That reminds me of the Linksys WRT54G. Some people predicted that it would disrupt ISPs because it was so hackable.

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2004/pulpit_20040527_0004...

The manufacturer responded by replacing the Linux firmware with a proprietary real-time operating system. That allowed them to use hardware that was less powerful than the original both in terms of electricity consumption and computational performance. Furthermore, most people have better things to do than reprogramming their wi-fi routers.

Reading Cringley's predictions in that article is cringeworthy.