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BMW’s Newest “Innovation” is a Logo-Shaped Middle Finger to Right to Repair (www.ifixit.com)
submitted 8 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Adafruit: From Ultimate Driving Machine to Ultimate Rent-Seeking Machine: The BMW Logo Screw Patent.

If you haven’t already heard, BMW’s R&D teams have been busy “innovating.” Unfortunately, they aren’t focusing on the things that actually matter—like stellar engine performance or the legendary driving dynamics that gearheads love. Instead, the C-suite execs decided that the best use of their engineering budget was to design a proprietary security screw specifically intended to prevent BMW drivers from fixing their own cars.

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[–] 32 points 8 months ago (8 children)

Yes, but. If they add enough "special" things you need, that will reduce the number of average people and independent mechanics that will go through the trouble of getting all the "special" tools. Thier goal isn't to stop you. It's to inconvenience enough people so that they won't bother. Which drives more business to thier shops, which in turn makes them more money. And since they are publicly traded, it doesn't even have to actually make them money. Just make the market think it might.

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  • [–] 8 points 8 months ago (7 children)

    Its all a plan. People think I'm a conspiracy nut when i explain it. I think they're dumb for not seeing it. Capitalism is the best planned scam.

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  • [–] 7 points 8 months ago (5 children)

    I tie it all into how a public company's board has a fiduciary responsability to the shareholders legally. Which means they can (and often do) get sued for doing whats best for the customer over the shareholders. It sometimes clicks with people.
    And many who don't see it aren't dumb per se. They are more or less refusing to see it because they would have to realize that they are the slaves or pawns, or cogs in the machine. And they are not in control of thier destiny. Thats a hard thing for a lot of people to swalllow. Especially since there isn't much they can do about it.

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  • [–] 5 points 8 months ago (4 children)

    You would think it should be in the company (and its shareholders) interests to make a product that people really want to buy, instead of becoming increasingly hostile to their customers.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (3 children)

    You would, but making such a product is extremely expensive. And consumers will in general buy the cheaper not better product. Major investors know this, so spending on making a better product would actualy cause the stock price to go down. Maybe it would have paid off in the long run. But they want the stock price to go up now, not a year from now.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

    they want the stock price to go up now, not a year from now.

    That's the core of the issue. Short term focus at the expense of the long term sustainability of the entire enterprise.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (1 child)

    I think the focus on the shareholder perceptions is the core issue. It's compounded by the short term interests of said shareholders.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago

    That short term focus causes a lot of damage to a lot of people.

    But, of course, too many shareholders are sociopathically focused on their own enrichment with absolutely zero concern for the harms thay cause to the rest of society.

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