The Parallax Advantage
Bruce Bates
Posts: 3,045
Folks -
This is just an addendum to what Jon and others have already offered, time and time again, elsewhere on this forum. I am not affiliated with Parallax, except in terms of being a very satisfied customer, and a contributor to this forum for nearly 10 years. As a former part-time educator, and thus a person very interested in the personal growth of others, through education and practice, please let me offer the following comments. My apologies for the length, but there is no short and simple way of saying all that should be said. These are solely my own unsolicited comments, opinions and observations.
I have always observed that Parallax is more interested in educating its customers than it is in selling its products. How can I possibly make that assertion? Simply because of the following, and the fact that they planned it that way:
1. I challange anyone to find another smalll, privately held company which makes ALL of its non-proprietary documentation, circuit and PCB schematics for ALL of its own regularly sold products, diagrams, programs and applications information (all updated regularly!), freely available on the Internet for ANYONE who wishes to download it - customer and non-customer alike, and continually encourages all to take advantage of this information.
2. Rarely do you find a company which establishes an entire division of their business (see the Stamp in Class section of the Parallax web site), purely and solely in the name of, and for the purpose of, education in the use of its products and in associated disciplines. Along with all of the associated educational tutorials and other self-learning and teaching materials which are also readily available for free download, Parallax also offers formal classes for its customers. It also makes available for educators those very same class materials they use, to teach their own classes, at no cost to the educational institution, so that they can teach these materials in their own classrooms.
3. Parallax also collects and disseminates ALL of the public writings (magazine articles and newspaper columns, etc) for any articles that their employees publish in non-Parallax publications on a non-royalty basis. Individually, these articles are available free for the download, and as bound collections at a reasonable cost. See the DOWNLOADS Section of the Parallax web site for more informtion.
4. Parallax has made one very noble, additional step, even beyond all that above, in making many if not most of these educational materials available in multiple languages, for worldwide distribution and use. Proper and accurate translations of any technical documents can be a very costly affair; yet, these too are offered for free.
With all this information readily available, it comes as no small surprise that Parallax and its employees continually encourage its use. Any honest and successful business person will tell you he/she would much rather deal with an educated customer, rather than one who is unsure of him/herself. This is what makes for a long and successful business relationships, and one where everyone benefits. Regardless of your beginning level of expertise in basic electronics, computer programming, device interfacing, electrical and electronics concepts, or any other related field, if you take advantage of what Parallax has to offer, by merely volunteering some of your own time, I can pretty much guarantee you that you'll advance far beyond what you may believe is even possible, short of paying for such an education yourself. The ability to learn from these materials has been proven time and time again by customers from all age groups, from pre-teens to those of senior citizen status.
At the risk of being accused of bandying about an overly trite expression, I close with the following:
“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today.· Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”—Author unknown
Regards,
Bruce Bates
This is just an addendum to what Jon and others have already offered, time and time again, elsewhere on this forum. I am not affiliated with Parallax, except in terms of being a very satisfied customer, and a contributor to this forum for nearly 10 years. As a former part-time educator, and thus a person very interested in the personal growth of others, through education and practice, please let me offer the following comments. My apologies for the length, but there is no short and simple way of saying all that should be said. These are solely my own unsolicited comments, opinions and observations.
I have always observed that Parallax is more interested in educating its customers than it is in selling its products. How can I possibly make that assertion? Simply because of the following, and the fact that they planned it that way:
1. I challange anyone to find another smalll, privately held company which makes ALL of its non-proprietary documentation, circuit and PCB schematics for ALL of its own regularly sold products, diagrams, programs and applications information (all updated regularly!), freely available on the Internet for ANYONE who wishes to download it - customer and non-customer alike, and continually encourages all to take advantage of this information.
2. Rarely do you find a company which establishes an entire division of their business (see the Stamp in Class section of the Parallax web site), purely and solely in the name of, and for the purpose of, education in the use of its products and in associated disciplines. Along with all of the associated educational tutorials and other self-learning and teaching materials which are also readily available for free download, Parallax also offers formal classes for its customers. It also makes available for educators those very same class materials they use, to teach their own classes, at no cost to the educational institution, so that they can teach these materials in their own classrooms.
3. Parallax also collects and disseminates ALL of the public writings (magazine articles and newspaper columns, etc) for any articles that their employees publish in non-Parallax publications on a non-royalty basis. Individually, these articles are available free for the download, and as bound collections at a reasonable cost. See the DOWNLOADS Section of the Parallax web site for more informtion.
4. Parallax has made one very noble, additional step, even beyond all that above, in making many if not most of these educational materials available in multiple languages, for worldwide distribution and use. Proper and accurate translations of any technical documents can be a very costly affair; yet, these too are offered for free.
With all this information readily available, it comes as no small surprise that Parallax and its employees continually encourage its use. Any honest and successful business person will tell you he/she would much rather deal with an educated customer, rather than one who is unsure of him/herself. This is what makes for a long and successful business relationships, and one where everyone benefits. Regardless of your beginning level of expertise in basic electronics, computer programming, device interfacing, electrical and electronics concepts, or any other related field, if you take advantage of what Parallax has to offer, by merely volunteering some of your own time, I can pretty much guarantee you that you'll advance far beyond what you may believe is even possible, short of paying for such an education yourself. The ability to learn from these materials has been proven time and time again by customers from all age groups, from pre-teens to those of senior citizen status.
At the risk of being accused of bandying about an overly trite expression, I close with the following:
“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today.· Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”—Author unknown
Regards,
Bruce Bates
Comments
Take the time to find all the support - not just the Forum.
Downloads - Generally two areas: the Stamp and the SX-Ubicom
Documents - Ywo main areas and several topics: the Stamp and SX-Ubicom [noparse][[/noparse]there are other products too]
Forum - Try Search before you ask the same question many others have. Try the Forum Archives for the old Yahoo site that really has some useful info, especially if Search did not come up with your answer./
Other sites - There are several other good Stamp and SX sites on the Net. Maybe they have something to inspire you.
New products - There is something new brewing all the time. I recently was very surprised with new additions as I was spending most of my time on the Forum and not reviewing what is available.
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"When all think alike, no one is thinking very much.' - Walter Lippmann (1889-1974)
······································································ Warm regards,····· G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse]·黃鶴 ]·in Taiwan