> company will generate a jolt of ill-will against Compaq. People know, by > now, that documentation costs are included in the product cost, and with > the web, the cost of distributing it has become very very low. If I lose my > Protel manual, no big deal, I can get the PDF. Protel sells the book for > $90. Given the press run, that's probably a fair price. But I certainly > hope that Protel doesn't decide to dump the PDF on the theory that it could > then sell more manuals....
Maybe someone on this list should archive Protel's website content right now before they yank it. Any volunteers? I can't do it, all I have is a lousy POTS Internet connection (no affordable broadband in Tallahassee). The web has changed some things forever. The sooner corporations' bean counters and money grubbers realize that, the better off everyone will be. The web enables: 1) No cost distribution of text, binary, sound, and video information 2) No cost product support capabilities 3) No cost sales assistance 4) Easy collaboration and communication between individuals and organizations on a particular topic (i.e. this list) who would otherwise never be aware of each other The more these things are resisted, the more irrelevant the "resistor" will become. I am still waiting for a media company to stop fighting internet distribution, and finally figure out that they can make money with it as long as they meet the public's expectations. For example, my expectations for a music download service would be: 1) pay only for songs I want, 2) no subscription required, 3) choice of file types (mp3, ogg, or uncompressed wav), 4) no copy protection, 5) $1.00 per song, or $5.00 for an entire album. They should hurry up and do this before everyone has downloaded every last song they would ever want. This may seem a bit off topic, but it's all illustrative example. Altium tech support is nearly irrelevant right now, since this forum is extremely helpful. The last time I used Protel support was in 1996, when I first started using the program. I haven't needed it since. I am quite sure that I would still need it if there wasn't this forum to ask. So, all most of us really need from Protel support are service packs to fix bugs. And those should be free and permanently available for download. Altium, beware, if you become too difficult to get along with, an open source alternative will emerge... Best regards, Ivan Baggett Bagotronix Inc. website: www.bagotronix.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Abd ulRahman Lomax" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Protel EDA Forum" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2001 11:09 PM Subject: Re: [PEDA] Altium Total Support Brochure > At 03:51 PM 12/5/2001 -0500, Bagotronix Tech Support wrote: > >I think that free support should be maintained for old products forever, as > >long as there is no cost associated with maintaining that free support. > > > >"No cost support" is possible. It consists of downloadable service packs > >for the software, FAQs, bug lists, and workarounds, all on the company's > >website. I understand that they cannot offer free telephone or e-mail > >support forever, but website support they can. > > I agree. > > A year or so ago, I bought a Compaq notebook computer from a close-out > distributor. They told me that I could get the manual from Compaq. So I > went to the Compaq web site and found that Compaq had arranged with a > company which provided manuals. For about $50, I think. It might have been > $100. The PDF manual had been removed from the Compaq site. > > I returned the computer and find myself very reluctant to consider Compaq > computers. Sure, they probably made some money selling the rights to the > manuals. But, essentially, they sold out their customers, because only > customers need those manuals, perhaps it was lost or damaged. > > Because all of the development cost for the manuals was absorbed into the > cost for the computer, getting some money for the ongoing rights to publish > the manual probably seemed like free money to the Compaq bean counters. As > they say, penny-wise, pound foolish. Almost every manual sold by that > company will generate a jolt of ill-will against Compaq. People know, by > now, that documentation costs are included in the product cost, and with > the web, the cost of distributing it has become very very low. If I lose my > Protel manual, no big deal, I can get the PDF. Protel sells the book for > $90. Given the press run, that's probably a fair price. But I certainly > hope that Protel doesn't decide to dump the PDF on the theory that it could > then sell more manuals.... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
