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>I'm a little confused that people think they are free to use the software of their choice and that there is some built in right to use the software of your preference on a given hardware

I'm a little confused as to how you're confused? I bought it, I should be free to set up whatever software I please with it. It's mine.

I mean, clearly it's the case that there is_ no legal right to use your own hardware as you see fit. The argument is that there is a moral right to use your own hardware as you see fit. It'd be nice if legalities and moralities were the same thing, and in the mean time we're allowed to be upset about it? I don't know what you're confused by.

Nobody is claiming there currently exists some inherent legal right to have general purpose hardware, they're complaining that they're being sold something intentionally designed to not behave the way a consumer would want. It's the same way people complain about any poorly designed product. If I bought some furniture and it used a custom screw head to incentivize repairs from the manufacturer, I would complain about that too, not because they did something illegal, but because it's a bad product.

The Free Software Foundation has been advocating for such a right for decades.