Joseph, You said, "there is supply of service equipments for older cells. The news of unabailibility of service for those cells came out few days ago, it is highly suspicious in number of ways. First, the news was "delivered" by a user of the product, not by HW employees."
I'm not sure how much evidence you need. I was prepared to give Humanware customer service my credit card number and was told that they were no longer renewing service agreements on transplant units that have the older braille cells. Other customers have also called Humanware and have reported similar conversations. Humanware has had enough time to respond to the inquiries that they have received. -------- Original Message -------- Subject: RE: [Braillenote] latest news on older transplants From: "Joseph Lee" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Fri, December 07, 2007 8:53 pm To: "'Alice Dampman'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: 'Braillenote List' <[email protected]> Hi Alice, Besides BrailleNote and Victor Reader Stream, HumanWare is offering things like Classmate Reader and MyReader (low vision products). I believe that this whole thread about "older braille displays" is matter of economics: * In Economics, a product which is derived from a demand for a host item is called "derived demand." In other words, as people request things, the company demands resources/products associated i=with it. For example, a huge demand for braille displays on a notetaker not only demands the actual things, but the manufacturer needs (that is, demands) other materials for displays from display manufacturers such as plastic pins, protective shells, electrical controller and so forth. This also demands work of programmers since they need to design accurate and efficient device driver to control the braille output. These "derived demands" such as pins also have costs associated with it. The cost of a braille display is the sum of the costs of the resources such as shells, wires and so forth. * In a market like this, an action from a company has a tremendous impact on customers. This is because the company has vast control over a given market (about 30%). A market such as assistive technology where few markets dominate over 40% of the market is called an oligopoly. For example, in this tech market, we have HumanWare, Freedom Scientific, GW Micro and Levelstar whose combined forces controls majority of the market. This type of oligopoly is formed when smaller companies merge. For example, FS was created when HenterJoyce (JAWS maker), Blazie Engineering (BNS manufacturer) and Arkenstone (OpenBook seller) merged. Similarly, HumanWare was created when PuseData International and Visuaide merged. These "giant" companies' action such as this "no more older displays for older transplants" causes considerable reaction from customers, as seen for the past few days. So here's my opinions on this whole thing: * Since the news ws brought up few days ago, I think it is somewhat early to tell what will happen next. * When considering the braille displays, please think of the resources - derived demand - involved (pins, covers and so forth has costs). * We have an evidence that, in 2005, Tieman said that it still has those cells, and one of the mPower tutorials implied that HW has confident that there is supply of service equipments for older cells. The news of unabailibility of service for those cells came out few days ago, it is highly suspicious in number of ways. First, the news was "delivered" by a user of the product, not by HW employees. Second, the news came out via Tech Support. It would have been more acceptable if a product developer or persons like Dominique and Matthew Janusauscus mentioned it in first place. So these are my own opinions. Hope it explains some things here. BTW, I apologize if I've offended anyone. Cheers, Joseph -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Alice Dampman Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 2:54 AM To: Rob Lambert; Sharon Campbell; [email protected] Subject: Re: [Braillenote] latest news on older transplants Sharon, You wrote: "Personally I've worried about the Braille Note ever since KS 7.5 came about, and now that this whole transplant bit is being hammered at, I'm curious about the remaining division of HumanWare and the like." Can you elaborate on this? I have a SMA for the PK, but I of course got no notification about the 7.5 upgrade and release, and I have not upgraded yet. Do you feel it is a mistake to upgrade, or should one say downgrade? *grin* Also, as long as the list mods don't mind, if people who have the victor stream would comment on it on list, I imagine many of us would be interested in their experiences. Maybe mark those messages clearly "victor stream," and then those who are not interested can skip them? Thanks Alice, new to list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rob Lambert" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Sharon Campbell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 6:58 PM Subject: re: [Braillenote] latest news on older transplants > Personally I've worried about the Braille Note ever since KS 7.5 came > about, and now that this whole transplant bit is being hammered at, > I'm curious about the remaining division of HumanWare and the like. > The Victor Reader for example is a far better product than Telex's > line of book readers, and the Stream seems to be generating as much > buzz as New Year's in Vegas (LOL), if they can put that much effort > into a simple book reader why not into their much more expensive > products? Anyone have comments on this? Incidentally, just as a side > note, if anyone is using a Stream at this point and could comment OFF > LIST (good and bad - i want an honest > opinion) about the stream, please e-mail me OFF LIST with "Stream opinion" > or something similar in the subject line (and state that