Gaming Microtransactions vs. Industrial Hardware Paywalls

Description

A two-part meme contrasting consumer complaints with industrial-scale issues. The top text reads, "Consumers: oh no, my PC game has horse armor microtransactions." Below this, the text "Industrial equipment folks:" introduces a photograph of a dated, gray industrial control system screen. The screen shows an 'ALARM 42-13' for 'Unregistered Realtime Memory.' The cause is detailed: "8 megabytes of Realtime memory have been detected. According to the option list, you purchased only 4 megabytes. Some control components will not make use of extra memory unless you purchase the option for the extra memory." The suggested remedy is to "Call your service representative." A copyright notice for '1996-1998' is visible at the bottom, ironically juxtaposed with a recent timestamp of '2023/08/29'. The meme humorously contrasts the relatively trivial nature of cosmetic in-game microtransactions (famously exemplified by the 'horse armor' DLC in 'The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion') with the severe, functionality-crippling paywalls common in industrial and enterprise hardware. The joke lies in the absurdity that critical equipment has its physical capabilities, such as installed RAM, artificially limited by software until an additional license is purchased. This practice of feature gating and vendor lock-in makes consumer complaints about optional game add-ons seem insignificant in comparison, a reality well-known to engineers working with legacy or specialized systems

Common Tags

Hardware VendorLockIn EmbeddedSystemsAndIoT SoftwareLicensing LicensingCosts EngineeringHumor Corporate

Comments

Anonymous ★ Top Pick You haven't known true DLC hell until you have to schedule a maintenance window and get a purchase order approved to activate the RAM that's already physically installed in the machine

Anonymous ★ Top Pick

You haven't known true DLC hell until you have to schedule a maintenance window and get a purchase order approved to activate the RAM that's already physically installed in the machine
Anonymous

Feature flags have officially escaped Git: my PLC throws ALARM 42-13 because the extra 4 MB is behind a paywall - turns out the real time in “real-time memory” is the time it takes Procurement to cut a PO
Anonymous

Somewhere a senior engineer is explaining to management why they need to pay $50,000 to unlock the RAM that's already soldered on the board, while simultaneously debugging why their CI pipeline OOMs with 64GB because someone imported the entire npm ecosystem
Anonymous

Ah yes, the classic industrial control system business model: ship hardware with 8MB of RAM physically installed, but artificially limit it to 4MB in firmware until you pay the 'memory unlock fee.' It's the original loot box - except instead of cosmetic horse armor, you're gambling with whether your production line halts at 3 AM because someone in procurement didn't check the 'extra memory' box on the PO. At least when Bethesda pioneered microtransactions, your factory didn't grind to a halt. This is what happens when MBA logic meets real-time systems: 'Severity 80: still in cycle' becomes 'Severity 80: still waiting for finance approval.' The remedy isn't a hotfix - it's a service contract and a three-week lead time
Anonymous

Industrial IoT: where the memory controller is wired to Accounts Payable - 8 MB on the board, 4 MB behind a feature flag until the PO flips the bit
Anonymous

DRAM with DRM: the HMI sees 8MB, the license unlocks 4, and the scheduler won’t touch the rest until Sales flips the feature flag
Anonymous

Gamers boycott $5 horse armor; operators fork $50k+ for 4MB to kill a prod alarm that's been cycling since Y2K
@ZgGPuo8dZef58K6hxxGVj3Z2 2y

Memory tax. 1:1 from apple’s playbook
1. @Supuhstar 2y
  
  At least Apple gives you what you pay for. This company gives you more than you pay for and refuses you to use it all unless you pay even more. Like Tesla!
  
  @ZgGPuo8dZef58K6hxxGVj3Z2 2y
  
  I mean okay apple gives you more RAM if you install it yourself, but everything else you replace yourself breaks. Not to mention if you replace touch id on your old iphone after iOS X.X (idk what ver) is installed your phone wont boot
  
  @Supuhstar 2y
  
  I think you missed my point in your uncharitable mindset
  
  @ZgGPuo8dZef58K6hxxGVj3Z2 2y
  
  Why? Explain
  
  @Supuhstar 2y
  
  The difference is arbitrarily gating a piece of hardware (I give you 8 but only let you use 4 unless you pay me more; I give you a fast car but don't let you go fast unless you pay more; I give you an overpowered graphics card but place one extra chip on it to nerf it to be a slow card because you didn't pay more) versus price tiers for different hardware (I give you the hardware you paid for and you can use all of it as much as you like, you just don't get the better hardware which you didn't pay for). You can be upset at Apple for their prices, but comparing their price tiers to these arbitrary gating practices is uncharitable and muddies the conversations about their actual bad practices like making their products difficult to repair/own/customize, or greenwashing, or maltreatment of employees/contractors/devs, etc
  
  @Supuhstar 2y
  
  Also We're personally not upset at Apple for their relatively high prices, because it seems all the alternatives only have lower prices because they make up for it by selling your data, whereas Apple seems absolutely allergic to its users' data
  
