I will have to vehemently disagree with that philosophy.  It may be the vendor's data format, but it is my data.  I am free to use my data in any way I desire that does not hurt or infringe upon someone else.  I guess this maybe like arguing religious theology, but I will adamantly contend that data should be in a open format or an export utility should be provided at little or no cost.  Any vendor that does not see this is totally out of consideration here and as you stated that is definitely my right. 

The idea that a vendor can require you to use their software to process your data is based on nothing more than corporate greed.  That philosophy pervades our society today and is evident all over the business world.  But that does not make it morally correct.  The only way we are going to change that view is to refuse to buy from vendors that operate that way.  We can continue down the path of servitude to the vendor or we can stand up and say enough is enough before it gets worse than it already is.  There are many other options available to us in the precision ag field that are just as functional as the AFS system.  I am to the point now that I will take precision ag considerations into the decision to purchase equipment.  CNH is now incorporating the yield monitor into the operating console of the combine.  That would be fine if they were open with the data, but that forces a redundancy in hardware to install a third party yield monitor.  For that reason (among others), CNH has lost 2 combine sales here and I will not consider their row crop planter for the same reason.  When they wake up to the fact that they are losing iron sales because of their stance on data architecture, I think we will see some changes on their part.