There's one thing that I don't think anybody has mentioned. It's not a large point but I see it coming up all the time....we all love to talk about how inexpensive "memory" is these days, but there's quite a large difference between hardware made for desktop computers and that made for industrial devices. The reason computer memory is so cheap is simply because there's such a massive demand for it.
The difference in memory made for industrial controllers isn't so much physical, just economical. Think about how many chips are sold for use in PLCs, CNC controllers, robotics, and other equipment....the number is of course significantly less. Some of those systems are very advanced, but some (like PLCs) are decades behind "modern" computing technology yet they only have 256 MB of memory and cost thousands of dollars. Nobody is really being gouged but if you want the proven technology (with it's warrants on reliability) you know where to do. Obviously it's not to dell.com to buy some kind of microsoft system to control your production line
Now before people start yelling about how memory isn't THAT expensive, yes I'm sure it's not. But Haas has the right to charge at least *something* for the upgrade, IMO whether or not the memory grows on a giant silicone tree in the middle of their parking lot. So they charge less than a tenth of a percent of the machine's MSRP.
But I'll play the advocate and assume even that tiny amount is too much. What if Haas did the math on it and figured out it was actually cheaper (for them, us, or a combo of both) to pre-install the hardware and have people pay for a soft-upgrade rather than have a service tech physically arrive / mank around inside the electrical cabinet for x amount of time / all the costs associated with it. At this point Haas knows from their previous sales that only a certain percentage of their customers would pay for the upgrade, so they include it as a wash to their own production costs while at the same time recouping everything that's lost save the cost for the hardware itself. Haas' parts become more standardized, nobody needs to be on-site to facilitate an upgrade which makes people happy, and customers don't care either way because they'd only bother to use the memory if it served their purpose. Everyone is pleased and things continue onward uneventfully.
Well it might not be that way in reality, but I'm just trying to point out in my own way that there might be more intricate things happenning on a logistics level instead of simply "they hand memory to you THEN STEAL YOUR FIRST BORN BABY TO USE IT!!!!11" Well nothing that dramatic but myself I'm much happier trying to avoid figuring out the ins and outs of a huge multinational corporation's production docket and why they feel the need to do what they do. I know my blood pressure can vouch for it.