… the impulse to repair arises from and is sustained by love — and that the particular form of love at work here is friendship. By repairing the things of this world we exhibit friendship towards them — and they become friends to us in return.
Alan Jacobs, the friendliness of objects
If you buy something off the shelf, like an iPhone, which you can’t change, you’re less likely to care for it, and it’s going to end up in a drawer. Back then you could go to Radio Shack and get parts for your computer, it was possible to customize it (for example, the Altair), and then you could know it in its entirety. Devices that were customized, or built from near-scratch, are still loved, but as for your old iPhone6, you don’t know where it is, and even if you did it’s probably unusable. Devices like the iPhone6 can’t be repaired, they are designed to fail in ways that are inscrutable.
Hundred Rabbits , Weathering Software Winter
These sound like different notes in the same chord to me. I want computers, and computing, to be personal again.