Saturday, April 26, 2003

toay I want to talk about something that is bugging me. its all the new laws keeping someone from modifying some electronics they have bought. The most recent thing I have heard about is modding Microsofts x-box. Theres a bunch of things you can do to one, but in so doing you could be breaking the law. Now why would opening one up and adding a larger hard drive be illegal? you can add a larger hard drive and different software to your computer and it doesnt break any laws ( not yet anyway) so why does it with the x-box? it is basically just a computer optimized for gaming. after all you buy an x-box ( and other things as well) you didnt rent it. The manufacturers should be happy that people find new things to do with thier products. it keeps the demand up and if they see a particular mod that is quite popular then they can add it to thier next product upgrade. come on people where is this going to end? will it soon be againt the law to modify your own computer, how about your car? they have computers in them now. manufacturers please realize that one of the big contributing factors to a products longevity is its ability to be moddified and personalized to the individual person. People are going to stop buying products if they are made to feel like they are only renting it. that its not completely thiers to do with as they see fit; even though they spent thier hard earned money on it. If this continues we may see a increase in rental stores and slowing sales of new products and the aftermarket suppliers will feel the hit as well. PLease understand I am not advocating ignoring the law and doing what you want. we need laws to keep society from falling apart, but lets have fewer of these laws that make people feel as if they dont really own the products they actually spent thier money to buy. have a good day all.