<snip> > Mr. Clark emphasized that the burden of providing support for ancient > versions of Protel was diverting resources from program development, and > that with the ATS program, Altium would no longer be obligated to provide > support without receiving corresponding revenue. <snip> > Abdulrahman Lomax
This forum has surely effectively subsidised Altium, and to no small extent, in the costs it incurs in providing support to Protel users (and regardless of which version of Protel they are using). Even when an user obtains support from Altium, rather than us, there is good reason to believe that some of the knowledge of their product has been acquired from members of this forum reporting their experiences in postings. The concept of Altium acquiring revenue to cover the costs of providing support is not necessarily devoid of merit, but there is still a question as to whether they are regarding their customers as cash cows, or whether there is a genuine case to protect their ongoing financial viability; in reality, perhaps (or even probably) a mix of the two. Certainly the levels of payments being sought are high by historic standards. Perhaps these could be justified if there is a corresponding increase in the level of service provided to users, such as annoying bugs and shortcomings being rectified (and requested new features being provided) in very short order. But even if that is accomplished, the impact of these payments will still be to push Protel upwards, price-wise, in the spectrum of CAD products. Even if Altium still ends up better off, it is not rocket science to predict that one outcome will be at least some shrinkage of the total customer count and/or overall share of the CAD market... Regards, Geoff Harland. ----------------------------- E-Mail Disclaimer The Information in this e-mail is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this e-mail by anyone else is unauthorised. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful. Any opinions or advice contained in this e-mail are confidential and not for public display. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
