I am with you on this issue sir. I bought a voice sense, sync Braille, and the sense nave right when they were released. now I have had a voice sense with no promised up grades, a sync Braille that no longer works and to get it fixed they want to charge me 45 dollars a half hour to diagnose the problem then parts and labor is separate, and a sense nav that has maps from who knows how long ago with no information on when and how much a new upgrade will cost. don't get me wrong I love my voice sense and the sync Braille when it worked was great. the sense nav was awesome when the map was accurate but now that times have moved on and the technology has not things are looking down on the distributors and manufacturers. to me making new products when the old products you currently have are not being maintained is a little backwards I think. I use to use my voice sense a lot more when it was an all in one device that was up to date on all systems. now that I have a firm ware that could not even pretend to bat an eye at other note takers and a sense nav that was awesome three years ago when it was somewhat accurate as to what was around me, but now I have over 8 thousand dollars invested into a refreshable Braille display that acts as a Braille paper weight, and a GPS receiver that takes up space in my travel back pack just waiting to come out and play some day in the future.
Bryan Duarte Blind Ambitions From: erik burggraaf [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2010 6:36 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [GWN] Tip1 for the new Sense notetaker firmware Again, it's the licensing, not the software that is at issue. What I'm reading is that braille note and mobile geo can physically share map data on properly licensed and compatible devices, but braille sense can't, which is a severe limitation. Don't forget that all these devices are built on the same development kit, no matter what brand name you put on it. That doesn't make them all equal, but it at least holds out the option to have them compatible. An option which, based on what people are saying here, braille note and mobile geo offer, but sensenav does not. Then we have the issue of the licensing for current maps. For example, I've just found out that 2010 maps are only licensed to mobile geo 2. That of course is so that I and others like me will have to by msp4 and mgeo2 to get a current map, which we have the option to do. But if the 2010 map were licensed to sensenav, then one way or the other sensenav could use it. Taking care of this licensing shouldn't require a firmware upgrade, but if it did, then it could be done by a patch without requiring an entire firmware, since they did that very thing for the braille note. If a fee had to be charged for upgrading maps, well, so be it. Everyone has a right to make money at what they do. Users who aren't greatly effected by using old map data can buy a case of beer on the weekend, where-as hard core travellers who need consistent accuracy could go without for a weekend or two and get the upgrade. In fact, I'm reasonably sure that any one who forked out 6 grand for a bsp, and $1600 for sensenav are not going to quibble at a $60-$80 upgrade fee for the map data for their high priced kit. Even sighted gps users incur that cost, although most commercial gps are farely disposable and so the cost is usually built into a whole new unit and they don't realize they're paying for it. This doesn't seem like rocket science to me. Old map, increasingly inaccurate, potential time, money and safety concern. Answer, give the customer an option to pay for a new map when an update becomes available. Then if you want to trundle around unfamiliar areas with a three year old map on your $8000 gps, well you go on and giver, but the rest of us can be getting on with the best possible information, especially when you're like me and you need it for work or school. best, Erik Burggraaf Join me Wednesday, May 26th at CNIB Tech Aids fair in Toronto. I'll be at the assistive computing booth from 2 to 4 in the afternoon and circulating for the rest of the day. http://www.erik-burggraaf.com 888-255-5194 On 2010-05-12, at 5:18 AM, Keith Bucher wrote: Erik, Sense Nav is a HIMS or Gw Micro product not a Sendero product. Sendero licenses it to GW Micro and HIMS. If you use Sense Nav, as of right now, you are stuck with the 2007 maps. The later maps are just for the Braillenote products from Humanware. Keith If you wish to unsubscribe from this list, visit: http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv If you wish to unsubscribe from this list, visit: http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv
