Just catching up on this.
I think that NMEA 2000 has removed a lot of proprietary barriers, but I agree they all try to have some exclusivity to keep you in their herd. Garmin seems to be the most open, probably because they are the latest Instrument Mfg. to the party. With regards to updating instruments, I don’t know how else you could update them unless you had some type of processor (MFD) to interface with them, displays don’t have that type of intellect on their own. And of course the generation before them you couldn’t update at all, so just being able to upgrade somehow is certainly a move forward, not backwards. I can remember sending my old CRC80 back to Raymarine for a factory update, and they re-sealed the screen for me as well. Better than having to buy all new hardware for new features. What DOES irritate me, is Navionics now telling me on my screen every time I start, to pay for a yearly subscription for the features I already thought I had paid for, such as routing, etc. Now that seems like a ‘Gotcha’, as they are taking them away! Bill Coleman C&C 39 Erie, PA From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of Patrick Davin via CnC-List Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2016 7:33 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Cc: Patrick Davin Subject: Re: Stus-List Raymarine exits the instrument, vhf and I agree with you. If I had known Raymarine's love of proprietary, lock-you-in, charge-as-much-as-they-please techniques, I probably wouldn't have bought an i70 and wind instrument. (It's pretty astounding how much they charge per foot for a backbone cable, and even the little plastic caps you use to terminate it) I can see how for some people that aspect isn't that important though, there are other things to consider like hardware quality and reliability. Being in the software industry it was just amazing to see the effort Raymarine has made to maintain incompatibility / closed systems. In software if you have a common transfer protocol that companies are building their own proprietary things on top of, it's either intentional or incompetence. Raymarine doesn't seem incompetent so I have to conclude it's intentional. Apple is actually a good example of a software company that uses similar proprietary lock-in techniques to create a closed system. Just take for example their proprietary charging port and the latest iphone decision to remove an open standard (audio jack) in favor of a closed standard (Apple charging port with proprietary audio jack adapter). People that go Apple are deciding that paying a premium for equivalent hardware is worth it for whatever benefits they believe they get out of it (ex, better UX design?). With Apple it's not as bad though because they at least try to make things easier for the consumer. The good news is I think software updates to an i70 are much less important than updates to a chartplotter. Wind algorithms don't change that often, and I'm basically happy with the UI. Charts and charting UI do change often. My three Android devices cost less than a Raymarine MFD and provide triple redundancy. -Patrick S/V Violet Hour, Seattle, WA C&C LF38 On Tue, Sep 20, 2016 at 9:00 AM, <cnc-list-requ...@cnc-list.com> wrote: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dave S <syerd...@gmail.com> To: "C&c Stus List" <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Cc: Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2016 11:47:59 -0400 Subject: Re: Stus-List Raymarine exits the instrument, vhf and Joel, That's pretty much the nut of it, there is not the same critical mass or informed user base as with mainstream mobile computing, (and this IS mobile computing) and today, the tradeoff exists between the benefits (many contrived) of single-brand solutions, and the benefits of a more open approach. Still, they have to strategize about their new competition - a $50, full featured chartplotter, (yes, in a relatively fragile device) on technologies with very short (relatively) life cycles and blistering innovation rates. Amazing really. I dealt with the fragility issues by buying a lifeproof case and RAM mount. Pretty rugged stuff, and fine for my application - summer sailing on Lake Ontario. I differ a bit on the software upgrade opinion - as with cars this could be a safety and liability issue for the manufacturers. If they make it unreasonably difficult, they have a problem. something else for them to grapple with. Other than chartplotters, tablet based Apps are thin on the ground so far, partly because of the small market, partly the "closed shop" of the major players, and - somewhat related- partly because "open" wireless N2K is in its infancy, though this is changing. The next few years will be interesting! Dave
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