Right to repair hits software: John Deere edition
John Deere launched a subscription repair service that lets farmers fix their own equipment. Almost nobody is using it. The thread explains why clearly: it is a subscription, which means John Deere can revoke access whenever they want. Farmers who have paper manuals from 1998 point out that physical documentation cannot be taken away. The subscription model for repair access is fundamentally different from ownership of repair knowledge.
This is a SaaS business model applied to physical world access, and it illustrates exactly what people distrust about it. You are not buying the right to repair. You are renting it. The moment the subscription lapses, or the company decides to change terms, or the company is acquired, that access disappears. Farmers are rational to reject this.
The thread is a useful mirror for software founders. The same logic applies to any product where users need continued access to their own data or workflows. Portability and ownership are not just ethical questions, they are trust signals that affect adoption.
So what?
If your product puts users in a position where losing their subscription means losing access to things they built or need, you are creating a trust problem that will limit adoption among sophisticated buyers. Export features, data portability, and clear terms about what happens at cancellation are not nice-to-haves. They are adoption levers.