Hi Isaac, On 27 Dec 2004 at 23:31, Isaac Obie <[email protected]> spoke, thus:
> Let me break it down for you. Let me put it simply and thoroughly. > Pulsedata International doesn't want to release a developers kit because > they have a bunch of Americans as their cash cow and they don't want anyone > else at the golden spigot! get it? blazie engineering didn't mind cause he > was raking the money in hand over foot. I must admit, there's some undeniably good, if harsh, logic here. It's frequently been the opinion of PulseData citizens that PulseData were, for a long while, living in the glory of their once great achievement - a Windows CE-powered device, something no-one had done before. I've surely said before that I think it's about time for PDI to fight with vigour and honesty - to be an IBM, not a Microsoft - as opposed to just complacently lapping up the last drops of molten gold which will soon run dry. > Note you developed a nice little program and the boys at PDI apoke > rather jealously and said oh, we won't guarantee the warrantry if you > use that. I'm not sure what PulseData's motives may have been when they decided on the public address you mentioned. Part of the irony is that the program was not really intended for general-purpose use by the community. I wrote it in order the better to experiment with alternative operating systems on my BrailleNote as a team-motivated effort to put the future success of the product, for those who chose to take it, into the hands of developers who were determined to write Free software, and - what's more - give it away for no financial gain. We could not advocate this directly with PulseData, therefore no choice existed to us but to try the all-off approach in which we envisioned supporting PulseData's platform purely as a convenience to its users once we had successfully determined a way to advance the situation for developers with technical appreciation for a new, free software platform and its many advantages in the name of choice. This is one of the reasons I am awaiting the SDK, and it is one of the reasons I still try to keep tabs on the community's needs, and indeed why I am telling you this. The memdiv program is made available to you in the event you have a use for it, and with complete source code - source code that, if PulseData wanted to, could be incorporated into KeySoft with little obligation other than credit. I intend to continue supporting you as users where it is possible, though I have no trouble saying that, while I intend to run with PulseData's products and software through the 6.1 release, to look for improvements in the product that will hopefully improve my life, their intentions for its userbase have seemed a trifle suspicious and mysterious, and that this is particularly evident when you consider the extent to which they have conveniently failed to help free software developers with my team's goals as by providing specifications and hardware information that would help us to develop or by the margin of complaints brought to PulseData by the BrailleNote community at large for new features and/or bugfixes. Perhaps, in this respect, your comment is justified. Perhaps they really are opposed to competitive influences, and know something we don't about the success of their product which they feel we may ruin by our antics, or perhaps that we may improve upon without financial gain to PulseData. As I say, 6.1 is around the corner and as I have said before, I will use it as a stopgap, test-and-decide release for what I will do with my BrailleNote and which notetaker to go with in future. > they made $40 million dollars year before last! what more do > they want? What's FreedomScientific's, Alva's or Papenmeier's going anual revenue? Is PulseData meeting these figures yet? Like I said, I really don't know. It's pure bafflement. But tight control and very specific markets is what they're used to (not to mention upgrade justification fodder <grin>), so - yes, brave is the word. > I think if they released the developers kit, it would enhance > their products. People would develop games and programs that will be > useful. I will be among those who contribute, on my terms, provided the cause is worthy. You can have my cryptographic digital signature on that one. Cheers, Sabahattin -- If an email tells you to forward it to all your friends, please temporarily forget that I am your friend. Sabahattin Gucukoglu Phone: +44 20 88008915 Mobile: +44 7986 053399 http://www.sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/ Email/MSN: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Skype: SabahattinGucukoglu (requires authorisation, add me to your list first) SpeakFreely: sabahattin-gucukoglu.com (Please use CELP compression if your processor allows)
