You seem to have internalized ethics designed to maximize profit not happiness or utility.
Deliberate incompatibility is a lever that allows a degree of control that allows one to extract money both from end users and from companies that serve end users.
Having the ability to reverse engineer a compatible solution is a check on the maximum amount of rent seeking one is able to do before a competitor provides a more open or at least cheaper alternative that doesn't force one to entirely rip out existing components.
This is only like stealing if you believe a company has an inherent right to make a maximum profit without interference from competitors which is an interesting moral stance to take.
Deliberate incompatibility is a lever that allows a degree of control that allows one to extract money both from end users and from companies that serve end users.
Having the ability to reverse engineer a compatible solution is a check on the maximum amount of rent seeking one is able to do before a competitor provides a more open or at least cheaper alternative that doesn't force one to entirely rip out existing components.
This is only like stealing if you believe a company has an inherent right to make a maximum profit without interference from competitors which is an interesting moral stance to take.