Don&#x27;t forget Tesla did this with some of their earlier Model S&#x27;s. Preventing use of the full battery capacity on cheaper versions. It&#x27;s obviously standard practice in all commercial software too. The whole idea of selling software depends on restricting how people use it - at the very least - not allowing them to copy it and give it away. The marginal cost of producing software is zero so you can&#x27;t make money only charging for that. Probably the marginal cost of producing a welder is lower than they total cost too, so they need to recover it somehow.<p>Of course when you buy a Miller welder, you&#x27;re paying for the brand name so you&#x27;re not too concerned about price. Get any cheap Chinese one instead and you&#x27;ll get the features are a &quot;fair&quot; price but without feeling so good about yourself.