John Deere brags about sabotaging competitors & customers on hot mic - they’re PROUD of it!

  • TimeSquirrel
    link
    fedilink
    263
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    Corporations would have us all subscribe to the oxygen supply if they could.

    Take apart all the things. Reverse engineer their shit. Create open alternatives. Fuck all these monsters. John Deere, Apple, Samsung, Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, everybody included.

    • SSX
      link
      English
      1119 months ago

      Meanwhile, Valve: Here’s how you can rip apart our handheld computer, we don’t recommend it, but it’s yours so who gives a shit?

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        479 months ago

        Also, here’s our distribution platform where you can buy your games but have no physical medium, so if the game gets pulled you could lose access to it even though you won’t get your money back.

        Valve might be better, but they are far from perfect.

        • Dizzy Devil Ducky
          link
          fedilink
          English
          309 months ago

          If your favorite game gets pulled, so long as it’s not a requirement to be connected to the internet to use it, just pirate it. There is no better option if you purchased a game and it gets removed than to just flat out pirate it instead of buying a new copy, if you ask me. Just save your money in that case instead of going to another platform selling it.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            169 months ago

            Yes, but that misses the point. Mine was a criticism against the illusion of property Steam (and other platforms) create. I know i can pirate stuff, but still Valve has the power to delist or remove stuff from their platform at any time, without need to reimburse.

            It ain’t digital property, it’s just long term online renting.

                • @RubberElectrons
                  link
                  English
                  4
                  edit-2
                  9 months ago

                  Didn’t see any insulting part of either of your messages, so… All good I guess?

                  Anyway, that saying doesn’t mean where things are should remain acceptable. You’re right that corporations (being made up of supposed humans) don’t like to improve or change once they’re making profit, we’ll collectively need to keep pushing for better. But that’s a given, and based on history, has always been the case.

                  Still, I agree that pushing binary around beats physical media in theory. I don’t like the lack of control once you’ve got it, but as with all things, a company builds a taller wall, someone builds a taller ladder for lulz.

        • @mojofrododojo
          link
          English
          139 months ago

          valve might be better, but are you actually whining about digital distribution? it’s saving gigatons of co2 emissions on physical delivery alone.

          PAY ATTENTION: PUTTING 1s AND 0s ON PLASTIC DISKS SO THEY CAN GO TO A STORE AND SIT ON A SHELF FOR MONTHS BEFORE SOMEONE BUYS THEM AND DRIVES THEM HOME IS A MIND NUMBINGLY STUPID WAY TO DISTRIBUTE 1s AND 0s.

          You want a physical copy? Kickstart the physical edition. Complaining that valve setup a digital distribution system that actually works is so fucking dumb it makes my brain hurt.

        • @Womble
          link
          English
          109 months ago

          Has a game on steam ever been withdrawn from people who have bought it? I’ve certainly heard of cases where a game gets pulled from the store and people can no longer buy it, but never where already purchased things have been revoked.

          In addition there are games on steam that you can just copy to make a backup of it and it will run fine (I know kerbal space program was like this for example). In those cases you have exactly the same amount of control as you would have for owning a disc, but with all the benefits of digital distribution.

          • @Perroboc
            link
            English
            19 months ago

            In my experience this happened with a game called Rochard. It’s no longer for sale, but I can download it from Steam whenever I want.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              49 months ago

              Steam games gets pulled all the time which is perfectly fine. They were talking about cases where the people who bought it would lose access to it, which I haven’t heard of either so I don’t really see why some are bashing steam for something they could do but haven’t done yet.

        • Cosmic Cleric
          link
          English
          59 months ago

          They’ve already stated that if they were to ever go out of business they would remove the DRM from their games so you can just download them and have them.

        • @Thoth19
          link
          English
          19 months ago

          Ah yes the games that I have stored on my PC that mostly don’t have DRM and that I can play in offline mode even while running another game on a different PC. Yep those are the ones that I can lose access to?

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        20
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        I already wanted a Steam Deck, but was saving up for one of the higher tiers. Then I found out how relatively easy it is to buy the cheap one and add an nvme drive. So, now my savings goal is a lot closer.

        EDIT: Fixed some typos

      • TimeSquirrel
        link
        fedilink
        119 months ago

        Damn right, I haven’t bought a console since the PS1 but I bought a Steam Deck just because of its hackability. I have plans for it beyond just gaming. Robotics control and FPV streaming is one thing I have in mind.

      • @Wrench
        link
        English
        89 months ago

        Also Valve: we’ll make some proprietary components that have major failure points, and then not offer replacements for sale (and if we do, at exhorborant prices).

