Re: 3 years of supported apps?
People diagnosed problems long before there was such a thing as OBD, and it takes more than plugging into a computer to actually diagnose anything. That gives you one data point, but you still have to know how to interpret the data. You can't just plug in and immediately know you need to replace the catastrophic converter. (heh).
I've never had an OBD II car, nor have I ever been held for ransom by my car's maker. I can go anywhere I want to get it fixed; compared to cars today, it's a marvel of simplicity. Simple cable-controlled throttle, cable-controlled clutch, manual transmission with only the most rudimentary sensors...
there's nothing in there that requires any marvels of technology for a shop to diagnose, though just as often I have done it myself. I can pull codes from my car's ECU with a three inch piece of wire; beyond that, it's pretty standard automobile diagnostics. I can do a lot just with a simple multimeter.
That's not to say everything is bad with OBD II, but the government's involvement in determining that ALL cars sold in the US must have this is not good, and that standardized format has led to other stuff I don't like, such as governments demanding to plug things into my car before I get permission to drive it on the road every year. We don't do that where I live, and I'd prefer to keep it that way.
I don't want a car that logs any data beyond adjustment of the a/f and spark tables; if I don't want to be spied on by Microsoft with Win 10 or Samsung with my TV or Amazon with Alexa or Google with Android, I certainly don't want any data logged about throttle position angles or brake inputs or anything else either. Even if it has to be manually queried by physical contact with the OBD port, it's there, and I don't want it to be. It's even worse if there is connectivity that allow any data about my car (at all) to be transmitted over the air. Do not want. The only radio built into the car should be in a DIN format and be strictly a receiver.
I know exactly when OBD II was introduced... that would be 1996. I remember opposing it, not that it did any good. The fears that it would lead to the end of the aftermarket modification industry didn't happen, but it has limited choices in a few areas. There were still some of the 90s before OBDII, and even at the end of the 90s, some of the OBDI cars were still fairly current. They're quite old by now, as I well know, and getting older all the time. I don't need a thing in a car that wasn't available then.