to pay the piper for what they've done. If their recompense was proportional to the money they've stolen from creators and developers then I doubt Apple would even be solvent.