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Not to defend Deere et al., but one argument I've seen bandied about is that the manufacturers consider their software to be their "secret sauce" value add. If
by jabl 9y ago
Not to defend Deere et al., but one argument I've seen bandied about is that the manufacturers consider their software to be their "secret sauce" value add. If machined steel were all there is, there's nothing preventing the Chinese (or whoever happens to be the current outsourcing bogeyman) from producing perfectly good equipment at a fraction of the price. Personally I'm not convinced this is a really sustainable "moat"; surely the Chinese (boo!) can do embedded programming as well.
- squarefoot 9y agoThat's why a lot of people are advocating for a fair law that forces companies to release sources after a reasonable amount of time or when they cease to support the product, so that they can profit for some years from their IP but users aren't screwed when the product becomes obsolete. And of course being repairable and/or upgradeable means that a piece of technology won't be thrown away.