You know what this is? Just another example of enshittification, specifically the attempt to create some sort of proprietary thing that customers get locked in

You know what this is? Just another example of enshittification, specifically the attempt to create some sort of proprietary thing that customers get locked into, in this case branded drinks. Same story as Coke vs Pepsi: even though the recipes are almost exactly the same, people get locked into a particular preference for a particular branded drink with its slight variation in taste. Companies want monopolies. Pure coffee is not a monopoly. Anyone can acquire a storefront and beans and make a coffee. But not everyone can make a Frappuccino(c). Starbucks wants to make a market in copyrighted specialty beverages that no other business can reproduce. The same thing is happening with Nestle’s Vertuo product line. They lost the patent stranglehold on the original line so now other business can sell compatible pods. They’re like a printer company that lost their proprietary ink business. So they’re trying to create a new line of products where they have complete patent coverage — this is the Vertuo line. The Vertuo is a weird drink, in my opinion much worse than the original line. But Nestle is pushing it hard because if they can convert a customer to Vertuo, no one else can sell to them. Vendor lock-in.