Flame War

[David Kramer]

Derek Martin wrote:
> All I really want is for a vendor to sell me something at a reasonable
> price, and then let me do whatever I want with it.  That's sort of the
> definition of property ownership.  

I challenge your definition.
Can you do whatever you want in your house or on your property?  Nope.
Can you do whatever you want with your car?  Nope.
Can you do whatever you want with a legal sized knife??  Nope.

Can you take your kitchen microwave and kill yourself by sticking your
head in it and turning it on?  Nope.  Because  the manufacturer has put
safety interlocks on it so it won't work if the door is open, because
that's not how they think it should be used.  Not so far from what Apple
is doing, other than their concerns are safety instead of user experience.

> But I think all too often vendors will sell us the bare minimum
> of what we want/need for a price that's the absolute maximum they can
> squeeze out of us for it.  Value judgement is subjective, and highly
> influenced by the alternatives (or lack of them) in the marketplace.  

You mean charging what the market will bear instead of cost plus fixed
profit? That trick never works.  Oh, wait.. that's the free market.