This is stranger than fiction. I would have laughed 15 years ago if someone suggested DRM and electronic licensing would ever be applied to a tractor.
Tractors are ridiculously expensive. I was talking with a relative who sells them, and some of them cost more than pretty nice homes in the city we live in (as in, we live in a large metro area, and they can easily cost more than a very large, attractive home).
These things aren't just tilling dirt like you might have in the 20s either, or like you might with a garden in your backyard. There's all sorts of modern planting and harvesting methods, and tractors are sort of the engine that drives a lot of this machinery (which is very large). The technology involved can be complex, and it's often tied to aerial surveillance, soil monitoring etc.
The intellectual property problems associated with Deere and other manufacturers go beyond DRM per se. Deere over the last couple of decades has tried to force smaller sellers to abandon other manufacturers. I.e., "as of X date, if you continue to carry equipment from other manufacturers, we will no longer supply you with Deere equipment." This is extraordinarily anticompetitive when you consider that these pieces of equipment are extremely expensive, and that the dealers are geographically very sparse. So, it's hard on the farmers because if the dealer does become Deere-exclusive they might have to travel far to find alternatives, and it's hard on the dealers, because they are forced to put their eggs in one basket even when the buyers might want (or need) choice.
I've seen families split apart actually in cases where one part of the family is on the dealer or farmer side, and the other is on the Deere side.
Deere really has become anticompetitive in many ways, not just with DRM. If there ever was a case for antitrust enforcement in my opinion, it would probably be with Deere.
Tesla is likely the closest to "car as a service" but it has been coming along for a few years across the entire auto industry.
I guess your mileage may vary, literally.
As a family who has owned Ford cars and trucks for 25+ years, this is news to me. Do you have a link or anything to substantiate this? It would be surprising if true.
But I don't see how it relates requiring "incredibly expensive computers" as the original comment stated, nor do is it unique in any way to Ford. I can only speak from personal experience, but I've owned a ton of cars from all makes and models, and my Fords have been average or better when it comes to repair frequency/cost. I'm sure it's partially a byproduct of the vehicles being relatively "plain".
I'm already wary of this, personally, and it's one of the major reasons why I won't even consider buying a new car these days.
Edit- Here is the link in case I missed any specifics: https://www.volvocars.com/us/shopping-tools/purchase/care-by...
As far as I am concerned, this is exactly what I expected, and I am seriously surprised anyone could be surprised by it. Like, I was not necessarily thinking specifically about tractors 15 years ago, but I think it was just obvious that DRM would be used to gain control over devices that are run by software, and obviously pretty much all devices sooner or later would be run by software, and as such, of course, tractors would be, too, sooner or later.
For me, yes. I do think differently about these warnings.
We are in an interesting time. How we resolve these basics are going to impact people and the planet for a very long time.
It also impacts what I do. One thing is I am extremely reluctant to depend on things I cannot repair. Grew up rural, and repair was a basic skill in life.
I am thankful for it. Has saved me so many times.
Right to repair is a major issue, close to my heart.
We are headed to a crazy world. Cory Doctorow's message on the War on General Purpose Computing is more relevant than ever. For anyone that hasn't seen his Cory, he's got numerous videos on Youtube. Check out some of his talks at Google.
The idea that something like that could be locked behind components that can't be fixed or replaced cheaply is astounding to them.
I feel like it's the same as asking Henry Ford what he thinks about all the electronics in today's cars. It'd blow his mind.