MB to charge annual subscription for extra acceleration

[Gollom]

I worked for a "well-known minicomputer manufacturer" in the Eighties.
We sold a particular system with small, medium, and large disks.
For a few thousand pounds there was an upgrade path.

An order was placed. An engineer was sent in. The back was opened and a switch was clicked.

And the dormant part of the disk, which had always been there, could now be accessed by the user.

The defence was that it made the entry level system more "affordable," and inevitably there would always be an appetite for more data as time went on. You started with a cautious 15mb, and then paid out for two extra chunks of 15mb "if you ever got round to needing that much."

I used to sell SA60 fixed disks for £15K each. 600MB reach one......

 

[Smiley]

Hi , totally agree with your comment re electric cars , my current car can be tracked by Mercedes , and no doubt take any actions they feel fit if I upset them. That's the very reason I won't have a smart meter in my house.

Yes that's right don't whatever you do upset them. And if you leave your phone switched on and near the smart meter then the electricity supplier will be able to get into your bank account and empty it, then steal your car when you go out. You have to be very careful.

 

[Tonygw]

Hi , totally agree with your comment re electric cars , my current car can be tracked by Mercedes , and no doubt take any actions they feel fit if I upset them. That's the very reason I won't have a smart meter in my house.

LOL I have always refused a smart meter for that very reason, but also, because the idea of using a smart meter which is plugged into the mains & uses electricity, to tell me how much electricity I am using baffles me..

My monthly bill, usage breakdown tells me how much I am using. I dont need a dumb smart meter for that..

 

[Tonygw]

Oh but they can. There have been reports already of smart meters being changed to PAYG meters, there have also been reports of tariff changes without home owner's consent.
IIRC there was also something to do with EV charge points being 'throttled' to reduce charge current. Not sure if that's the smart meter or the web-linked EV charge point though

Exactly, a smart meter has TOTAL control over your electricity supply, whereas the old-fashioned type means they have to enter your property to make any significant changes.

They are very very bad for the consumer. But we are blindly told how great they are and what a difference they will make.. Ignore the adverts..

 

[ALFAitalia]

Some of you might find this handy!!

 

[Tonygw]

Not really that's just some tin foil made into a hat??? You can get better hats..

 

[ALFAitalia]

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

They are very very bad for the consumer. But we are blindly told how great they are and what a difference they will make.. Ignore the adverts..

What makes them so bad for the consumer?

 

[markjay]

I used to sell SA60 fixed disks for £15K each. 600MB reach one......

The Apple Profile was an external HDD (based around a 5mb Winchester drive) that cost a small fortune. It connected to the little-known Apple III and later to the ill-fated Apple Lisa computers. As a young engineer, I remember delivering one of those to a customer and thinking that my cargo was worth more than my car at the time......

[/NOSTALGIA OFF]

 

[ALFAitalia]

I bet that would have value to a collector now.....personally I've never seen one....