Lumping all electronics together is a bit silly IMHO. Electronic ignition has been here since the 1970's. It is far superior to points. You get the real benefit of not having to make daily adjustments to extend the life of a component that is destroying itself. FI is close to doubling the range/halving the fuel use of the carbed bikes that came just before. It is about settings as the carbed bikes earlier still were more efficient than the later ones, but still an advantage we can buy rather than make. If there is an advantage I can see the point in changing the tools I carry.

Then though there is stuff that doesn't do anything for me. Electric lights are superior to acetylene for sure, but why do I need a CAN module to refuse the start the engine because it's detected a blown lamp? The switch worked fine without. It would be annoying in Munich a trip killer in Mongolia. It is not for my benefit to avoid German fines (and blame the manufacturer if I'm a lawyer), it is a way for the bike manufacturer to sell me a €2 lamp with a 50c chip added for €50 plus fitting. Bad on a road bike, useless on an overland one, not even workable when the dealers don't open 24/7.

They are also trying to reduce the tool kit to the Microsoft level. A modern vehicle and OBD2 reader is easier to use than mucking about stripping off parts to find silly little bits of rubber. The manufacturers making it close to impossible to buy the tool is not acceptable though. If one manufacturer made all his bolts 1/2-inch Whitworth and put 15.6mm AF nuts on them and refused to sell you the spanners, we simply wouldn't buy. When the only way to talk to a BMW is a reverse engineered GS911 tool I find that equally unacceptable. If they would sell me a dashboard add on or service tool, or even something that called Berlin and told me what to do, they would be a lot closer.

Treating the market as though it's stupid will be the death of certain brands. You can only act like Google when the competitors are still university projects, not the case in the bike market.

Andy