        I’m talking about their VR headsets.

        Don’t get me wrong, I love them as a company. But while they’re pushing new industries, hardware is an after thought.

        • @mojofrododojo
          link
          English
          49 months ago

          proprietary components

          ridiculously stupid take. There are no open standards and commodity components for new inventions to adopt because the damned tech is new.

          absurd.

          • @Wrench
            link
            English
            29 months ago

            Where did I say I was complaining that they use proprietary components? My complaint is about the availability of said components, which is made much worse by how badly they wear.

      • Cethin
        link
        fedilink
        English
        89 months ago

        To be fair, there is a use for it. If your at high altitudes, it may be needed. Hopefully no one should need it to deal with pollution though.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          149 months ago

          In this particular case its intended literally as portrayed in the Spaceballs movie which is what makes this whole thing appalling.

          But yeah, theres other use cases for bottled air.

          Maybe companies that manufacture and sell oxygen tanks can get in on the game by driving out of town 20 miles and bottling that air out there and marketing it as ‘Great Outdoors’ bottled air

          • brianorca
            link
            English
            29 months ago

            In areas with bad air, 20 miles is not “out of town.” But companies that bottle oxygen already have the equipment to purify the air even in the middle of that smog.

      • Erasmus
        link
        English
        59 months ago

        Wow. Thought The Lorax was supposed to be a warning, not a guideline to go by.

    • @demlet
      link
      English
      179 months ago

      There’s a CEO in The Corporation (2003 documentary) who literally argues that everything should be monetized. Including air…

    • @DocBlaze
      link
      English
      13
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      deleted by creator

    • Flying Squid
      link
      English
      89 months ago

      Corporations would have us all subscribe to the oxygen supply if they could.

      Elon Musk’s X Mars Colony, coming in 2040.

    • @nomadjoanne
      link
      English
      29 months ago

      Remove barriers to the creation of new firms.

    • @jampacked
      link
      English
      19 months ago

      Sounds like a screamy no context statement in vague cannibalistic threat form, fed made.

      • @FringeTheory999
        link
        English
        309 months ago

        you have to already be rich for that. instead, eat the rich.

          • @tst123
            link
            English
            13
            edit-2
            7 months ago

            deleted by creator

            • @FringeTheory999
              link
              English
              219 months ago

              Because it’s idiotic and non-actionable. I didn’t down vote him though. I say go ahead and try it, see how far you get. John Deer has lots of money, it’s not like they wouldn’t act to stop you. They’ll sue you into oblivion and they won’t even need a case with merit to drive your little startup into the ground. They’ll just outspend you, not to mention they’ll have consolidated supply lines that you’ll need and that they will not share. The first rule of capitalism is that competition is not to be tolerated.

              • @tst123
                link
                English
                -3
                edit-2
                7 months ago

                deleted by creator

                • @FringeTheory999
                  link
                  English
                  109 months ago

                  If someone challenges you to a fist fight, don’t fist fight them. They want you to fist fight them because it gives them advantage. They’ve trained and prepared for fist fights their entire life. You are doing them a favor by fighting them by their rules. You have to fight them on your terms, playing your own game. Whatever your game is, that’s the way you have to face them. harrass, sabotage and disrupt. Failing that, guillotines are a very fun game indeed.

                  taking on a business, with business is like wresting a pig. You’ll both get dirty and the pig likes it.

              • Cosmic Cleric
                link
                English
                29 months ago

                You’re incorrect with your item number one, as far as being able to take an invention from the drawing board to actual product ready to be sold.

                Under the right conditions it can be done for a lot less is what you’ve stated.

        • @grayman
          link
          English
          129 months ago

          Look up Edison Motors. A literal logger in Canada is beating out every truck company with investors. People are excited and lining up to buy them (logging companies anyway).

          What he’s doing with logging trucks can be done with tractors.

          • @FringeTheory999
            link
            English
            249 months ago

            You should look up all the companies that failed to do that, then look up survivorship bias.

            • @grayman
              link
              English
              29 months ago

              What is it? 90% of companies fail in under 3 years?

              I get it. Still cool to see someone try and try well.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            29 months ago

            Wow, that’s a cool little company. Also, “Stealing Tesla’s Ideas”, ha.

            Related to the sibling comment, good ideas are rarely the whole story to a company’s success. Execution (and luck) matter.

            I’m going to need to read up more on them. The jump from “regular truck drivers who do repairs” to “so we put a locomotive drivetrain in our truck” is too big and I think it’s really the key to them getting off the ground.

        • @smellythief
          link
          English
          29 months ago

          Your have to be rich yourself to get away with reading the rich.

