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Why not multiple NFC payment methods?

I applaud CVS and RiteAid for working with other retailers to provide an alternative to what I view as Apple's heavy-handed lock-in payment system.

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If (and that's a big if) such a decision were rendered here in the US, Microsoft would have Congress quickly pass a law nullifying the decision.

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You can't go destroying hardware owned by consumers, no matter what the reason.

It all depends what one is concerned about. Is maximizing disk space down to the last possible byte important to you? Or is performance in accessing random data important to you? Or is wanting to keep artificial limits imposed by monitoring systems important to you?

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Once you determine what is actually important to you, then you monitor for that parameter.

Whatever is measured is optimized.

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At this point, I will be looking for a way to identify devices that have FTDI chips in them (real, not fake), and not buy those devices.

I'd really like to seen some substantiation for this assertion, as it is so important for the validity of the other assertion that there has been a change since then.

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Am I the only one concerned about the resulting monoculture if the GIT proponents have their way?

The opinion of whether or not it was the right choice is severely clouded by the fact that in the Apple environment, there is No Choice. The user Has To go along with what Apple decides is The Future.

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Apple has built the walls so high around its empire, that few dare leave. Therefore, they must rationalize that whatever Apple decides for the future is The Right Choice.