Our Christmas Present to You: The Importance of Being Open Source

Merry Christmas from the folks at AnimalTrakker®!

We hope you’ve been having a festive and happy holiday season! Recently, we’ve been thinking about the importance of being open source, and what it means for our world now and in the future. Consider this post our Christmas present to you – and don’t be afraid to let us know your thoughts!

The Importance of Being Open Source (And the Right to Repair Your Stuff)

Even if you aren’t a farmer or rancher yourself, you’ve probably heard about the “Right to Repair” war. It’s not just a problem with companies in the farming sector, though John Deere may be one of the most well-known offenders. Apple, Caterpillar, Johnson & Johnson, and various other manufacturers have also been implicated in the Right to Repair movement.

What does “Right to Repair” mean? Right to Repair, or R2R, is a movement advocating for consumers to repair the products they own, either by themselves or through unaffiliated repair shops. Imagine that you could only take your vehicle for repairs at a licensed dealership instead of your local mechanic. They could charge you whatever they wanted – and you might have to wait in line for a long, long time.

That scenario is a bit of an exaggeration, though. The Right to Repair movement usually comes down to parts of the product that could be considered “trade secrets” – the hardware and software that brings the most revenue for the manufacturer. By protecting these trade secrets, the manufacturer is protecting their own financial interests. Anything that wouldn’t fall under that umbrella – like changing a tire on a vehicle – is typically still doable.

John Deere, for example, uses proprietary software to read information from their machines’ onboard diagnostic systems. Without that software, shops and individuals can’t diagnose their own machines. Apple – the other historically big offender in Right to Repair cases – has been known for using proprietary parts and engineering practices that make it difficult to repair their devices. Instead, they push you to buy a new one.

Shockingly, Apple seems to have changed their stance on Right to Repair – at least partially. In 2023, they supported California’s SB 244 bill, which required manufacturers to give customers access to parts, tools, and manuals for their products. They also started offering used Apple parts for repairs in 2024. However, they still maintain control by imposing artificial limitations on repair tools and parts.

In 2023, John Deere lost an important legal battle in the Right to Repair war. Previously, they maintained total control of the diagnostic and repair tools required to fix and modify John Deere equipment. This new memorandum forces them to make those tools available to individuals and repair shops not affiliated with John Deere. However, it won’t be free to access these tools, so the near future unfortunately isn’t as bright as it seems.

I have a personal anecdote about the benefit of choosing open source software. As someone who’s involved in academics and research, I keep a bibliographic manager to handle resources and references. It’s an essential step in staying organized when writing papers and reports.

Historically, there have been two big players in the free bibliographic manager game: Zotero and Mendeley. Zotero is a free, open-source program with an outspoken and supportive community. Mendeley is a for-profit program made by Elsevier, with a free tier. While both programs were popular and used by thousands of academics in their time, Elsevier discontinued support for Mendeley in 2021. They officially ended the project in 2023.

The official (and abrupt) end to Mendeley is another important reminder about the importance of being open source. When support for Mendeley ended, it left everyone who previously used it responsible for migrating and transitioning years of bibliographical data. Meanwhile, Zotero is still free and supported today. Plus, since it’s open source, even if those responsible for Zotero were to end support for the program, someone new (or the community itself) could take over and keep it running.

Not every program will sunset the way that Mendeley did, but it’s a looming possibility that never really disappears. Plus, as our world becomes more and more entwined with technology each year, there’s more we’ll have to worry about losing. Imagine if you suddenly lost access to your Google Drive one day. Do you have a secure, updated physical backup stored somewhere? (Spoiler alert: most of us don’t.)

Apple, John Deere, and other companies like Elsevier still have a long way to go. The reason why we don’t support Apple devices for Farm Mobile here at AnimalTrakker® is because of their software limitations – specifically, Bluetooth. Apple keeps a tight leash on the apps and programs they allow to interact with their software. In our case, Bluetooth permissions for Bluetooth Classic devices are nearly impossible to get, and that’s what all of our EID readers use. Apple did open up the way for Bluetooth LE recently, but unfortunately, no EID readers that we can find currently use it.

While some might argue that this difficulty in software compatibility makes their devices safer, it also presents a huge hurdle for individuals and small businesses who don’t have the resources to meet their demands. Plus, do you really want your $2,000 Apple iPad Pro to get destroyed by a ram’s horn, a cow’s hoof, or an unplanned dip in the mud? Then, you have the conundrum of either buying an expensive new one or dealing with Apple’s artificial parts scarcity.

Unfortunately, where the Right to Repair ends is a bit unclear. There’s a difference between making your products fixable and making your software completely open source, and it’s not really clear where the line for “good enough” should be. Here at AnimalTrakker®, we solve this problem by leaving everything completely open, but not every company can (or will) do the same.

Being open source means all of our AnimalTrakker® source code is out on the internet, available for anyone to see, use, and modify. We can do this because we don’t monetize our software. We choose other aspects of our business to bring in revenue. As such, whether a business will offer open source software depends at least partially on their business model.

Because we are open source, whoever uses AnimalTrakker® has the power to tweak their system. You can add new features, patch bugs, and customize the software at any time. If AnimalTrakker® doesn’t do everything you need it to do, the power is in your hands to fix that. In theory, that allows us to have millions of people critiquing and developing our software instead of just us. While that’s a huge benefit for us, a company with thousands of employees (and a paid development team) might not see it the same way.

In some ways, you can liken open source to software as repairability is to hardware. Open source is the pinnacle of “repairable” software.

In the end, the responsibility falls to the consumer to decide what’s “good enough.” In 2021, France enacted a “repairability index,” which gives a rating from 1-10 based on how repairable a device is. France was the first country to ever implement such a system. While it has its own set of limitations, such a system provides greater visibility on consumer-friendly practices at a glance, which makes it easier for people to decide who and what they want to support. Until we get such a system here – or until other laws pass that guarantee our right to repair – it’s up to us to make informed decisions.

Fortunately, there’s no shortage of independent groups that support our right to repair. iFixit is an incredible, community-supported resource that stockpiles repair guides and manuals for an enormous range of products. They’ve also been an instrumental force in getting Right to Repair bills passed nationwide. If you’d like to learn more about the Right to Repair movement (or if you have a device you need to fix), we highly recommend visiting their website.

The best way to support the Right to Repair movement is by patronizing businesses that make their products easy to fix. Look for companies offering open-source software and user-serviceable hardware, and don’t be afraid to share your experiences (good and bad) with friends and family, especially during the holiday season.