its an interesting article, but theres a lot of spin doctoring and usage of examples for devious purposes other than the real reasons.
is anyone really suprised by the way things are going ? I'm not really worried about it myself, since i dont see how anything i do now would be hindered.
I believe the reasons for cellphones checking the battery type is a form of legal protection against poorly made LiON batteries exploding in peoples faces (which happens all too frequently), not for some conspiracy against 3rd party battery makers, its easy to believe otherwise though, we naturally always assume the worst about these things. But if people don't want it, there are plenty of choices,and if buying a cheap battery is one of them, then caveat emptor
People resort to sueing anything that moves these days, companies will respond by making it tougher to do that, same for piracy, i can't see why software companies and so on shouldn't be allowed to protect their content, after all if you don't like it, don't buy it, if you absolutely have to have it, then you've got no worries since you'll purchase it legally.
Software renting might actually be a good idea in some ways, costs might be lower and upgrades will be included. Its another form of service. If its ridiculous the market won't bear it, and the methodology will change.