It doesn’t hold to reason that McDonalds would publicly and continuously put up with that from a supplier. Much more likely that they have control over the machines and use them for impromptu advertising, to keep calorie per dollar lower, and to starve out local ice cream shops as needed.

>"the purpose of a system is what it does"

thank you, i believe this is closer to, if not exactly, the original wording.

>The purpose of a McDonald's ice cream machine is to create billable service calls and ensure support contracts

this is spin, but does have truth. i think people dramatize the quote too much towards conspiracy or alternative intent.

I think the best way to interpret the quote is to remove intent and purpose from the system entirely and keep it somewhere above the system. i think it is really meant to undermine any purpose you think a system intrinsically has. it is a collection of tools and processes that have inputs and outputs.

Responsibility for how a system is used and what it accomplishes stays with the people using it. When you know what the consequences of using a system are going to be and you use it anyway, then those consequences are what the purpose of your action is, regardless of what it might seem like the system was initially designed to do.