And that's why people came with Open Source concept. Historically, proprietary platforms have been eliminated or converted to either completely Open Source or partially, similar to what Apple did: the platform is semi-open in the sense that nothing goes to Production without their validation and approval. I believe this model could work very nicely for Elecraft. Publish the bare-bones design and have the community take a stab at it. You could still maintain the basic approach and have some immutable things in there, that we can't change. But majority of these requests are outside of the basic design. Such model allows a company to maintain a relatively small support staff but still be "out there" as far as usability and community support.
Just my .02c __________________ Slava (Sal) B, W2RMS w2...@arrl.net On Aug 15, 2014, at 9:04 AM, Joe Subich, W4TV <li...@subich.com> wrote: > > > The only time, I have had a resolution to an issue is when a well > > know person from Microham, reported the issue in a much more, how can > > I say, forward way that I do, and it was resolved within a month. > > Elecraft is quite responsive (issues a fix) if an issue is serious. > However, I have always received an acknowledgement of requests for > feature/API change when submitted through the developer channels. > That answer has not always been what I wanted to hear and I have a > long list of requests that have either been rejected or are on the > low priority list (in other words, not likely in my lifetime). > > Others are correct, the Elecraft development staff is small. That > means, of necessity, a large percentage of their time must be devoted > to work on new products with the majority of support for existing > products reserved for issues that cause equipment failure (e.g., the > input queue overflow). > > On the other hand, when it comes to issues that cause improper > operation, Elecraft is orders of magnitude more responsive than some > logging software developers who do things that cause crashes (like > fast polling during transmit). > > 73, > > ... Joe, W4TV > > > On 2014-08-15 12:40 AM, Tom Blahovici wrote: >> Ok, now I am going to be the “squeaky wheel”. >> I am the author of Win4K3Suite. With a customer base of a few hundred users >> (not one or two users) I have numerous times reported bugs and deficiencies >> in the Elecraft API through the elecraft support channels as well as >> directly to Wayne and have never had the decency of getting a reply. Support >> replies and tells me “It was forwarded to Wayne" >> >> Not even “we are aware and this is in a future release”. >> >> This has been very frustrating and my response to my customers has been “I >> told them about it and haven’t heard anything”. For a company that provides >> such a comprehensive API and support, to totally ignore comments from people >> who use their API as extensively as I do, is very unprofessional and very >> frustrating. >> >> The only time, I have had a resolution to an issue is when a well know >> person from Microham, reported the issue in a much more, how can I say, >> forward way that I do, and it was resolved within a month. >> The fact is that Elecraft has an API and encourages developers to develop >> products. But somehow, it seems to me if the products do not match their >> “vision” on what the radio should be they are ignored. That has been the >> case for me. >> Here is something important: I have about 20 users that bought the radio >> because of my software. It hides the complexities and makes it very easy to >> use. Is this against the Elecraft wishes for their radio? I have to think >> so since I have 4 times requested to have my software listed on the Elecraft >> Website, under third party software and even Eric asked me to send a blurb >> but I never got a response at all. 4 times over 1 and 1/2 years. >> So, unless many users ask for something on the forum, the priority is low. >> If a developer who has a few hundred users asks for something in a nice way, >> several times, it’s ignored. So is this the future of Elecrafts third party >> support? Does my name have to be J** to get something done? >> This is extremely frustrating, and I have a couple of hundred people that >> want a few things to be done but all I can tell them “I asked but never >> heard ANYTHING”. So, maybe it’s time to be a “squeaky wheel” like now. >> Tom Blahovici VA2FSQ >> Win4K3Suite. >> >> On Aug 14, 2014, at 8:08 PM, Sam Morgan <k5oai....@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> my previous reply was the short answer, here is the long answer: >>> >>> reference: >>> http://www.mail-archive.com/elecraft@mailman.qth.net/msg171471.html >>> >>> to quote Wayne from 7/10/2014 7:55 PM >>> >>> <quote> >>> Hi all, >>> >>> Our firmware task lists are sorted by priority. Determination of Priority >>> is democratic to some degree (Squeaky Wheel and other industry standard >>> methodologies). But in practice it involves crystal-ball-gazing, >>> head-counting, arm-wrestling-over-a-beer, and a healthy dose of >>> what-we-have-time-for. >>> >>> It is not practical for us to publish the lists. They change daily and >>> contain a lot of firmware-speak. We'd rather spend time actually making >>> changes than on sanitizing lists for public consumption. >>> >>> This is also the reason that we can't make announcements of the form "We >>> will not ever get to feature X." (Imagine trying to do that with your >>> personal Home Repair task list. Would your spouse let you unilaterally >>> decide to remove some of them?) We'd rather be optimistic about it, since >>> you never know when one of our overworked engineers is going to get some >>> unexpected free time. >>> >>> The most useful guidance I can give you is this. If only one or two users >>> are affected by a particular change, it is less likely to be implemented in >>> the near future. If nearly all users are affected, it darn well better be >>> fixed instantly. Everything else is in a sort of gray zone (see >>> "Determination of Priority," above). >>> >>> I take responsibility for any muttered oaths against Elecraft pertaining to >>> implementation delays. If it's any comfort: I read all the mail and lose >>> sleep over things we can't get to. All I can say is that we try to make the >>> best decisions we can, given engineering time available. >>> >>> 73, >>> Wayne >>> N6KR >>> </quote> >>> >>> >>> On 8/14/2014 4:55 PM, Sam Morgan wrote: >>>> I doesn't have anything to do with one of their new products, so there >>>> is no reason to waste electrons asking or commenting. >>>> >>>> They will get around to it when and if they ever decide to, or are >>>> allowed to, work on something P3 or K3 related, and no amount of asking >>>> will change that. >>>> >>>> Sam >>>> >>>> On 8/14/2014 4:35 PM, XE3/K5ENS via Elecraft wrote: >>>>> I must be the only one that has bought a P3 with the SVGA board. If >>>>> no one >>>>> else is interested in the NB like the P3 normal display. >>>>> >>>>> Keith >>>> >>> >>> -- >>> GB & 73 >>> K5OAI >>> Sam Morgan >>> ______________________________________________________________ >>> Elecraft mailing list >>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >>> Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net >>> >>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html >>> Message delivered to tom...@videotron.ca >> >> ______________________________________________________________ >> Elecraft mailing list >> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >> Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net >> >> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html >> Message delivered to li...@subich.com >> > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > Message delivered to sla...@nullserv.com ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
