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posted by martyb on Thursday January 09 2020, @09:51PM   Printer-friendly
from the tough-row-to-hoe dept.

Digital Rights/Restrictions Management (DRM) technologies affecting new tractors are behind the continuing rise in popularity of the models. Particularly in the midwest, farmers are finding that 40-year-old tractors do the job with less trouble and expense.

Tractors manufactured in the late 1970s and 1980s are some of the hottest items in farm auctions across the Midwest these days — and it's not because they're antiques.

Cost-conscious farmers are looking for bargains, and tractors from that era are well-built and totally functional, and aren't as complicated or expensive to repair as more recent models that run on sophisticated software.

"It's a trend that's been building. It's been interesting in the last couple years, which have been difficult for ag, to see the trend accelerate," said Greg Peterson, the founder of Machinery Pete, a farm equipment data company in Rochester with a website and TV show.

Previously;
Reeducating Legislators on the Right to Repair (2019)
John Deere Just Swindled Farmers Out of Their Right to Repair (2018)
US Copyright Office Says People Have the Right to Hack their Own Cars' Software (2015)


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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 09 2020, @11:46PM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 09 2020, @11:46PM (#941679)

    from "reliable brands", like BMW and Audi...

    Sarcasm?

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Unixnut on Friday January 10 2020, @12:04AM (6 children)

    by Unixnut (5779) on Friday January 10 2020, @12:04AM (#941694)

    > Sarcasm?

    Common perception :-P

    Saying that, those companies are trading on the momentum of their legacy and "brand". Loads of people still associate them with quality and reliability, even though IMO that has not been the case for the last 18 years. Every time I sat in one of them they always felt so cheap and plasticky. They feel like a VW with a badge slapped on them, and then sold for 40%+ premium.

    If they are not going to build quality, I am not going to pay their premium, especially when they try to convince me I am buying a "Brand lifestyle". Tits to that, I am buying a vehicle, not your life image. I would sooner buy a VW (and I almost did, but my heart overtook my head, and I bought something Italian instead).

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 10 2020, @12:21AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 10 2020, @12:21AM (#941704)

      They feel like a VW with a badge slapped on them

      Actually European chumps I know swear by VW (still, at least some of them) as the standard of "German engineering" and reliability, basically the Toyota of Europe.

      As for Italian, you know what to expect, and at least it's pretty and fun (when not broke down).

      • (Score: 2) by Unixnut on Friday January 10 2020, @12:58AM (1 child)

        by Unixnut (5779) on Friday January 10 2020, @12:58AM (#941719)

        > Actually European chumps I know swear by VW (still, at least some of them) as the standard of "German engineering" and reliability, basically the Toyota of Europe.

        They were, until the (T)FSI era. Those engines are awful. Already leaking oil through their piston rings after 3 years. VW owns Audi and Porsche, so their faults with penny pinching and bad software propagates through the brands. The good thing is that everyone and their mother knows someone who can work on a VW. They are quite modular and easy to repair, and parts are plentiful. Also because they share technology, you can sometimes fit parts (like the in car entertainment system) from upmarket brands into yours. Decent hackable cars.

        However VW had its golden moment from the 80s till the 00's (the GTIs, the G-lader, and the VR6 are highly regarded). They still do good stuff upmarket (with their Lamborghini and Bugatti brands), but fact is if they skimped there people would not buy them.

        > As for Italian, you know what to expect, and at least it's pretty and fun (when not broke down).

        Oh god yes. I would never recommend it to others, but it makes everything, even my commute a smile inducing moment. If I have to drive, I want to have a grin on my face and a desire to do it more, which it gives me in spades.

        The biggest irony is the jokes all my collegues gave me when I bought it. All the typical "You must like to spend time by the road", "So you want to be on first name basis with your mechanic", "I guess we won't be seeing you in the office often", etc... yet I average 30,000 miles per year in it, while their German machinery spends most of its life in garages getting repaired. I honestly expected that it would be the other way around.

        The car just passed 100,000 miles, and the only problems I had were with the German bits:

        1. The alternator went (Bosch), but they go eventually due to the extreme environment they operate in
        2. The Window issue (Bosch), no idea what could be causing it. It might be a spurious/corrupted packet from some other ECU (or even the radio firmware bug). It is all on the same bus, which is mad.
        3. The Radio (Blaupunkt). My hope, that it being a Blaupunkt under the skin, I may be able to switch it out with a standard Blaupunkt instead. However the fact it has the odd frimware bug that standard radios don't, make me worry that the firmware has been customised, which is what caused the bug in the first place, and may preclude me from switching it with an aftermarket radio.

         

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 10 2020, @02:21PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 10 2020, @02:21PM (#941869)

      Same with Pyrex state-side, Pyrex containers are now just regular glass, so all that "pyrex doesn't shatter with temperature changes" is just plain false, and has been for over 30 years.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 11 2020, @02:44AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 11 2020, @02:44AM (#942129)

        Secondhand PYREX (nb. never pyrex or Pyrex) ftw. If, of course, there's a secondhand market close to you - not the case for many rural folks.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 12 2020, @03:03AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 12 2020, @03:03AM (#942394)

        PYREX in all caps is used to denote borosilicate glass [wikipedia.org] and pyrex in all lowercase is tempered glass [wikipedia.org]. If you have mixed case, then you have to check the date of manufacture, markings, or tint to know for sure.