As someone whose first task on buying a new laptop every ten years is to install the latest Ubuntu LTS version, a company which makes machines that work perfectly with Ubuntu and have a life of around 10 years will have me as a customer for life.
If you are a 38 year old man, actuarial tables suggest that this translates to 4 more laptops over 40 years[1]. I believe their point is that this does not make you a particularly valuable customer.
I would argue that there is value in a brand that consumers trust to last for a long time. For example, if Framework launched a printer, you might be tempted to pay a premium for a product you knew was high quality and repairable.
Exactly; I have friends who buy a new laptop every other year; they are not concerned with longevity or upgradability so the framework could only attract them through increased customization options, which is a harder sell.
If they buy from Dell, and I buy from Framework, Dell sells 5x as many laptops.
I can't tell if you are serious or joking. If you are a 38 year old man, I apologize for the concern.
I wanted a life expectancy that was evenly divisible by ten. A 42 year old woman and a 38 year old man both have a life expectancy of 40 years based on the actuarial table I found. I played the odds and chose a 38 year old man for the example.