Dont forget the premium subscription needed to charge for *checks notes* seat warmers. Apparently the backlash got BMW to backoff but they are still charging for features that used to be standard reasons for buying a BMW like driving assistance and parking assistance. Honestly, "premium" is no longer premium.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alistaircharlton/2023/09/07/bmw-drops-controversial-heated-seats-subscription-to-refocus-on-software-services/

I did used to think electrification and devices becoming "smarter" was good because it resulted in better products for the consumer. Now, there are honestly alot of reasons to use "older" versions of things that arnt as smart. They last longer due to less parts and you can actually get them repaired as long as the system isnt too unique and replacement parts are still available. Adobe is apparently the monopoly player when it comes to video editing software but video editors are shit out of luck since they need to buy subscriptions to Adobe's editors which are now industry standard (you can no longer just buy the software). Adobe makes bank from yearly subscriptions which ofcourse generate more income than one-off purchases (and the lack of competition means people are out of luck for alternatives).

Definitely feels like ownership becomes less of a thing as more wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few very rich people.

Honestly, i got a hard time in order to "pick up" your pretty exotic views from both of you. I am not the most "structured" being on earth, as i like to fly "high and far" if i take some philosophic roaming during my "written executions".

Nonetheless, if i try to "gather" some essential meanings out of it, simply the expression that truly matters (some people may say, coming to a point).

Well, whats the meaning, where is the point? It sounds to me that acting "philanthropic" may be foolish because it may attract "vulnerable beings" and those vulnerable beings are "easy pickings" for any sort of vultures detecting it. Apparently the vultures tend to abuse this situation spreading chaos and acting greedy toward some... it seems... "leftist people" which seems to look out for a non working or non existent protection.

I can not really agree the term "leftist" if it comes to a majority of GOG users because a typical "leftist" does not stand in for private property or property rights at all. However... a typical GOG user is standing in for the "right to get a meaningful ownership toward their games" and in this case they are actually demanding some sort of "property rights"; just not the ones directed toward "centralized matters"; instead "decentralized matters". They are not against property. just not the one which is only being hold and owned by a very few "elitists".

I do not consider it weak, standing in for "decentralized property rights" because it takes a bold move and a lot of courage protecting such rights in a world which is completely working against "this order" and actually... property has never been that centralized ever. So, GOG gamers are heroes... and not "vulnerable beings" waiting to be served on a vultures "silver platter".

here's the problem with console device bans.
50 innocent users can be banned b4.. Nintendo bans the actual hacker.
and the actual hacker has made his money and will be back very soon.

i have seen this with video's on x-box where the hacker gets away with out right abuse, and the support team fully ignores it till you lay it out, have a following of 500000 people and show them in detail that their enabling the hacker.

I hope Nintendo makes a random roulette of users they gonna ban each month, including every single suspect and everything with bad fragrance, as well those with to less coins spend and whatelse. I really could not care less because for every user they ban, there are 2 fresh users knocking at their door; so the ban-party seems to be attractive. Although it is not difficult in todays world gaining attraction by being a jerk because we seem to have a new high on the borderline-syndrome.

I was joking.

SCNR = sorry, could not resist

Well, you might be right also..... My message underneath my Avatar atm could be,should be

More than one road leads to Rome

here's the problem if an elite read your post would they assume your joking
or think man this is so easy..

XD

Just to reply to this bit...

I don't know anything about the DS or how its games are stored; I've never had one. However, I have had an NES, SNES, and N64 since they were new; all of which feature games on cartridges. The "conventional wisdom" has always been that they will only last so long before they deteriorate and no longer work, and while that may be true, so far I have yet to see it happen.

Every game I own on those consoles still worked just fine the last time I played them, and some of them (for the NES) are nearly 40 years old now. In one case for the SNES, the battery-backed-up memory for saved games was only intended to last five to ten years, but the game is over 30 years old and even THAT still works.

I've had more trouble with the consoles themselves than with the games; though I still have my original SNES and N64 and both still work, I did have to replace the NES years ago.

This is why I have such problems with the modern movement to seemingly make everything have a designed lifespan or turn it into a pay service, and why GOG is the only online game store I have ever bought from to this point. If I pay for a product from a company, I am vehemently against that company having the ability to prevent me from using it anymore. And though I know it makes me something of a dinosaur these days, it's why I still prefer DVD/Bluray over streaming; with DVDs I am not subject to the whims of the corporate idiots who routinely yank programming offline if it's not popular enough, or if there's a licensing change. Yes, I am potentially limited by the expected lifespan of the media or the machines that play them, but thus far I haven't run into that issue, and I HAVE seen numerous cases of people I know losing access to programming they were paying a streaming service for because the service took it offline for one reason or another.

There are some parts of modern life that I am very grateful I'm around to witness; this "pay to play" mentality that seems to be taking over the entire corporate world is NOT one of them.

NES/SNES games are stored on a EPROM memory, it got a supreme lifetime compared to the Nintendo DS and Switch NAND. Guess NES/SNES games may survive 100 years, same as CDs. N64 are as well with very high lifetime but i am not sure the technology used there.

Well, those games was produced during Japaneses golden age. Almost everything, including cars, was at supreme quality during this period. This age is gone now... nowadays profit is the almost only thing that matters to us. The age of quantity, not quality. Can we build with quality? Yes, my soon 15 year old Pana Plasma is a proof... but this was a rare exception and Panasonic had to stop producing it, it was simply not profitable anymore.

I got a 24 years old Japanese car... still running like he is almost new! Engine sounds like freshly produced. Uusal case? No... super rare... and rarely ever seen, Most cars are junk at this point. Japanese was true perfectionist, but... it had a to high price and nowadays they had to "remove" this perfection in exchange for profit.

The main issue with old consoles, for example Sega Saturn, was their disc drive which got a limited lifetime (about 20 years, up to 30 years with a lot of luck. Guess about every second console got a defective drive by now) but the other parts of the console may last nearly a eternity, especially the processors. They was of supreme quality but this is not the case anymore, A modern console may not even last half of this expected lifetime.

It is the same processors (yes, they got a control unit inside) build inside my Japanese car that may as well last way to many decades, while a modern processor can be gone in not much more than 10 years, along with the ECU.