Maybe that "feature" is because of the 'inexpensive + specialized' thing. PnP seems like a hard problem. I thought the same thing as you awhile ago, looked at

Maybe that "feature" is because of the 'inexpensive + specialized' thing. PnP seems like a hard problem. I thought the same thing as you awhile ago, looked at some efforts that others were putting together, and was surprised at how many opted for complex things like computer vision to verify part positioning. And it did not take long for me to decide that, like most problems I take a cursory look at, there was no flippin' way I'd be able to make anything workable on my own in a reasonable cost/time-box. If I had an affordable plug-and-play design, I might take steps to protect it. Personally I'd think twice about a 'phone home' solution because I hate that shit as a consumer - or just open source it outright - but I can understand the stance.