Censorship By J Williams
Archiver
Posts: 46,084
One last (????) point on this subject, and then I hope it goes away....
Of course, ALL commercial engineering is about economics and time
constraints. I'm not sure how many of you have worked under set budget and
time allocations, but those are facts of life for the commercial engineering
world. And of course, ANYTHING is possible given enough time and money, but
we're not landing any humans on Mars just yet, even though it's certainly
"possible".
The big trouble comes in when a hobbyist tries to justify their desires to a
commercial engineer. Now, don't get me wrong... I'm a hobbyist at Stamps and
willing to spend lots of extra hours in the pursuit of learning something.
But I consider that an investment in my knowledge bank. When I'm building
something for money, I'm forced to look at both the ROI (Return On
Investment) and available resources. If something won't pay itself back in a
decent amount of time, a few years or less, then it's not worth doing. And
my investors would never condone such a waste of resources just so I can
pursue a crazy idea. And if I don't have sufficient resources to pursue even
a great idea because it would upset other money-making projects, then I
can't jeopardize the whole business for the sake of a single idea. That's
just tilting at windmills, as it were.
Of course, some great inventions tend to upset the apple cart. But believe
me, when you're on to a really hot idea, you won't let something like a
standard compiler or operating system stand in your way. Heck, a dedicated
hobbyist would have no trouble spending a few thousand hours to write a new
one for a project that he could buy already for a hundred bucks. And yes,
this sort of dedication can change the world. Consider Linux as an example.
So please, let's all realize that this group is a mix of hobbyists who will
spend countless hours on a project they could buy pre-made just for the joy
of learning and rolling their own, and commercial engineers willing to share
their knowledge, but who need to consider ROI and resources in order to make
a living (including Parallax).
Peace....
Mike Sokol
mike@f...
> If you want to censor me for simply telling the truth, then *you* have
> much bigger problems and I have no interest in participating in such
> a group where the truth is merely a function of economics.
> Tom Fisher
> Dallas,TX
>
Of course, ALL commercial engineering is about economics and time
constraints. I'm not sure how many of you have worked under set budget and
time allocations, but those are facts of life for the commercial engineering
world. And of course, ANYTHING is possible given enough time and money, but
we're not landing any humans on Mars just yet, even though it's certainly
"possible".
The big trouble comes in when a hobbyist tries to justify their desires to a
commercial engineer. Now, don't get me wrong... I'm a hobbyist at Stamps and
willing to spend lots of extra hours in the pursuit of learning something.
But I consider that an investment in my knowledge bank. When I'm building
something for money, I'm forced to look at both the ROI (Return On
Investment) and available resources. If something won't pay itself back in a
decent amount of time, a few years or less, then it's not worth doing. And
my investors would never condone such a waste of resources just so I can
pursue a crazy idea. And if I don't have sufficient resources to pursue even
a great idea because it would upset other money-making projects, then I
can't jeopardize the whole business for the sake of a single idea. That's
just tilting at windmills, as it were.
Of course, some great inventions tend to upset the apple cart. But believe
me, when you're on to a really hot idea, you won't let something like a
standard compiler or operating system stand in your way. Heck, a dedicated
hobbyist would have no trouble spending a few thousand hours to write a new
one for a project that he could buy already for a hundred bucks. And yes,
this sort of dedication can change the world. Consider Linux as an example.
So please, let's all realize that this group is a mix of hobbyists who will
spend countless hours on a project they could buy pre-made just for the joy
of learning and rolling their own, and commercial engineers willing to share
their knowledge, but who need to consider ROI and resources in order to make
a living (including Parallax).
Peace....
Mike Sokol
mike@f...
> If you want to censor me for simply telling the truth, then *you* have
> much bigger problems and I have no interest in participating in such
> a group where the truth is merely a function of economics.
> Tom Fisher
> Dallas,TX
>
Comments
in pounding his particular drum than listening to
the answers. About time.
--- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, jcwale@a... wrote:
>
>
> About time!!!!!
>
> We have been patent with this guys attitude long enough. What he
says may be
> true, but this is not the place to vent.
>
> There are 16 bit and 32 bit controllers "out there" that can be
programmed
> in almost any language, with added features. Enough to satisfy
anyone. The
> stamp is not the end all controller, just a nice one to work with.
>
> Jon, thanks for all the assistance you are willing to give.
>
>
> In a message dated 7/6/2004 11:17:53 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> tboonefisher@s... writes:
>
> Just so you know, I've asked our List Administrator to moderate
your
> posts. The intent of the list is to provide technical assistance
to
> users, and we'd like to keep it that way. Taking me or Parallax
to task
> in public does not serve the list intent.
>
> Jon Williams
> Parallax
> Dallas Office
>
>
>
>
>
> [noparse][[/noparse]Non-text portions of this message have been removed]