I'd say there is a business reason to keep firmware development going.
They are still selling Orion IIs, and there is a brisk (?) secondary
market in Orion Is and IIs. Sales are supported partly by the idea
that there is upgradeable firmware and that bugs will be fixed and
features added. Although TT's promise on updates is rather vague, the
potential is there. I would also be willing to pay for update service,
but TT may have decided that would not be net profitable for them.
(If they took our money, they'd have to deliver!)
If it was known that there would never be further updates while the O
II is still in production, they would lose sales. And reputation is
important. Buyers for new TT models might worry more about being
orphaned in the future if Orion buyers got burned.
The parts problem is real, but it applies to any hi-tech rig. That
was one of the drivers for bringing out the O II -- the O I CPUs were
being phased out. We can only hope that TT has a generous spares
inventory for repairs. (DIYers may be out of luck.)
The open source software model is compelling (c.f. FlexRadio), but it
would be a major culture shock for an old school company.
73 Martin AA6E
--
Dr. Martin S. Ewing, AA6E
Member IEEE, URSI, AAS, ARRL
Branford, Connecticut
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