Everybody is doing it.
I'm a commercial HVAC mechanic and Trane would not sell us the software to work on their large tonnage machines which is a must have now to replace any sensor on the machine. They flat out told us NO.
We recently purchased a $40,000.00 control upgrade to one Trane centrifugal chiller and told them we had to have the software or we wouldn't do the upgrade. They agreed to sell us (lease to us) the software for $2600 only if we made the $40k purchase and then it must be renewed every 365 days for another $2600/year.
Pretty much all the big players are doing the same thing in my trade. Trane, Carrier, McQuay & York/JCI are locking everybody out so they have no competition. Corporate America...gotta love it.
