alt Hacker NewsCounterpoint: many vendors with lock-in use the price of the subscription and ads they show you to subsidize the device itself.
By buying the device and then breaking the lock-in, one does more harm to the anti-consumer device manufacturer than had they done nothing at all.
Replies
> Counterpoint: many vendors with lock-in use the price of the subscription and ads they show you to subsidize the device itself.
Vendors want to have their cake and eat it. They are no longer happy with a one-time sale, they want a continuous revenue stream. I have absolutely no qualms about buying "subsidized" devices and liberating them. I am not going to pay five times the price of a "smart TV" for a commercial display with worse specs when I can buy the consumer version and not connect it to the Internet or root it.
> Counterpoint: many vendors with lock-in use the price of the subscription and ads they show you to subsidize the device itself.
What exactly is the subsidy here?
Is it that they plan to meet a bulk of their profit target after the sale, instead of frontloading the profit. The subsidy can be considered a 1000 dollars on a 200 dollar device if their target price is 1200 dollars.
It is only really subsidized if the device is actually sold below cost of BOM & essential software needed minus bloat. I'm skeptical that they are giving away hardware below cost based on potential profits.
But what if the desire is not to harm some obnoxious company, but instead to reduce their influence in the market? But I agree generally, free any locked down device you happen to find yourself possessing.
I want everyone, everywhere, to do this to TV manufacturers. Root them. Destroy their “smart” software.
There is no competition in the space anymore. Not on that. You either get crudded-up devices or a panel that doesn’t have the fundamental AV capabilities required of a living room TV.
Subsidizing products does not mean the consumer spends less.
Who pays for those ads/tracking/etc... companies that want to sell stuff to the consumer. Congratulations, subsidization just introduced more middlemen which extract more profit from the consumer.
The simpler things can be, the cheaper things can be.
By buying the device and then breaking the lock-in, one does more harm to the anti-consumer device manufacturer than had they done nothing at all.
Only if you can guarantee that the vendor is going to remain in business forever, and provide service and support for the product forever.
Neither of those things happen. Ever.
It's a fan, filter, and a case with a small PCB + sensors. They are absolutely selling these at a good profit margin.