It was always crazy to me that farm equipment was locked down. I almost understand yuppie buying an E-Class not working on their own car, but a farmer not able to work on his own tractor just felt so wrong. It made me wonder how John Deere was still so popular and seemingly beloved.
It was always crazy to me that computers were locked down. I almost understand Karen buying an iPhone not coding her own apps, but a dev not able to deploy on their own device just felt so wrong. It made me wonder how Apple was still so popular and seemingly beloved.
Brand name/heritage, and not much competition. I think there are only two US based companies left in business.
My guess is there a few German or Japanese competitors in the market as well. And buying American is all well and good until you can get a better machine for less somewhere else.
Absolutely - Kubota is extremely popular as well. But there will always be that faction who doesn't consider it because of who owns it.
One day there will be a Chinese competitor to wipe them all out
True. One more reason for Western companies to get their s..t together and stop enshittification.