What I mean to say, is that the market and economic scales of cameras vs. transportation, is quite different. I wouldn't expect them to be comparable and hence wouldn't tend to think of them in such manner as you've done.
I wonder if the OP had a Model T and tried to take into a Ford shop for parts or a repair. IMO, that's unrealistic to expect any company to offer that kind of service/repair. I don't believe Canon is unreasonable about this, especially given that lenses and camera bodies are probably a relatively small part of that company's bottom line.
I also am not sure I'm following the "what gives them the right" argument. Really? Getting to vote or bear arms are rights. We're talking about a business decision. Plain and simple.
Well if I remember correctly, I think I stated that it was just a question that popped into my head. It was as Arsenial Hall used to say a question that made me go Hum?
I could really care less, I was just thinking out loud so to speak, it is a forum after all. And I shoot 1d dinasaurs which I knew Canon no longer serviced when I bought them as well as my 300 f4 non Is. Do I plan on buying other discontinued equipment, You betcha!!. Again, didn't mean to strike a right to vote or bear arms sorta thing, Like I said, I totally understand that at the root, it is a business decision.
There are always 3rd parties that will service items that Canon will not. But, just don't be surprised when the cost is high. Try getting you 200 F1.8 L fixed.
I could be worse. My other hobby is planes. Most General Aviation aircraft were built in the 70s. Parts are hard to come buy and very expensive. The dealers are mostly gone and sometimes you have to have parts fabricated. But before you do that you have to pay an special engineer to review the plans and verify that the part you are having fabricated meets the original design spec. Then you have to file paperwork with the Government. If the paperwork is approved it must remain with the aircraft for it's life of you cannot fly the plane.
In cars, many, many things are interchangeable between vehicles and engines. Other parts can be modified to work, or in the case of upholstery can be custom made by many people. In cameras--not so much.
Integrated microcircuitry isn't something people can just fab in their mom and pop shop--and even if you could, that part would be useful to one camera, and one camera only.
Cars, on the other hand, are considerably easier to work with and most companies work within a set of specific standards which makes things easier down the road.
A few mechanical parts like shutters you may be able to get replaced by a 3rd party for quite awhile (or even be interchangeable among releases), but many things just aren't practical in the advanced tech world.
I believe that 7 years of support is a legal requirement (or at least the norm) in the US and other countries. After that economics rule. For autos the repair/parts business is a large, profit, part of the industry.
Dealers stock OEM parts and many aftermarket companies manufacture legacy parts (Corvettes are one auto) just like StirlingTec does (on a very small scale) for popular camera batteries.
If you really have the intention to maintain an item for the ages then do what those guys do in the middle east do for parts. Buy 2/3 cars or cameras so you have a 100% parts depot to harvest parts from.
