[TenTec] Technical Correspondence

[Rick Denney]

The arguments for and against open software sourcing have raged for
years, and are not likely to be resolved here, it seems to me. Suffice
to say that eloquent arguments can be made for both sides and persons
of good will can cheerfully disagree. We in the traffic signal
industry have lived with that dichotomy for 30 years, and both
approaches are still holding their share of the market. The arguments
among traffic signal technicians have become ecclesiastical.

That is somewhat separate from Ten Tec's decision not to open up their
software. They may be making that choice out of ignorance, as some
have suggested, or they may have weighed the options and made a
careful business decision that some will nevertheless dispute. My
reading suggests that Ten Tec remains one of the most responsive
amateur radio manufacturers in the industry, and I think most on this
list at least will be prepared to agree.

And all that is separate from the choice to use software versus
hardware at a given stage of the process. The trend to do more in
software is inexorable, and eventually the quibbles over what
constitutes a software-define radio will fade--they will all be
software defined.

73, Rick, KR9D

---
Richard W. Denney, Jr. PE|Iteris, Inc.
Associate Vice President |107 Carpenter Dr. Ste 230 |    703.925.3819
rwd at iteris.com           |Sterling, VA 20164        |Fax 703.471.1757