  • @betterdeadthanreddit
    link
    English
    789 months ago

    Sounds like another industry in dire need of competition. Makes sense that they’re fighting tooth and nail to keep a deathgrip on what they’ve still got (for now).

    • @ikidd
      link
      English
      409 months ago

      There’s plenty of competition; the problem isn’t the proprietary firmware, it’s the expensive parts. You can still fix 99% of a machine yourself, you might have to get a tech out to put a CANbus ID into the computer so a new part that you put on works.

      But it still comes down to the fact that the competition don’t make as good/productive of a machine, and parts availability, even if they are expensive, is key. I’ve paid $1000 for a part I could make myself on a mill, but it would take me a day and I’d lose $100,000 of lost production on that machine because rain is coming.

      • @mojofrododojo
        link
        English
        59 months ago

        I don’t think anyone’s suggesting that right-to-repair replaces repair options from the OEM, but it’s a critical option to have in a functional product support ecosystem and Deer’s trying to cut it out entirely.

      • @nomadjoanne
        link
        English
        39 months ago

        Very interesting to hear a user’s perspective.

        • @ikidd
          link
          English
          49 months ago

          This is probably the first time I’ve made a comment like this on a thread about Deere that hasn’t been downvoted into the basement. People don’t want to hear about what the ground truth of this situation is, they want to hate a company that they haven’t ever actually dealt with.

          Don’t get me wrong, I would like to see Deere stop some of their practices, particularly using opensource software like Linux to power their devices and then selling them at steep prices to farmers that sometimes barely have enough money to fix a tire on one of these machines. But the “unrepairability” of Deere equipement is massively misunderstood by most of these armchair warriors, including Rossman.

          On the plus side, the uproar has given us the ability to go buy a diagnostic computer from Deere now for the low, low prices of $26,000. It takes a lot of $100 tech visits to make that pay.

      • @betterdeadthanreddit
        link
        English
        39 months ago

        That’s fair, there’s definitely more to it than just having the capability when you’re also dealing with weather and other factors that impact your deadlines. I’m not a fan of equipment manufacturers who exploit their stranglehold on their customers even though I see why it happens.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      179 months ago

      There is competition - New Holland, Massey Ferguson, Case IH, etc… The problem is that despite all the anti-consumer nonsense John Deere still tops the lists as the best option.

      • @The_v
        link
        English
        299 months ago

        Deere has the most massive dealer network in the U.S./Canada. So when looking for a part farmers have an easier time finding them. In other places of the world the competition is much more fierce and they don’t compete as well.

        As for quality of equipment, Deere makes stuff about average. It’s not terrible but it’s not great.

        Other companies have specialized in some things and make vastly better equipment.

        New Holland/Massey F has the best swathers and bailers.

        Kubota has the best small tractors.

        CLAAS has the best choppers and combines.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          10
          edit-2
          9 months ago

          Deere has the most massive dealer network in the U.S./Canada. So when looking for a part farmers have an easier time finding them.

          I have no doubt that this is caused at least partly by the decline of keeping spare parts on the shelf in a warehouse, something most companies did before everyone shifted to ‘just in time’ inventory management because it saved money up front.

          But as it turns out ‘just in time’ doesnt work so great when a farmer needs a part right this moment since it relies on ordering then shipping only whats needed.

          It probably made Deere’s dealer network look pretty good by comparison since they (presumably) stock parts that another farm store down the road doesnt carry.>

          • @ikidd
            link
            English
            39 months ago

            There’s also legislation ( at least in Canada) that requires a manufacturer to have parts for machines less than a decade old to be readily available. A “machine down” order is 3 days or they can explain to the ag minister why they can’t comply.

        • @ikidd
          link
          English
          39 months ago

          I wouldn’t trade our 569 for anything else. We’ve had Case and Heston balers, they’re kinda meh and break way more often than if seen on our Deere’s. As for the rest, well parts availability is king.

      • @betterdeadthanreddit
        link
        English
        99 months ago

        I’ll move my goalposts a bit then. The industry needs more significant competition for that top spot. It’s not an area I know much about though, just what I’ve picked up from discussions like this about how they respond when people get the crazy idea that they own the equipment they paid for.

      • @mojofrododojo
        link
        English
        19 months ago

        query because I am not a farmer: Is Deere tops because they make products that are superior / better bang-for-buck, or is it just hometown advantage of no shipping/delivery overhead, tarrifs/taxes/import fees etc?

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          19 months ago

          Honestly I don’t know. All three I listed are American or have American production facilities (New Holland was founded in PA, and still has a facility there, but is owned by an Italian company).

