In the auto world the reason the tech leases the electronics to make THEM responsible for the upkeep/maintenance of said equipment. How many times have you serviced a lift due to it's being abused by it's operator who simply doesn't care. Maybe you haven't but I Know I have- and plenty of times at that!

As far as the tech giving away proprietary info- what's to stop them from doing that now? I'm quite sure there are safeguards that take care of downloading info off their company owned laptops- the same holds true for the leased/purchased equipment. The tech may purchase the laptop but the software/programs are company owned.

As RayTech says- it won't be long before the internet changes the forklift world as it has everything else.