Hi again, all...
I've come to understand the reality of the QL scene as it now stands. It didn't take long, did it? :o) Basically, the marketplace is too small to be economically viable. There are not resources to fund development of significant new hardware on a fully commercial basis. People with skills basically support the system by donating their time and skills, and developing wonderful boards like the Q40, and Q60, but I'm sure those people will be first to say it doesn't support a business... Usually, one or two particularly devout and enthusiastic hobbyists step forward and take up the banner (that would be the Tony Firshmans and Q60 designers of the world) but they don't make a profit - particularly if they take into account the time they spend on it. At this point, most groups of users usually disperse or disband. What does it take to reverse this state of fortune? You have to revive the marketplace, or generate a new marketplace that's ideally suited to those users. It has to be able to generate income. It has to have lots of users that are willing to spend lots of money... How would you do that? You have to have hardware or software so compelling, people simply have to buy it. It also has to look like, or share a major characteristic with the original products. That's a tough target, but not impossible... The Q60 is about as close to that as you can get without shaving your head and shouting "I'm Clive!", it's just really expensive because of the small production runs... They must have spent *months* working on it just to sell a few units. True love ;) Anyway, enough rambling... Dave
