Your argument is not the same as the parent.

It would be the same if the volume rockers on the iPhone would only work if you have a paid subscription, or if you needed to pay extra to unlock 120fps while the device is capable but locked to 60fps because you’re not giving Tim Cook more money.

Of course.

Not interested in having a whataboutism discussion. There is a clear distinction here of software vs hardware

Is there though?

Even on game consoles, the “DLC” is often a couple meg download because the actual content is already built into the game.

You could turn Windows NT 3.51 Workstation into Server by just changing a registry key!

https://www.landley.net/history/mirror/ms/differences_nt.htm...

This is less true nowadays than it used to be, some games have quite a substantial amount of DLC of which no part is shipped with the base game. The Rock Band series comes to mind there, for one.

I see it all the time with RPGs still.

I'm not sure 'MS charged $800 more for NT server when it was basically the same as NT', given how much they're known for unfair and fraudulent business practices, is the greatest argument.

Expecting capitalism to be fair is probably where we're all going wrong here.

I’m not arguing whether or not it’s fair, just that at this point this is a long standing industry practice going back decades.