[hsflinux] Re: My bottom line.

[hsflinux at burchill.net]

Marc,

I understand what you are trying to do here, and was going to say much
of what Az was going to said.  However, given the unfortunate closed
nature of much of the closed source here you do need a proprietary
model of some sort.  Given the current market (as Az explains) I don't
think the current model will work.  I would suggest that you should
seek to licence the hardware vendors for an OEM copy to go on their
CDs, and then offer free downloads to end users.

Part of what you do in support can be done by volunteers.  The job that
Jean-Simon does on the mailing list is a good part of that.  Not
everybody needs to see the code to diagnose common problems.

I understand your point about quality of support, drivers etc but
people won't pay more for quality.  If they would, we wouldn't be in
this position (with controllerless and soft modems) in the first
place.

I for one will now be purchasing a modem with an Intel chipset, to use
Linux on the web.

Though I do sincerely wish you all the best, with whatever you may
choose to do moving Linuxant forward in the future.

Best regards,

Phil Burchill


On 09-08-2003 11:27 pm, Marc Boucher <marc at linuxant.com> wrote:

> Most of the controllerless and soft modems nowadays are actually
> very low-cost hardware devices that just interface to the phone line
> to play and record audio (a bit like a sound card), detect rings,
> and switch off/on hook, and can be produced quite cheaply
> in large volumes. The complexity/intelligence has moved to the
software,
> which implements all the protocols and signal processing /
modulations.
> 
> The low cost of Windows modems is largely a result of the extremely
high
> sales volumes; allowing amortization of driver development cost to
millions
> of units which isn't possible for linux yet.
> 
> If you value strong Linux support, my personal (and obviously biased
> but perhaps not totally uninformed) opinion is that we have the
> best software modem drivers around for Linux, professionally
maintained and
> actively developed.
> 
> If you consider that this isn't worth the relatively small price
difference and 
> that the competition might provide a better deal, feel free to go for
your
> best option but beware of false economies.
> 
> Also our move is in fact essentially a way of asking for
contributions to
> keep the project going. We had a lot of demand from users but it was
difficult
> to fulfill it without pooling resources. Now if people contribute we
have a good
> chance of continuing to improve things and as the volumes increase
the price
> will most likely drop. But if nobody cares or supports us, we (and
Linux) will
> stay stuck in a unfortunate chicken-and-egg situation.
> 
> Also you might not have to pay again next year. The policy is that we
will provide
> upgrades at no cost for *at least* a year, but perhaps longer,
depending
> on the situation. Also, the linux os-specific code (all the
kernel-related stuff)
> is all open and commonly shared with the free version.
> 
> In any case, thanks for the feedback,
> Marc
> 
> PS: fyi, PCTEL's modem business was recently acquired by Conexant.
> 
> On Mon, Sep 08, 2003 at 10:45:29PM -0400, azajac at vif.com wrote:
> > I'm going to keep an eye on this list to track the fallout...
> > 
> > I know what it is like to run a buisiness, and I sympathise with
you.
> > 
> > But,
> > 
> > I paid 14.95 Canadian dollars (plus tax) for my HSF modem.  The
modest cost of
> > the new-and-improved driver (in US dollars) is more than what I
originally paid
> > for the device.
> > 
> > I can pay 14.95 Canadian dollars for a controllerless PCTEL modem
which has a
> > working linux driver.
> > 
> > I can pay about ten dollars to get a Smart Link AMR modem with the
same
> > characteristics.
> > 
> > Had you asked me yesterday for a contibution to keep the project
going, I would
> > have considered it.  To charge me today for the driver and to think
that if I
> > upgrade my kernel next year I will have to pay again does not sound
like a smart
> > purchase.
> > 
> > Good luck.
> > 
> > AZ.
> > _______________________________________________
> > hsflinux mailing list
> > hsflinux at lists.linuxant.com
> > https://www.linuxant.com/mailman/listinfo/hsflinux
> > 
> _______________________________________________
> hsflinux mailing list
> hsflinux at lists.linuxant.com
> https://www.linuxant.com/mailman/listinfo/hsflinux
>