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Comment by beau_g | Hacker News Reader

You can buy many vehicles today dating all the way back to the turn of the last century. Here's some listings for steam cars if you insist on no electronics whatsoever https://www.steamcarnetwork.com/for-sale

Whatever your line is in the sand for tech integration, you have many great options from before that point.

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This answer is like Microsoft saying the 1990s that "abacus exist, so we're not really a monopoly".

People want modern cars, modern TVs and modern computers. They don't want a steam engine. But modern doesn't mean "crap that the manufacturer can brick remotely".

Except you're proposing a false dichotomy of no tech, and complete tech integration.

Would you also propose a calculator as a valid alternative to a locked down tablet/phone/pc that you can't install your own software on?

I don't understand where you are trying to go with this - steam cars have the same primary feature as any other vehicle - longitudinal and lateral control to traverse asphalt bands across the country. They can be retrofitted with any modern convenience feature as that stuff does not need to be integrated into the propulsion system. The same can be said of any other vehicle made between then and now. Of course, nobody has retrofit an early 1900s vehicle with 12 impact sensors and multistage airbags, and no modern manufacturer has offered a steam powerplant, because nobody actually wants this. Products are sold on features, not principles. In the US, you can (and people do) build just about anything and drive it legally on the road, so if not a single person has created (whatever it is several people in this thread think should exist), it would be preposterous to think a manufacturer would do it.

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