But I thought this was a crucial part of the operating system?!

Not everbody “consumes” the same. So for consumer products (everything) would be distributed better if the price was in the product price itself. Along with it being included in the price of transfer services etc.

But does it actually fix the problem? Like, in practice, on scale.

Encrypted files sent to Google Cloud Storage (bucket) for long-term archival. Comes out pretty cheap like that.

If the specifications are available then drivers can be written by anyone without geoblocking.

Basically this and a HomeAssisstant server on top.

Lucky for you they would be super unlikely to change the hardware so much that you wouldn’t benefit from “European” drivers in another region.

How about Apple laptops next, including specs to write drivers.

There are actually very good games that don’t have these problems. For example Beat Sabre and the likes. Or Moss etc.

Nah, it’s quite real and quite accurate (even though the range is high).

Huh, sounds like a very unreliable setup. Admittedly mine is much simpler and I refuse to use voice control for anything at all, but I experience zero glitches with my Shelly switches and HA integration.