Subj : Re: BMW charging monthly for heated seats
To   : Nightfox
From : nblade
Date : Wed Jul 13 2022 18:52:26

 Ni> This reminds me a bit of the failed DivX video format, which came out
 Ni> soon after the DVD disc format came out in the late 90s - You'd buy
 Ni> basically a DVD movie (though at a lower price), and every time you
 Ni> watched it, you would pay a fee (something like $3).  A DivX player
 Ni> would need to be connected to a phone line so that it could call and
 Ni> charge your card for watching the movie.  That system quickly failed as
 Ni> it didn't become popular.
 Ni> 

Sadly people have been now programmed to think subscription based services (or even products) are the norm. I expect this trend to continue. Heck some of the high end cars have system that check to see if a part is suppose to be in that car and if not, it doesn't work even though electrically it should. My friend had that issue with some headlights he bought, Even though they were for that car, the serialnumber from the headlights didn't match what was in the allowed database, so they didn't work. Took 3 months of back and forth from the car maker to get a software update to his car (via the dealership which he had to also pay for) to allow the headlights to work again. 

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