[Discuss] Fwd: Hey FCC, Don't Lock Down Our Wi-Fi Routers | WIRED

[Rich Pieri]

On 11/5/2015 1:21 PM, Shirley Márquez Dúlcey wrote:
> A problem for the makers of high priced products. But if you are a
> commodity router maker, your value is in price and reliability, not
> software uniqueness. So why not open up?

There are a few reasons I'm aware of. The most practical one is simply 
that they can't afford it. Every state in the Union has implied warranty 
laws that manufacturers must comply with. Some states, including 
Massachusetts, outright prohibit "as-is" sales. Meanwhile, most GPL 
software, including the Linux kernel, expressly comes "as-is" with no 
warranty whatsoever. Google and Verizon can afford to eat the costs of 
adding warranty support to unsupported code; not so much D-Link and TP-Link.

-- 
Rich P.