Except that the generic consumer in this case is actually very specialized and the market is very illiquid. There are only so many types of tractors you can bu

Except that the generic consumer in this case is actually very specialized and the market is very illiquid. There are only so many types of tractors you can buy and I would imagine all of them have the software since it "improves" efficiency. There is an excellent book called "Shop Class as Soul­craft: An Inquiry Into The Value Of Work" that examines this move towards things in our life that we can no longer fix on our own. You can't change the oil in fancy cars because they have no dipsticks. You can't fix the tractor because it has proprietary software. You can't jail break your phone because it's illegal (or was and could be again). Etc, etc. We are rapidly getting to the point where no one, not even the historically self-reliant, can fix the things they supposedly own. We don't actually "own" these things anymore, we are just renting them. Or best case, we have them on loan until we throw them out for something newer. Whether all this is an improvement is a matter of discussion but there seems to be no doubt that the concept of "ownership" is rapidly changing.