John Gruber of Daringfireball talks about unsupported hacking of the iPhone and the sense of entitlement people have.
The point isn’t that you shouldn’t hack, or that you don’t have the right to do whatever you want with something you own. The point is that if you hack, you’re on your own. You can’t do unsupported things and expect to be supported for them just because you think these actions should be supported. It’s that simple.
John is right, though I believe that in the case of the iPhone, Apple should be offering a pay-for service for iBricks,. Not as a sort of We’ll sort it out, you rascals charge but something painful enough to make mom and pop think twice.
A friend of mine is keen on his Haxies and InputManagers. He runs a hacked version of the interface files so his menu bars and window decor looks very different to my own. He runs hacks here and there to configure the system exactly the way he wants it. And he complains bitterly of “graphic glitches” and moans that some windows don’t draw well.
I’ve gone through this debate with him several times. Remove the hacks and everything returns to normal so stop moaning. His defense – Apple should support his preferences. Let’s ignore the fact that as a mate of mine he’s getting a LOT of free IT support for his Mac from an Apple Certified techie.
It can’t be clearer. If you hack then you’re on your own.
This is abundantly clear to hackers. When we get some software, especially open source, and the futz around with the code inside, we know what we’re getting into. When we break something we don’t claim foul. The problem comes from individuals using the work of hackers to apply the hacks to their own machine and then crying foul when it breaks.
If you don’t have the knowledge to fix it, don’t break it. I mean, duh.