John,
I agree with you. I think people should expect free updates for some initial
period, the cost for which would be rolled into the initial purchase price.
After that, a fee that would support the development effort. After all, I
would rather pay $25 a year and get a 'new' Pegasus every quarter or so than
shell out $1K or more for a new radio.
However, I wonder how many Pegasii and Jupiters have been sold and what
percentage of those users would be willing to participate. I would bet that
it would take at least $200k / year to keep an update program going. That
equates to 8000 subscribers.
You also have the problem of how would you keep the updates out of the hands
(and radios) of non-subscribers?
Mark
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Clifford" <johnclif@ix.netcom.com>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2002 22:11 PM
Subject: [TenTec] Paying for updates... YES!
> I guess I started the 'pay for updates' idea on this list... and I still
> stand by it.
>
> I can understand why Ten-Tec gives away updates... it is a
selling/marketing
> feature. Buy a radio and know that it won't be obsolete. I'm sure that
> some firmware development costs are associated with new radio sells as a
> means of keeping TT competitive, e.g., AM transmit. I would be willing to
> bet that, if TT discovered that offering free updates had absolutely no
> positive effect on sales, it would be discontinued.
>
> I think that paying a very nominal annual fee (and $25 is very nominal)
> would allow/inspire TT to offer even more features. Things like waterfall
> spectrum display (a great CW tuning aid, as well as generally useful for
> finding weak signals), a much better looking UI, etc.,... features that
> someone who is getting PAID specifically to think up features could come
up
> with, rather than someone who is told "Just do this amount of work since
> that's all of the R&D budget we have allocated this quarter."
>
> I can't understand hams (or anyone) who isn't willing to pay a little bit
to
> get a lot. I know, FREE is a very powerful marketing word (perhaps the
most
> powerful). But paying for something is not a bad thing! You can't
compare
> this with taxes, payroll deductions, etc., because those are INVOLUNTARY
and
> besides, we should be THANKFUL that we don't get all of the government we
> pay for! If you were getting washes and waxes on your new car for free,
> would you pay an additional $25 per year to get free oil changes, too?
> Would you be upset if, having given you free washes and waxes for a couple
> of years as an unexpected bonus the car manufacturer announced that it was
> discontinuing this free service for cars older than one year, but
> instituting a new service for $25 yearly that included washing, waxing,
and
> oil changes?
>
> I say, vote with your dollars! If you like a company and want it to stick
> around, be willing to pay it for its goods and services. That's why I
> decided to bite the bullet and completely populate my Omni VI with filters
> direct from Ten-Tec... plus the coffee mug.
>
> Re the usual Msft bashing... products succeed in the marketplace because
> they meet or exceed customers' needs and expectations. Most customers who
> purchased Msft products liked them enough to keep on doing so, and liked
> them better than the competition. That's why Lotus lost their #1 position
> in the software business, and why Ashton-Tate, Novell, and Wordperfect
also
> were eclipsed. As bad as some people dislike Msft, many more disliked the
> competition even more and bought Msft products.
>
> I hope that the Orion is as good to Ten-Tec as Windows was/is for Msft.
> How's that for a wish?
>
> - jgc
>
> John Clifford KD7KGX
>
> Heathkit HW-9 WARC/HFT-9/HM-9
> Elecraft K2 #1678 /KSB2/KIO2/KBT2/KAT2/KNB2/KAF2/KPA100
> Ten-Tec Omni VI/Opt1
>
> email: kd7kgx@arrl.net
>
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>
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