you are from > this list so I don't disregard it as spam). Thanks in advance. > > Sharon Campbell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Again! Hi List and Terri: > Isn't it amazing how people try to weasel out of what they say? > We knew Kim wasn't going to call us back with any price for upgrading > braille displays in transplants, so we called back. > First, Kim told Chuck that if something happened to his braille > display, they'd be bound to fix it because his contract is good until > November of '08. He asked her how this would be done if they no > longer have parts for old displays. She said she didn't know, that > she wasn't a Technician. "But it will be done." > Now, when I mentioned your conversation with her, Terri, she said the > BrailleNote list was nothing but a "gossip list". She had no answer > except to put down our list. When we tried to defend the list by > stating what valuable, helpful information we had received, again, we > got the same response. By the way, we will receive an "official > email", so they say, when everything is set up. They've whitewashed > so much, they don't know the truth from a lie. > One other thing, Kim is likening our BrailleNotes to spending money > on a $5,000.00 big screen TV with a three-year warranty. > Why would blind people buy big screen TV's? Like Chuck said to her, > "They're all made out of junk so they won't last anyway." > So, is HumanWare considering the BrailleNote in the category of that > TV as Kim is? If so, the company doesn't belong in Blindness > Technology!!!!!!!!! >> ----- Original Message ----- >>From: Sharon Campbell >>To: "Terri Pannett" > , > [email protected] >>Date sent: Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:59:16 -0600 >>Subject: re: [Braillenote] latest news on older transplants > >>Hi Terri and List: >> Terri, we also just talked to Kim. We got a totally different >>answer from her than you did. She told us that the only way to get a >>service agreement is to send our transplant in to have a new display >>put in your unit. >> The amazing thing is, when we called earlier, the message was that >>every customer service rep was in a meeting. >> If the chance ever comes, we'd switch to GwMicro. > >> "Never pity missionaries; envy them. They are where the real action >>is -- where life and death, sin and grace, Heaven and Hell converge." >>--Robert C. Shannon >> Coffee Shop phone number: 773-572-3094. > > >>> ----- Original Message ----- >>>From: "Terri Pannett" > >>>To: "BrailleNote List" > >>>Date sent: Thu, 6 Dec 2007 13:37:42 -0800 >>>Subject: [Braillenote] latest news on older transplants > >>>Dear List, > >>>I just called HumanWare and spoke to Kim. She said HumanWare >>will no longer >>>support service contracts transplants which have the older Tieman >>displays. >>>Also, HumanWare won't put a new display on an older unit. The >>only way to >>>have a maintenance agreement is to buy a new unit. > >>>When I asked why customers weren't notified about the change in >>policy, she >>>said an announcement came out in November. But I said I didn't >>receive any >>>notice and no announcement was made on the BN lists. She had no >>answer to >>>that. > >>>I asked how much a person with an older transplant would have to >>pay for >>>cleaning and she said $100.00. If there are other repairs which >>need to be >>>made, the cost will be more. The service department is supposed >>to notify >>>you for the estimate of the repairs and then you can tell them to >>go ahead >>>with the repairs or send the unit back as is. > >>>My present plan is to use my BN for as long as I can and when it >>dies or >>>needs repair, I'll buy a new notetaker from someone else, >>probably GW Micro. > >>>I am very disappointed in HumanWare! > >>>Terri Amateur Radio call sign KF6CA. > > >>>___ >>>Replies to this message will go directly to the sender. >>>If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a copy to the >>>list as well. > >>>To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to >>>[EMAIL PROTECTED] >>>To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit >>>http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote > > >>___ >>Replies to this message will go directly to the sender. >>If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a copy to the >>list as well. > >>To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to >>[EMAIL PROTECTED] >>To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit >>http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote > > > ___ > Replies to this message will go directly to the sender. > If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a copy to the > list as well. > > To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit > http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote > > > > > > > --------------------------------- > Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. > Try it now. > ___ > Replies to this message will go directly to the sender. > If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a copy to the > list as well. > > To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit > http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote > > > > -- > Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.9/1157 - Release Date: > 11/28/2007 12:29 PM > > ___ Replies to this message will go directly to the sender. If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a copy to the list as well. To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote ___ Replies to this message will go directly to the sender. If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a copy to the list as well. To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote ___ Replies to this message will go directly to the sender. If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a copy to the list as well. To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
