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Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

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Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#311

Post by bastardoperator »

Hasz wrote: post #20

I think this is a reaction to the incredibly locked down ecosystem that most of these mfgs are pushing. However, the tech exists for a reason and is not inherently bad, the issue is the lock-in, the lack of choice and interoperability. IMO, there is plenty of space for an OEM who can play nice with others, offer an open (and vibrant ecosystem), and keep users coming back by choice, not by lock-in.

Just call it what it is, greed. The idiots at John Deer thought strangling their customers to death was a good business model.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#312

Post by throwaway173738 »

uticus wrote: post #179
stackskipton wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OEM can change their mind at any moment and there is always going to be an MBA rubbing their hands together thinking about all the money that can be made. This needs to be solved at government level with right to repair laws and requirement for open standards instead of believing in magic of "free market".

> instead of believing in magic of "free market" It looks like magic because it works like magic. Surprisingly it is also possible to believe in the magic of "government intervention" though it looks less like magic and more like unintended consequences.

Doing nothing and letting the market do whatever is also full of unintended consequences. Your argument is like letting your yard go to weed and accumulate a bunch of knotweed and himalayan blackberry. Yeah you can argue that you didn’t do anything to create that situation but at the end of the day you’re still responsible for it.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#314

Post by insane_dreamer »

aardvarkr wrote: post #246
jmward01 wrote: post #59

I want this for cars but to keep the modern powertrain. So an EV without the tracking/touch screens, etc etc. Or an internal combustion engine car that is just simple and efficient (and again, no tracking). I'll take the low-tech but nice features like heated seats and power windows still thank you.

Sounds like you just want a car from the year 2000.

Yes or even better something like a Volvo from the 80s

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#315

Post by brokencode »

throwaway85825 wrote: post #290
jadbox wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd love this. I really don't want my car to be an iPhone with "apps" and random background software on it. The car touchscreen was perhaps the worst design choice in the history of the automobile, and is likely the cause of countless crashes. It's insane when I see car UIs that have the 'cancel / go back' button located in DIFFERENT areas depending on the screen context.

The irony is cars got screens largely due to the backup camera mandate which was intended to be a safety feature. Governments are very bad at understanding unintended consequences.

Are you suggesting that governments shouldn’t require safety features because car manufacturers might implement them badly?

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#316

Post by bluGill »

childintime wrote: post #203

Wait? No electric tractors yet? Swappable batteries would be perfect.

the battery in a tesla would run a medium tractor for less than an hour. The tesla can produce more power - but soon it is up to speed and so making a lot less. Tractors are expected to produce their full rated power for 10 hours without stopping.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#318

Post by bluGill »

asadotzler wrote: post #305
holysantamaria wrote: post #192

What prevents these no tech tractors to be electric?

Almost certainly it's energy density for long running, high load usage. If a family car energy usage is 1x, then a light duty truck is about 1.5x, and a heavy duty truck doing hauling or towing is about 4x. A medium sized farm tractor would probably be 20x or more. In that light, it's not hard to see how cars and light trucks could fare well with today's battery energy density, while heavy duty trucks are at the limi…

For small tractors many only use them for an hour per day - often mowing the lawn once a week. I have used mine all day cutting wood - and only but 15 minutes on the engine (the rest was me running the chain saw of loading something by hand).

Which is to say an electric tractor would be great for me, but for most farmers useless.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#319

Post by kube-system »

post-it wrote: post #303
kube-system wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to prioritize them. You can choose to encourage the rich to hoard their money elsewhere. But there are consequences to every policy decision.

The rich don't have money, they have assets, and those assets can't go anywhere. It doesn't matter if the rich buy or sell a farm in Canada, the farm is still in Canada.

> The rich don't have money, they have assets

Yeah, we're talking about the same thing.... the word for a rich person who exchanges their cash for non-cash assets is "investor"

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#320

Post by DonThomasitos »

Part of the story why we can‘t feel the hypothetical productivity gains of the last century is that certain goods became 1. more expensive and 2. last shorter. This movement (as mentioned in the tractor example) might be the result of people realizing this: what drives GDP (expensive throw away crap) might not always drive wealth.
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