[krisoft]

> They weren't selling software licenses here, they were selling a very real piece of hardware.

I don’t know. I didn’t read the contract. Neither did you I suspect nor did the developers.

Jet engines are leased by the hour. Yes they are very real pieces of hardware bolted to your airplane. That has nothing to do with the business model. Why can’t the same be true for trains?

Even if I would know how trains are usually sold/purchased, which I don’t, I could be convinced by a boss that we are trying a different model.

Why is this important? Two reasons: if your mental model is that these kind of things are done by “unethical developers” then you are not looking for the real culprits, and your interventions trying to prevent such things will be inefective.

[Eisenstein]

Do they turn off the jet engines if they don't pay, or do they send them a bill? There is a huge difference.

Also, writing it in a contract doesn't make it ethical or even legal. Just because someone writes it in a license agreement doesn't mean that we as a society should blindly accept it. We don't allow people to sell lots of things, why should we just say 'well it was in the license' because someone tried to sell 'being able to have turn off your own passenger train for more than 10 days'?

[krisoft]

> Just because someone writes it in a license agreement doesn't mean that we as a society should blindly accept it.

People who buy trainsets are sophisticated buyers. They have lawyers, accountants and engineers advising them. You don’t sucker a semi-senile grandma into buying your trains unseen. Nobody buys trains on a drunken dare, or as an impulse purchase.

Because of this, if the financing is more viable that way, companies should be able to purchase, rent or lease their trains under whatever model makes the most sense in their particular circumstances. This of course assumes that the manufacturer deals fairly and the purchaser is properly informed about what they are buying, leasing or renting. (Which does not seem to be the case here, and that is unethical and a problem. The kind where people should go to prison in my opinion.)

[TomaszZielinski]

I don't have anything substantial to add, but this got me:

> or as an impulse purchase.

as the whole case is about an Impuls purchase! :)

[klausa]

>Jet engines are leased by the hour.

I'm... very surprised by this, do you have any resources I could read about it?

[schiffern]

https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/12528/jet-engin...

https://www.sps-aviation.com/story/?id=2623&h=Engine-Leasing

The engines also have an always-on connection back to the mothership via satellite, eg:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johngoglia/2014/03/13/aircraft-...

[klausa]

Thank you for the links!

[TomaszZielinski]

This was very informative, thanks! It's so easy to assume a very simplified (or outright incorrect) model of how the world works and then point fingers in the wrong direction...