Well said Swoop & Ed T- the cost of technology is staggering. If our industry follows the auto industry lead- which often times it does- then the cost of the technology needed to service the equipment will be a requirement of the tech to purchase.

I service some local auto dealerships & their techs have to lease purchase laptops from their employers & the service/maintenance of the laptop is at the cost of the tech. Employer then buys the laptop back at the end of the tech's employment once the equipment is checked & shown to be in good working order.

Of course in their situation the laptops stay at work (in the shop) & auto technology is able to be bought because of the "right to work" legislation so the rules are different but- in the end- unless the employer is willing to lock down all technology (how- I don't know)- with all it's associated costs-proprietary info is in the hands of the workforce. IMHO it's only a matter of time when protecting this info becomes to costly. Somehow we all got along & had our own client base back before electronics came around & there was no "proprietary" info to guard.