What I am saying is that this hack does create doubt in customers minds as to whether they are seeing value for money from FLIR.
...but I wouldn't expect them to welcome the news that they firmware hobble their high end products to create low end versions. It just sits poorly with the customer base. No one likes to think they have been overcharged. Nothing more than that. ...
I am just an end user, so maybe I am wrong about all this ?
I don't think you're wrong about end-user perceptions, that may be held by some customers. In fact, I'm certain you're correct. There's a group of folks who think that anyone engaging in such practices is ripping off their customers, plain and simple. In their view, since it's physically possible to create the hardware for an economy model E4, that's substantially (if not completely) the same as the E8, there should be NO model variations. Just an E8, for $995.
Of course, the fact that such a thing would be impossible is of no concern to them. They want what they want. The thing is that the ability to sell one level of the product at a higher price, helps recoup substantial R&D costs. And being able to sell another variation, with fewer capabilities enabled, let's them sell at higher volumes, which brings down manufacturing costs. But please, don't bother them with realities of the development/manufacturing process. Or offering customers different options, at different price points. That's just "devious".
It did not sit well with the customer base and is still quoted to this day as an example of devious sales tactics and the potential consequences.
In my opinion, Flir (and other companies exercising similar practices) are doing nothing devious at all. The same thing is going on in many area of tech development. You need look no farther than other topics in the EEVblog Forums, for oscilloscopes sold for ranges of 5:1, that are essentially the same device.
The fact is that if Flir could sell only a single model of their E series, it would cost nowhere near $995. Nor would it be 6-grand. The price would likely (just a WAG) be in the $3-4k neighborhood. I guess everybody would like that better. That would be much more "fair".
After all, everyone's needs are the same, and people who don't need the higher performance or special capabilities should be forced to pay for it anyway.