The patching is meant to convey that message of never paying, by removing the option and prompts + nags to pay, as well as create the experience of an app that is entirely free without such nags. Such patches exist for WinRAR as well to enhance user experience.
Pretty sure there are still Methods to get free access to satellite TV channels (the paid encrypted ones, I’m aware that there are Free channels) the methods just changed from how it was done in the old days, nowadays you need internet to download the keys, which kind of defeats the purpose since you could just use a Free IPTV service on that same connection.
Also Satellite has fallen out of favor these days.
Yeah I can’t say for certain whether it was done malicously out of greed or not. I do know that in the Mobile space there’s a lot of precedent for that, with other emulator Devs who build closed source projects, then swiftly abandon, sell them off, or turn them into adware.
When it comes to emulation I feel like devs should contribute to the scene via open sourcing their projects, this ensures that their work can benefit others and that it can be continued in their absence. If they still want to charge for it they can do what Fedilab did and just sell it on Google play but have it be Free on Fdroid and the Git Repo.
Many mobile emulator Devs are like that unfortunately, no desire to improve things for the emulation community, AetherSX2’s dev was like that as well, though he went a step further and sold to a Chinese dev team who put ads and malware in it.
There is no valid excuse for locking down an Emulator, it’s either to hide the fact that they used SDK material or because they want to sell it later, either as a product to you or sell it to another Dev team (can’t easily do that with open source as it’ll be forked and the buying dev will be labelled shady or bad by the community). Saying “to prevent plagarism” is a Bullshit excuse because as well, Android did and still does have a thriving open source community, they don’t do it to prevent plagarism, they do it for money or to hide their own plagiarism (SDK or copying GPL code).
Just make sure to Pirate it, Paid emulator Devs on Android are greedy pieces of shit, many violate GPL Licenses just to make a quick buck, don’t give in, don’t give them money.
In general emulators that aren’t open source are also shady and should be avoided wherever possible because they:
Can be Malicous
Might use SDK material (not something we care about but it can be used against them).
May violate GPL or contain stolen code from others’ work, which is extremely scummy.