[TenTec] FLEX, Omni-VII, Hilberling

[Rick, NJ0IP / DJ0IP]

I too concur with Grant.

When asked to comment on other companies software bugs, a very wise chief
software engineer working for Digital Equipment Corp. used to reply, "until
the day we produce our first bug-free product, I won't knock other people's
products."  Very wise indeed.

All things are relative and nothing is perfect.

Having followed Ten-Tec for over 30 years, I appreciate them most for their
responsiveness to customers' problems and wishes, not for their products.
All companies have good and not so good products and all companies' products
have bugs (hard & soft).  There are huge differences in how these companies
respond to customers complaints about these bugs.  There are also huge
differences in responsiveness from region to region (US, EU, AS).
Nothing I have seen elsewhere comes even close to the responsiveness of
Ten-Tec.

What most consumers do not realize is that the bug list for common products
is often double or even triple digit long.  The lists usually get
re-prioritized on a weekly basis, based on field input (number of
complaints, etc.).  In the process, some bugs (with just a few complainers)
continue to slip down the priority list, and as a result, eventually become
painfully old.  

So, the fact that a known problem has not been addressed, even for a longer
period of time, does NOT necessarily mean a company is not responsive to its
customers.  It probably means that this bug is not a big problem to many
customers and that the engineers are working other bugs.

Ten-Tec clearly informs it customers on how to report suspected firmware
bugs.  I have no idea how many people use this, but it surprises me how
often I see complaints here on the reflector where the complainer has not
yet informed Ten-Tec.

When more people complain (using the official channel) about a particular
bug, the bug moves up the priority list.  Quite simple.

SORRY for the long post.  With all of my gear in shipping and sitting here
with no rig or antenna, this is my only channel to communicate (hi).
One week from today DJ0IP becomes NJ0IP again.
Hpe C U on the air soon after.

73
Rick
DJ0IP ---> NJ0IP
-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com]
On Behalf Of Grant Youngman
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 3:04 AM
To: 'Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment'
Subject: Re: [TenTec] FLEX, Omni-VII, Hilberling

YES, Yes, you're the third person (but the only one who made a public post)
that has corrected my misunderstanding of the mysteries of "open source" in
the SDR-1000 and Flex-5000 and the "true meaning" of FAQ #44

And I'm sure many "bright folks" have contributed.  Many bright folks
contribute to the design of many radios, open source or not.  I wonder how
many users of these radios have contributed even one line of code or one bug
fix.

Not referring to your comments, I'm also quite tired of being privately
beaten up instead of the "offended" parties in question simply coming to the
table and telling their story.  You can't post on a free and open list any
more without a very large liability insurance policy, because surely SOMEONE
SOMEWHERE has some financial interest and will take umbrage -- 

I'll bet that for all of the garbage, misinformation, cockpit error and just
plain ignorance blamed on crummy software, and even vitriolic personal
attacks made on specific T-T employees that have been posted here, and
comments about how T-T radios suck and this has never worked and that hasn't
worked since 2003, and the developers are incompetent and so on --- I'll bet
that not one person has ever been threatened -- even politely -- by T-T.

I regret thinking it worth posting to this list.

Grant/NQ5T