The German car-maker says its “optional power upgrade” is designed to give customers more choice.
Ah yes, selling me something that is already available but is just locked behind software. And then trying to frame that as somehow a good thing for customers. Just insulting.
Sadly, it’s been a good part of IBM’s business model for years. They call it Capacity Upgrade on Demand.
Inactive processor cores and inactive memory units are resources that are included with your server, but are not available for use until you activate them.
I learned this when I moved into a corporate IT environment with Power servers. I couldn’t believe that some companies would pay a quarter of a million for a server that is intentionally stunted/limited unless you pay even more.
But cars are computers now. “Everything’s computer!”. So they will follow that subscription model.
I couldn’t believe that some companies would pay a quarter of a million for a server that is intentionally stunted/limited unless you pay even more.
Well, there is a reason AMD has been kicking ass in the server space lately. Mostly because Intel sat on their ass for a decade, but IBM scalping customers certainly provided a larger opening for AMD.
You’re not giving more choice if it relies on you purposefully taking away things. That’s called being predatory.
Sandwiches for sale! Can’t afford it? No problem! 30% discount. I’ll just cut it and toss one of the halves in the trash for you.
I thought taking away things someone else paid for was called stealing?
Okay, it’s high time for some serious regulatory intervention.
This is so distopian it sounds like a joke
The manufacturers fee for speeding is higher than the fine the police gives you.
Depending on your jurisdiction, your local commerce regulator might have a different opinion of the legality of this than VW, especially when they’re taking away features you already paid for.
Car companies are parasites. America was built on trains and the investments into car infrastructure have paralleled US declines. Its just not an effecient use of public resources to build highways between cities.
the eu almost not allowed this shit for bmw, now every brand is gonna go through
They’ve had this before, but you’ve had to change chips. Was also hacked. Except that it was a one-off payment now upgraded to subscription.
When buying isn’t owning …
Someone should compile a list of currently produced car makes and models that are free to modify and repair without software locks on them
I imagine it’s a pretty short list.
Be the change you want to see in the world. I look forward to your list!
Would you buy a new graphic card only to pay s monthly service to use it? Of course not.
I honestly wish this would immediately totally destroy the entire company.
We need an example for “what happens when you make basic features cost extra”.
This isn’t the first example, but the first I did hear was the heated seats (don’t remember the make, but I think it was BMW which I already hate conveniently) feature getting milked the same way.
I’m totally in favor of companies tiptoeing to see how much hostility they can get away with getting immediately liquidated and shut down faster than the CEO can finish chuckling to themselves after coming up with the idea. Their golden parachutes should turn into iron weights and they should be up shit’s creek, penniless and disqualified for any account in their name to ever receive a deposit. This kind of decision should be actually and literally lethal.
I’m not even kidding. I’m in favor of executing everyone involved in this whole chain of decisions, including any and all the “yes men” along the way. They’re too evil to be allowed to breathe my oxygen.
And this is why i’ll never own a vehicle with a cellular modem unless a jailbreak is already developed and there’s no regulatory/insurance issue with doing so.
You could also just pull the fuse for it, my boss did that on his vehicle.
Owning a car used to be nice. Heck, even the notion of living in a Capitalist country used to be nice.
This company already has another scandal brewing, since 2005 they have been installing plastic engine parts, particularily the intake manifolds have been designed as a single use item to be replaced roughly every 3 years. Custom aluminum will run you $1000 for the part itself if you don’t want to keep swapping plastic, not to mention the ridiculous labour costs as well. Avoid!
For $1000 you could get a small furnace for cintering, a regular 3D printer and some of that special PLA that has metal powder in it that you can print and then cinter into a solid metal piece (The PLA bakes off) and just make the fucking thing yourself.
That’s horrible! If people do that how will companies gouge customers?
I got rid of my last VW after I got tired of plastic parts breaking. It happened every winter, after a cold snap.
I agree. They are using only plastic everywhere at this point.
It’s also a nano plastic nightmare at this point.
Basically every car manufacturer pulls shit like this these days; good luck avoiding all of them.
If it’s specific to a certain model, that would be good info.
That said VW obviously sucks for pulling the stunt mentioned in the article, which applies to (all?) its electric models.
You don’t really see this with Toyota and Honda, just avoid any of the models that are joint venture with other companies.
