Lpc2000

Simon, 

> Paul,
> could you do a 'reduced speed' version at a lower price? Just 
> a thought.

That doesn't really address the root problems of the Hobbyist License.
Our Educational License software is identical to the Commercial License
software, only difference being the use that is made of it.

We have given a number of licenses to worthy users absolutely free of
charge so they can pursue projects that may or may not make money--on
the understanding that if the project starts coining it, then a license
is purchased.  This has worked well for us.  But this is different from
the Hobbyist License which is just a "I want to tinker" license.

I would like to help hobbyists, for sure, as we have done for university
and research work with our very generous educational discounts (they are
just 20% of our commercial prices).  The educational licenses have been
very popular, being taken up by a wide range of universities and
research institutes around the world.

The problems are as I stated, a hobbyist license is open to abuse by
companies masquerading as hobbyists and also the perception of squeezing
the last drop of money out of our customer base by offering hobbyists
licenses to prop up sales.  I can't see how to resolve the hobbyist
license other than by having the hobbyist sign a document (as CadSoft do
for example). And we don't need revenue from hobbyists because
CrossWorks is successful enough on its own.

We have had endless conversations about the hobbyist license here and
although I'd like to be philanthropic and introduce such a license, the
last throes of Introl hoping hobbyists would help prop up the company is
strongly implanted in my mind.

So, tell me how can I be persuaded on this?  My leaning would be to
introduce a hypothetical "hobbyist license" at, say, £99 and require the
user to sign an undertaking of no commercial use.  However, I really do
need to be convinced that this is a good thing...

Regards,

--
Paul Curtis, Rowley Associates Ltd  http://www.rowley.co.uk
CrossWorks for MSP430, ARM, AVR and now MAXQ processors

> 
>   Hi, 
> 
>   > Yes - I went back to the original modern laptop and it works 
>   > with Rowley!  Must've had something off on the parallel port 
>   > on the older system (though I can use it for other 
>   > bidirectional, non ecp applications).  Still can't use the 
>   > newer system with IAR or OCDCommander - it doesn't even 
>   > recognize the wiggler.  At least I know the jtag hardware works.
>   > 
>   > So Rowley works like a dream - I can connect via the wiggler, 
>   > I can download and I can set hardware breakpoints and debug 
>   > from flash in it.  Goes back to the old price problem for 
>   > hobbyists.  Maybe they'll sell me an academic licence.  
> 
>   We have considered a low-cost Hobbyist license, but this 
> opens us up to
>   abuse of our licensing terms.  I also have the very real 
> concern that
>   this would be perceived as a "Well, they must be in 
> trouble, trying to
>   squeeze the hobbyist market to make ends meet..."  Introl introduced
>   hobbyist licenses just before they went south for winter and stayed
>   there.  I would really need to be persuaded that a hobbyist 
> license is a
>   viable product.
> 
>   > The other problem is that there are many fewer examples.
> 
>   Pardon?  We support a wider range of boards than IAR do 
> with examples
>   for each one of them.  In the v1.6 release it will be even wider.
> 
>   > There's 
>   > no complete set of header files and examples for the olimex 
>   > 2129 proto board like there are in IAR.
> 
>   What specific example does IAR provide in the EW package for the
>   E2124/9?  We supply header files for the LPC2129.  The 
> LPC-E2124/9 has a
>   port of uIP that I did on our website.
> 
>   --
>   Paul Curtis, Rowley Associates Ltd  http://www.rowley.co.uk
>   CrossWorks for MSP430, ARM, AVR and now MAXQ processors
> 
> 
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