    • @mojofrododojo
      link
      English
      449 months ago

      TIL Kubota is the Brother Printers option for tractors. Good to know!

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        199 months ago

        Are brother printer still good? I thought they started doing the ink DRM thing and other bullshit too.

        • @mojofrododojo
          link
          English
          109 months ago

          I have a brother color laser from 2013 that’s still printing awesome. toner cartridges are $200 for all 4 colors, but I only replaced them in 2015, 2019, and at the beginning of this summer - getting a few thousand pages out of each, conservatively. it’s not a glossy photoprinter, but if you just need high res document prints, I cannot recommend it enough. wifi, cat5, driver is built in to windows 10/11, works fine with android and linux too.

          • @AnUnusualRelic
            link
            English
            39 months ago

            I run a multifunction colour Brother as well. I’ve used it with Brother and various other brands of toner without issues. It will keep printing even if a cartridge is empty. Finding consumables is easy. It runs great from Linux (duplex scans and prints), Windows and mobiles through the LAN. It’s a great machine. You can even override the “low toner” alarm and basically double the life of your cartridges (maybe shake them a bit beforehand). You just swap them out when the quality visibly degrades. I think I bought it for about 400€, it was well worth it.

          • @mojofrododojo
            link
            English
            19 months ago

            yup. I never thought I’d feel evangelistic about a brand of printers but holy hell did everyone else race to the bottom of the shit barrel in this entire category. so here we are, praise brother lol, they’re COMPETENT.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          9
          edit-2
          9 months ago

          Sorta. My old MFP Brother apparently has a firmware update available that makes it aware of the toner brand and I just ignore it. It’s not as bad as HP where a low level of ink turns the machine into a brick.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          19 months ago

          My 5 year old brother color laser is awesome. Cheap to run and toner doesn’t dry out, and it doesn’t wake up in the middle of the night and clean (i.e. use up) the ink.

          However having seem comments like this, I think I will hold off on any firmware updates.

  • @Countmacula
    link
    English
    559 months ago

    Fuck John Deere and their anti-self repair bs.

    The individuals using these machines don’t have time to wait for some tech to find the time to get to BFE, Kansas.

  • @fne8w2ah
    link
    English
    429 months ago

    Louis Rossmann in his natural habitat.

    • @fluxion
      link
      English
      589 months ago

      Being able to repair products you own gives you a natural warm glow

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    239 months ago

    I’m sure those competitors will successfully sue them for <1% of their yearly profit in damages, plus they’ll suffer a single employee’s salary amount in fines.

  • @jampacked
    link
    English
    209 months ago

    They only seem popular on high subsidy farms.

    • @lennybird
      link
      English
      99 months ago

      Yeah I don’t know how anyone could compel themselves to buy one. Do they really have that much of a monopoly on the industry? Is their tech that much further advanced? I genuinely don’t know.

      What is the best, more ethical alternative? Growing up my dad had New Holland and we liked them. Eventually I’ll be going more rural and choosing a route to take and it sure as shit won’t be John Deere.

      • @AngryCommieKender
        link
        English
        59 months ago

        One? Probably not. A fleet of 5-20 to tend a thousand or more acres, I can see that. They’ve basically got the things able to run on autopilot for many processes

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    159 months ago

    Does this dude severely lack sleep or something ? I don’t understand why his eyes are like this.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      309 months ago

      Lol he actually made a video about it once because people kept asking him. He said that he went to a doctor and they said he was just ugly.

      I dont watch this guy’s videos that often, but coincidentally I saw that one.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      299 months ago

      It’s not easy being the only man in the world fighting for right-to-repair laws. Every company he exposes, more life is drained from behind his eyes.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        14
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        Soulless company used life steal.

        Joke aside , his work is really impressive but his fight is already lost if most people just consume ( unrelated , fuck printer companies ) and accept their fate. We need aware citizens and there’s not many of them. We’re kinda doomed.

        People accept DRMs and planned obsolescence as if they can’t fight them. They don’t know their strength and thzt if they decide to boycott these shitty companies they’d die.

          • @RubberElectrons
            link
            English
            19 months ago

            Erm… That’s a thing, but lay a little more context on us.

