The big difference is that with hardware it feels wasteful. With software, you're not missing out on anything if they decide to lock certain features under a pa

The big difference is that with hardware it feels wasteful. With software, you're not missing out on anything if they decide to lock certain features under a paywall. But if the hardware already exists and can perform a certain function and the only thing blocking it from doing that is a license key then doesn't that seem like a waste of good hardware? Software is unlimited but hardware isn't.