  @ZgGPuo8dZef58K6hxxGVj3Z2 2y
  
  If I buy off the shelf parts how do they sell my data? Its more about extremely high markups… and scummy practices to get even more money out of the buyer. Even if you would come with the argument of “they loose money on the cheap models” I call bs on that. The majority of profit comes from the cheaper models. If numbers were public you would see only professionals or enthusiastic go for the high end models. Normal non techy people dont know why to get the better ones for +600€ or so
  
  @Supuhstar 2y
  
  You talking about desktops (and things like Framework laptops)? Windows, Chrome, Nvidia, and many others harvest that data. I'm sure they respect you turning that off tho. I'm sure you only run Linux and other FOSS tho. You're that type. Would never use VSCode because Microsoft made it proprietary. Who are the top members of the Linux foundation again? And yeah you can put in that effort to get away from tracking, but most people (Ourself included) just want the device to get out of the way and let us do our work, not spend time building and tweaking and maintaining it and leaning how it works at every level just to keep it working.
  
  @Supuhstar 2y
  
  Naw, We wouldn't argue that. They clearly make money on everything they sell (maybe with the exception of their new headset thing because it's really low volume for now)
  
  @Supuhstar 2y
  
  I really want to believe this
  
  @Supuhstar 2y
  
  I figure they would as a status symbol at the very least, otherwise perhaps being swayed by things like the cameras
  
  @ZgGPuo8dZef58K6hxxGVj3Z2 2y
  
  I think you aren’t informed well. What difference does it make to block something from working fully (ie, 8MiB RAM stick vs 4MiB that got replaced probably because the system failed. Look at copyright date and date of the system. 30 years on the same ramstick is unlikely) That system prevents you from using it because you didn’t pay extra to buy from them. For 2-50x the price i.e. <insert-company-name>-Tax. So apple does this too. What about self repair? Well if you replace the screen, ear piece, back glass (yes the back glass cover), camera, face id, touch id, battery you will get some kind of sideffect that will prevent you from utilizing it fully. If you replace the screen, good bye truetone and HDR content. If you replace the back glass if the phone, good bye using the flash light because it will not save the picture you took. If you replace the face id, good bye face unlock, restore using this device and keychain. If you replace the battery, forget about battery health and the option to not crash on too high demand. So apple does both; reduce functionality when parts were replaced by unauthorized personal and they also force you to get the thing from them for X times markup. So where is my mindset uncharitable?
  
  @Supuhstar 2y
  
  The difference is that there's 8 there but they want you to pay for a subscription service for no other reason than to use what's already there. Apple does some shitty things like having their hardware & software refuse replacement hardware, but they never ask you to subscribe to use what's there. Yes good job, attack them on their anti-right-to-repair practices! Just don't conflate those practices with this arbitrary subscription gating
  
  @ZgGPuo8dZef58K6hxxGVj3Z2 2y
  
  Yes they do.
  
  @Supuhstar 2y
  
  Tesla
  
  @ZgGPuo8dZef58K6hxxGVj3Z2 2y
  
  What are you getting at?
  
  @Supuhstar 2y
  
  we're on the same team here, you and Us
@ZgGPuo8dZef58K6hxxGVj3Z2 2y

It says in the title “industrial”. You have no clue how much that is
@ZgGPuo8dZef58K6hxxGVj3Z2 2y

I mean it for real. 8MB is a LOT
@ZgGPuo8dZef58K6hxxGVj3Z2 2y

True
@SamsonovAnton 2y

Judjing by GUI style, this is a mid-1990s machine. Back then, 8 MiB was a lot. And with 16 MiB you were the king, compared to 4 MiB peasants. 😁
1. @ZgGPuo8dZef58K6hxxGVj3Z2 2y
  
  You are one of the first people I seen use 2^Bytes. Kibi-mebi-gibi… Respect
@SamsonovAnton 2y

I once saw "RMF" in IBM System z parts list, and really thought they charge extra money for being able to do "rm -f", taking into account their pricing policy. 😅 That turned out to be Resource Management Facility, a system monitoring tool.
@tren123321 2y

Machine tools, milling, lathing etc. G-code programs are generally not that big
@ZgGPuo8dZef58K6hxxGVj3Z2 2y

Yesn’t. As a normal user: yes. As a techy person: No. There are lots of ways. Super easy ones, that don’t rely on jailbreak or any kind if hack or PC at all. I can sign any ipa and sideload from safari. So even tho it is locked down, it can be done in ways that aren’t obvious.
@ZgGPuo8dZef58K6hxxGVj3Z2 2y

It was literally 1 payment and going into settings 1 time. Then it works just like the app store. Anybody could do it. For the roms yeah you are f’ed if you want to do that.
@Supuhstar 2y

Like I said their actual bad practices like making their products difficult to repair/own/customize
@azizhakberdiev 2y

raspberry pi