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The notion that corporations would turn down a lucrative profit opportunity in order to 'give people what they want' is rather naive. For example, the talk dis

The notion that corporations would turn down a lucrative profit opportunity in order to 'give people what they want' is rather naive. For example, the talk discusses the farmer who wasn't given root access to their John Deere tractor, to disable a faulty sensor - because that sensor was collecting data, sending it back to the tractor manufacturer, who was using that data as part of their crop futures trading strategy. If the farmer wanted that data themselves, they had to buy seeds from Monsanto! I can't imagine any farmer not wanting the option of shutting off remote updates and remote access, and just having complete control over the equipment they bought. This is particularly true for older hardware... i.e. many old computers will run Linux just fine even if Windows support was ended years ago.

themacguffinman 4y ago
Farmers also want free money, they want blackjack and hookers too. Can you give it to them? What farmers want means nothing if they don't pay for it. If there is some hidden wellspring of farmers who really want those options then any manufacturer who makes tractors with those options will easily steal lots of customers and profits from John Deere. That's what you might call a "lucrative profit opportunity". But it won't happen, because farmers don't actually prioritize it when buying tractors, they prioritize tool efficiency and are content to idly complain about this issue without putting any money where their mouth is. Go ahead, start a root-access tractor business, then customers will suddenly tell you 99 reasons why John Deere's tractor is still better than yours because these telemetry options are some of the least important things when buying a tractor and practically no farmer will actually reward you for it. But sure, they want it. They'll even go as far as writing an internet comment complaining about it!

themacguffinman 4y ago

Farmers also want free money, they want blackjack and hookers too. Can you give it to them? What farmers want means nothing if they don't pay for it. If there is some hidden wellspring of farmers who really want those options then any manufacturer who makes tractors with those options will easily steal lots of customers and profits from John Deere. That's what you might call a "lucrative profit opportunity". But it won't happen, because farmers don't actually prioritize it when buying tractors, they prioritize tool efficiency and are content to idly complain about this issue without putting any money where their mouth is. Go ahead, start a root-access tractor business, then customers will suddenly tell you 99 reasons why John Deere's tractor is still better than yours because these telemetry options are some of the least important things when buying a tractor and practically no farmer will actually reward you for it. But sure, they want it. They'll even go as far as writing an internet comment complaining about it!