6 ms·

Is this the future? You buy a device but the manufacturer actually owns it?

by mikecane 13y ago

zapt02 13y ago
Well it is pretty heavily subsidized...
- Argorak 13y ago
  Which is, from the users perspective, pretty irrelevant. The user bought it and is the legal owner of the device. Everything else is a calculation of the seller and his problem (tm).
  - GhotiFish 13y ago
    I agree, but once you start putting a price tag on freedom, human beings are too willing to make compromises. I guess humans just like paying for freedom with blood, rather than money.
    - devcpp 13y ago
      Also, most people can;t afford to buy quality stuff in every domain. The lucky few who can buy good furniture or a good house will rarely have money remaining to buy good computing devices. A lot of us tech-savvy people but these before the rest because we have a passion for technology and/or make money out of it, but we're the exception in that regard. And let's not forget how many people like their devices to be entirely controlled, because they're afraid of entering the wrong commands. This stuff requires not only money but also time, and most people have neither to sacrifice for technology.
      - Argorak 13y ago
        Many people like their devices entirely preconfigured. A lot of people are well aware that e.g. their cell phone is bound to a provider and that this is a significant drawback. Let's not mingle that.
- mikecane 13y ago
  Subsidized how? I thought the BOM was like US$20. They might not be making a huge margin, but for god's sake, they're not bleeding to death on each sale. And those sold directly from their own site is all profit.
pcunite 13y ago
A very alarming future when you consider the digitization and electrification of everything. Imagine prescription eye glasses that turn off myopic correction when you miss a payment, refrigerators that report their contents to the local health labs, automobiles that find it unusual for you to be driving after 1am, cell phones that overheard you say, "the government is too big". Electric chains more binding than anything our forefathers sought to escape from.
- mikecane 13y ago
  >>>Imagine prescription eye glasses that turn off myopic correction when you miss a payment Philip K. Dick already did, from Ubik -- Back in the kitchen he fished in his various pockets for a dime, and, with it, started up the coffeepot. Sniffing the -- to-him -- very unusual smell, he again consulted his watch, saw that fifteen minutes had passed: he therefore vigorously strode to the apt door, turned the knob and pulled on the release bolt. The door refused to open. It said, "Five cents, please." He searched his pockets. No more coins; nothing. "I’ll pay you tomorrow," he told the door. Again he tried the knob. Again it remained locked tight. “What I pay you,” he informed it. "is in the nature of a gratuity; I don’t have to pay you." "I think otherwise," the door said. "Look in the purchase contract you signed when you bought this conapt." In his desk drawer he found the contract; since signing it he had found it necessary to refer to the document many times. Sure enough; payment to his door for opening and shutting constituted a mandatory fee. Not a tip. "You discover I’m right," the door said. It sounded smug. From the drawer beside the sink Joe Chip got a stainless steel knife; with it he began systematically to unscrew the bolt assembly of his apt’s money-gulping door. "I'll sue you," the door said as the first screw fell out.
- superuser2 13y ago
  >cell phones that overheard you say, "the government is too big". This is the position of a majority of the House of Representatives. That's more than a little paranoid. If your car finds it unusual for you to be driving late at night, it will be because your private auto insurance company realized it could run a higher profit margin by not paying out claims that result from nighttime accidents, the competition agreed, and consumer protection is considered too "big government" to implement.
Pxtl 13y ago
It's the past. This isn't news. PCs have always sat in a happy little bubble of freedom while the rest of consumer electronics are a wasteland of vendor-controlled devices or low-rent poorly-interoperable crap. The gaming consoles have been struggling in a war of control against their developers and hackers since the '80s. Sony has been trying to control the world of video and audio media since Betamax. The only thing that's changed is that app-driven devices and always-on internet connections make this back-and-forth far more obvious. You download app from some guy, and the next system update kills it. You couldn't do that on your Discman.

Is this the future? You buy a device but the manufacturer actually owns it?

zapt02 13y ago

Well it is pretty heavily subsidized...

Argorak 13y ago
Which is, from the users perspective, pretty irrelevant. The user bought it and is the legal owner of the device. Everything else is a calculation of the seller and his problem (tm).
- GhotiFish 13y ago
  I agree, but once you start putting a price tag on freedom, human beings are too willing to make compromises. I guess humans just like paying for freedom with blood, rather than money.
  - devcpp 13y ago
    Also, most people can;t afford to buy quality stuff in every domain. The lucky few who can buy good furniture or a good house will rarely have money remaining to buy good computing devices. A lot of us tech-savvy people but these before the rest because we have a passion for technology and/or make money out of it, but we're the exception in that regard. And let's not forget how many people like their devices to be entirely controlled, because they're afraid of entering the wrong commands. This stuff requires not only money but also time, and most people have neither to sacrifice for technology.
    - Argorak 13y ago
      Many people like their devices entirely preconfigured. A lot of people are well aware that e.g. their cell phone is bound to a provider and that this is a significant drawback. Let's not mingle that.
mikecane 13y ago
Subsidized how? I thought the BOM was like US$20. They might not be making a huge margin, but for god's sake, they're not bleeding to death on each sale. And those sold directly from their own site is all profit.

pcunite 13y ago

A very alarming future when you consider the digitization and electrification of everything. Imagine prescription eye glasses that turn off myopic correction when you miss a payment, refrigerators that report their contents to the local health labs, automobiles that find it unusual for you to be driving after 1am, cell phones that overheard you say, "the government is too big". Electric chains more binding than anything our forefathers sought to escape from.

mikecane 13y ago
>>>Imagine prescription eye glasses that turn off myopic correction when you miss a payment Philip K. Dick already did, from Ubik -- Back in the kitchen he fished in his various pockets for a dime, and, with it, started up the coffeepot. Sniffing the -- to-him -- very unusual smell, he again consulted his watch, saw that fifteen minutes had passed: he therefore vigorously strode to the apt door, turned the knob and pulled on the release bolt. The door refused to open. It said, "Five cents, please." He searched his pockets. No more coins; nothing. "I’ll pay you tomorrow," he told the door. Again he tried the knob. Again it remained locked tight. “What I pay you,” he informed it. "is in the nature of a gratuity; I don’t have to pay you." "I think otherwise," the door said. "Look in the purchase contract you signed when you bought this conapt." In his desk drawer he found the contract; since signing it he had found it necessary to refer to the document many times. Sure enough; payment to his door for opening and shutting constituted a mandatory fee. Not a tip. "You discover I’m right," the door said. It sounded smug. From the drawer beside the sink Joe Chip got a stainless steel knife; with it he began systematically to unscrew the bolt assembly of his apt’s money-gulping door. "I'll sue you," the door said as the first screw fell out.
superuser2 13y ago
>cell phones that overheard you say, "the government is too big". This is the position of a majority of the House of Representatives. That's more than a little paranoid. If your car finds it unusual for you to be driving late at night, it will be because your private auto insurance company realized it could run a higher profit margin by not paying out claims that result from nighttime accidents, the competition agreed, and consumer protection is considered too "big government" to implement.

Pxtl 13y ago

It's the past. This isn't news. PCs have always sat in a happy little bubble of freedom while the rest of consumer electronics are a wasteland of vendor-controlled devices or low-rent poorly-interoperable crap. The gaming consoles have been struggling in a war of control against their developers and hackers since the '80s. Sony has been trying to control the world of video and audio media since Betamax. The only thing that's changed is that app-driven devices and always-on internet connections make this back-and-forth far more obvious. You download app from some guy, and the next system update kills it. You couldn't do that on your Discman.