That is helpful information for people who think corporations are charities.
Over the last few years, many companies have been using technology to take away ownership and replace it with subscriptions that nullify the original purchases partially or entirely.
Some companies are using downloaded updates to brick products that used to work without subscriptions, or to take away functions that were material to the initial bargains.
My recollection is that Speidel used to allow the use of its site, free of charge. This is what I was asking about; I wanted to know whether it was true. Perhaps the feature was so unpopular, no one here knows.
Once I understood how the website worked, I had no interest in using it. It was a very ill-conceived concept. Speidel should have equipped the machines with standard USB ports to allow 1) hardwiring to computers, or 2) the use of generic wifi adaptors. Failing that, they could have included simple SD card capability, which is often found in products costing 3% of the price of a Braumeister.
Instead, they chose a model which required lugging the Braumeister over to the PC and connecting it with a special cable, or buying a $400 proprietary wifi adaptor which does exactly the same thing a $5 adaptor does. Then they produced so few adaptors, they were, for practical purposes, unavailable.
I had to get a cable just to update my machine, which had a serious software bug. Speidel was gracious enough to send me a cable for nothing, but I could have used one of my old USB cables had Speidel done what nearly every other company does.
Had they gone with a different route, people would be able to sit at home, type recipes quickly with keyboards instead of slowly with their thumbs, store them wherever they wanted, share them easily, and include notes as well as more parameters. Instead of typing quickly, Speidel owners do something similar to sending smoke signals through a tiny orifice.
Ordinarily, engineers try to make products easier to use, not more difficult, except in cases where they're told to do the opposite.
I have to remember to sell my Braumeister. When I got it, I was behind the curve, so I mistakenly thought it was an improvement over cheaper and simpler brewing equipment. Once I found out about BIAB, I realized the Braumeister made brewing harder, not easier. It's appealing to gadgeteers, but it creates a lot of unnecessary work, and the beer is no better. It's helpful to know the difference between the love of beer and the love of gadgets.
