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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)
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 10 2020, @12:04AM (2 children)
Nah, they went downhill from the 90s on. European Common Market was well established by the late 80s, and they were shit-scared of Japanese onslaught on their auto market due to their super reliability and low maintenance costs.
Up through the 80s, though, "German reliability" in their cars were for real - the indestructible MB 300D and BMW 5-series from that era stand out. Audi, not so much.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 10 2020, @04:35AM
I get the strong idea the people buying these status cars are signalling they are rich beyond comprehension.
Whereas I look at them kinda like having to ask Dad for the car keys, knowing he will want to know exactly where I am going and what I did. And he might allow me to drive it.
I do not like having to get permission all the time like an irresponsible adolescent kid.
Or a super rich luxury car owner.
Having DRM on your stuff only signals you will accept someone else determining what you will be allowed to do, and is watching you to verify your obedience.
A bird in a gilded cage.
And they want me to buy the cage as well. Well, some people will take it. Treating me thusly just insults me and makes me angry.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Friday January 10 2020, @11:53AM
Yup. My dad got a 1998 5-series and it needed neverending fixing, including some bugs like the steering wheel randomly lowering itself down to the lowest position that the BMW service guys never managed to fix. There's a car buying guide here that tracks service records of most cars on the road and it rated the 5-series from around the time my dad got his as "lemon, avoid if possible". It also had incredibly poor headroom for such a large car, I had to bend my head sideways to sit in it, which I've never had to do on any Japanese hatchback. And those things just run forever, and cost very little to fix if there's a problem, unlike the German imports.