361–370 of 555 posts
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Markets which require billions of dollars to compete in are not truly competitive. They may be competitive in a regulatory sense, but not in a practical one. And these markets have huge amounts of regulation as well that limits competition on top of the financial limitations on competition.
The slim margins in the automotive sector would like to have a word with this argument.
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You are missing the point. (So I will spell it out for you: consumers have more power than your comments indicate).
I will spell it out for you, since you were so kind to spell it out for me: consumers' power is limited by the interests of corporations. When a corporation can fix what is viewed by the consumer as a mistake without significant financial downsides, they frequently will (if the consensus is strong enough that it really was a mistake). However, they will not fix anything that causes them financial hardship unless forc…
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>are people really this devoted to corps or are they shills? I think a lot of people defend this because they themselves work for tech companies who's products or services are also profitable due to some for of rent-seeking which ensure great profits and wages that wouldn't be possible otherwise because let's face it, the most profitable SW companies where the HN audience most likely works at, don't sell you a lifeti…
Software as a service is a continuous operation. Cars aren't. Not hypocritical at all. No one cares that they want to be as profitable as big techs. We want to own our damn cars. We want to accelerate as much as we want. It's that simple and requires no further justification. We take issue with big techs locking down computers too. No problem with them running whatever they want on their servers but we want to run wh…
I would pay to get software not as a service. Fuck your updates, I don't want bloody updates that end up breaking my stuff and wasting my time. Give me one version, no updates and no support, and I will give you top dollars. If I want an update I'll come back to repeat the process again, giving you top dollars again, several years down the road.
Are big purchases every several years cheaper than a subscription? I don't know and I don't care. Sell me your fucking software as a fucking static product, I am happy to pay the premium for it.
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A lot of people here think building a successful subscription based product is the absolute goal in life. To them Mercedes (and BMW and others) doing this isn't dumb - it's super smart and worth applauding. Otherwise you're just leaving money on the table /s.
honestly yes it's smart(doesn't mean it's kind), if I was selling 6 figures cars I'd do my best to milk customers in every possible way as long as it's still profitable in the long run mercedes isn't selling baby formulas or epipens plenty of other brands will take your 100 years of 3rd world salary to give you some shiny vehicle should I cry for some pampered millionaires who just want to drive faster?
The point is that everywhere outside of the powerhouse first world economies runs on second hand cars imported from those economies. I'd know - in my country most cars are ex-german cars. And then once we're done with them, they go to Ukraine(or they used to). Then after that they go to far east or Africa. Your 100k mercedes has 15 lives before it gets scrapped.
But you know what stops that chain early? If everything in the car has subscription and strong encryption to prevent messing with payment options, which "incidentally" will mean those cars can't be worked on by anyone other than the official garage. Wouldn't want anyone to pirate some subscription-only stuff now, would we.
I'm not mourning rich people wanting to drive fast - I'm mourning regular folks who will get these cars at 15-20 years old and find out that the heating seats don't work because Mercedes won't enable them on a "legacy" vehicle. Or it's from the wrong region so they can't do anything for you, sorry.
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...Are you of the impression that people like this? People hate it. It's like, the one thing everyone complains about all the time when flying. How did you get to the conclusion that people like this about flights
Actions speak louder than words. People say they hate it. But they aren't upgrading to all-inclusive first class or full-fare economy tickets. They happily buy the cheapest flight, whine, and then do it all against the next time they take a vacation. To some extent, this is quite rational. You're in pain for like 2 hours because the seat pitch is now 4 inches. But then you get off the flight and never think about it…
Can’t wait for cars to have displays on the exterior so we can choose to show ads instead of pay the monthly fee. PAYS FOR ITSELF BABY
If I have to pick between a world where a company makes four different models of car with actual different components, and a world where a company makes one car with DRM - the DRM world just seems better in general? I think it should be legally required to offer a fully functional un-DRM'ed car for the "full" price, but I would much rather buy the premium model and be able to unlock its features over time than have to choose up front which I want.
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Actions speak louder than words. People say they hate it. But they aren't upgrading to all-inclusive first class or full-fare economy tickets. They happily buy the cheapest flight, whine, and then do it all against the next time they take a vacation. To some extent, this is quite rational. You're in pain for like 2 hours because the seat pitch is now 4 inches. But then you get off the flight and never think about it…
Have you considered that most people can't afford to upgrade to first class? The choice is either deal with the shit seat or not go on vacation.
I hate the nickel and diming but it does make things more accessible in general.