            Hochul isn’t enough to sink the movement, at all. We’ve conquered a foothold into enemy territory (and I mean those words), it’s been sabotaged to be smaller than expected, but so it goes.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              59 months ago

              I mean moreso on the life steal;

              He’s been dealing with NY screwing him for years after they misfiled his business - they didn’t merge his temp license into his actual license once he received it, so when he filed taxes it only applies to the real business license and not the temp license. Because he had the real business license, he no longer had access on his account to see the temp business license. That temp business license then started missing years of tax filings, and they put a lien on his business. Once again, he never knew because he didn’t have that business license on his account. Also, he did not get any mail because whoever fucked up merging the licenses in a spreadsheet did it to 400+ businesses and also replaced the address for all of them with some random PO box in another state. That meant that for years he’d been getting denied for loans to try and expand his business unlike other businesses in the same field, because of something he could never have known about. The only reason he did find out was when he decided to move his business to Texas for a number of other NY related reasons (e.g. them trying to stop him doing business for selling abandoned laptops because he didn’t register them even though he didn’t need to, not giving or responding to inquiries for permits, etc.) And only then once he sold his business and had 1M sitting in his bank account did the bank act nice and give him am agent who then relayed that there had been a lien for almost a decade

              • @RubberElectrons
                link
                English
                2
                edit-2
                9 months ago

                Yeesh. People wonder why us new Yorkers are such hard-asses out of the gate, then you see this kind of fuckery.

                Nobody protects us better than ourselves, especially when it comes to the shitbag NYPD.

                Thanks for the background on that, his shop wasn’t the only one getting the squeeze that I used to frequent. I mean hell, Chinatown is a shadow of it’s 1999 self.

    • @pragma
      link
      English
      289 months ago

      probably a combination of fatigue, aging and genetics, there’s nothing wrong with it

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        6
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        I said nothing about it being wrong. I genuinely wanted to know because he’s the only person I’ve ever seen with these constant fatigue eyes.

        • Obinice
          link
          English
          179 months ago

          Check out Steve Mould on YouTube, his science explanation videos are actually fantastic, and his eyes look like he’s not slept in a week, permanently. Just how he looks, it’s so strange 😂

  • FlashMobOfOne
    link
    English
    139 months ago

    This is the natural result of what we vote for every two years.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      289 months ago

      Is it? I don’t remember seeing a guy running for Congress that promised he’d prevent huge corporations from running rough shod over everything.

      People like saying stuff like “just vote better”, but the fact is the vast majority of people that run for any office are pro-big business because that’s their background and the lobbyists give them lots of money to get elected. Where’s the anti-big business guy going to get his money to run? And without money, you sure aren’t winning.

      Through lobbying, corporations have us all by the balls. It doesn’t matter what side of the isle you’re on; both sides have basically been endorsed by big money.

      • @smellythief
        link
        English
        49 months ago

        I don’t remember seeing a guy running for Congress that promised he’d prevent huge corporations from running rough shod over everything.

        What we need is ranked voting so someone like that might have a chance on the ballot.

        • @dx1
          link
          English
          18 months ago

          We need to vote on bills directly, having representatives is stupid.

      • Alex
        link
        English
        39 months ago

        Campaign finance reform is necessary to tackle big business interests out for regulatory capture. Shift some of that subsidy into funding campaigns so the little guy stands a chance against them and their billionaire club.

    • @tabular
      link
      English
      89 months ago

      The result of vote is only as good at the voting system used and the people voting. A more representative voting system leads to more public representation in government, which would likely improve the lives of the voters who will vote next time.

      • FlashMobOfOne
        link
        English
        -39 months ago

        You’re much more optimistic than I am.

        • @tabular
          link
          English
          5
          edit-2
          9 months ago

          I’m not sure about that. A party that ‘wins’ under first-past-the-post/winner-take-all is unlikly to change the voting system such that they would be less likely to get into power next time. I have no idea of the path to changing the voting system. I hope intoducing people to other voting systems helps.

      • Kichae
        link
        fedilink
        119 months ago

        “Way to politicise this political issue!” - Morons everywhere

      • Chozo
        link
        fedilink
        69 months ago

        This is inherently a political issue, because partisan policies enable this sort of abusive behavior from John Deere in the first place.

        If you can’t see that, then you don’t understand the full breadth of the situation being discussed, and probably should avoid commenting on it. There’s no point in popping into a conversation to say “I don’t understand anything that’s going on, but here’s what I think about it anyway”, because nobody cares for uneducated opinions. Unless you’re just fishing for an internet argument, in which case I recommend maybe just sticking to a Roblox forum or something else that’s more to your speed.

      • theodewere
        link
        fedilink
        4
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        what do you fail to understand about what i said… or is that ass just too cozy inside…

          • theodewere
            link
            fedilink
            7
            edit-2
            9 months ago

            so you don’t understand the direct causal relationship between Republican politics, and deregulation… that’s what you’re telling everyone here… that your head is too buried to see that…

            you need to understand that when you speak, it mostly just sounds like farts, son… you need to try to speak more clearly…

            this is why no one needs to take your concerns seriously…