[aprssig] Lasting Compatibility of the D700a

['Scott Miller']

>From an economic perspective, there's a major advantage to field updatable
firmware.  If updating the firmware requires factory service, then the cost
of any bug is going to be high - either the cost to correct it, or the
dissatisfaction of the end user in having to use a flawed product.
Accordingly, the cost of testing is high, and it multiplies the cost of any
new feature added.  There's not as much incentive to include all the bells
and whistles when they introduce more potential bugs.

I'm not saying "ship now, patch later" as practiced by some software
manufacturers is a good policy (I've seen games in particular that were
almost totally broken out of the box) but when you only have to catch 99% of
the bugs instead of 99.99%, you can save a lot of time and money.  You can
also make an upgrade to the latest firmware the first step in your support
process, so you only have to support one firmware version.

Scott
N1VG

> -----Original Message-----
> From: aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org 
> [mailto:aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org] On Behalf Of Matt Werner
> Sent: Friday, May 11, 2007 9:38 AM
> To: bruninga at usna.edu; TAPR APRS Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [aprssig] Lasting Compatibility of the D700a
> 
> Some of the Garmin updates (maybe half of what I've seen) are *bug
> fixes* as well as bells and whistles.  The Kenwood doesn't deal with
> compressed objects, correct?  It sure would have been nice to be able
> to update one to comply with the published spec...
> 
> You talk about maintaining on-air-compatibility - that's something the
> Kenwood lacks in some areas BECAUSE of it's lack of updates.  On top
> of that, we're now left with a spec that is catering to a device that
> can't be updated.  We're left with a system that will never evolve
> with the times.
> 
> On 5/11/07, Robert Bruninga <bruninga at usna.edu> wrote:
> > >... the only bad thing about the d700a is the
> > > fact you cant flash it.   The way Garmin
> > > does updates works VERY well...
> >
> > Garmin's are personal devices that have no need to be compatible
> > with each other.  On the other hand, the stability of APRS as a
> > common protocol instead of a constantly moving target of bell's
> > and whistles has a certain value in maintining
> > on-air-compatibility.
> >
> > As a communicaitons system, the intent of APRS was to make sure
> > that all recepients saw the same tactical info in the same
> > context.  Without consistency, a tower-of-babble results and
> > communications reliability is deminished in some cases instead
> > of enhanced.
> >
> > In that sense, there is value in the fact that the radio cannot
> > be flashed and will always be compatible with all the other
> > tens' of thousands of D700's out there, without having to
> > download a new "version" every month or so for the life of the
> > radio.
> >
> > Just the flip side.
> >
> > Bob, WB4APR
> >
> >
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