[Coco] 16550 wasRe: RS232 paks

[Frank Pittel]

On Thu, Mar 05, 2009 at 06:03:55PM -0600, Boisy Pitre wrote:
> On Mar 5, 2009, at 4:37 PM, Roger Taylor wrote:
>> NitrOS-9 *is* a hack job, Boisy.  With you being the main person  
>> behind NitrOS-9 these days (you are, correct?) and with all of  
>> Cloud-9's products, Is it possible perhaps that NitrOS-9 might be the 
>> better OS for Cloud-9 products than Disk BASIC, or perhaps Disk BASIC 
>> might be the better OS for non Cloud-9 products?
>
> Roger,
>
> My understanding of the meaning of the word "hack job" is embodied by  
> the following definitions that I pulled from www.urbandictionary.com:
>
> 1. A procedure or operation performed by someone with inadequate skill  
> or knowlege of the subject.
> 2. Something done shoddily or ineptly.
> 3. A crude and improvised or temporary solution to a problem, designed  
> to be more functional and timely than precise, durable or of good  
> quality.
>
> What is your definition of the word?  I hope it's not one of the above.

I would normally use definition #2 but one and three would work.

>> And I still don't see what the overall point here is.  I've got  
>> wireless RS-232 paks for sale.  All existing 6551 CoCo software can  
>> use it.  That much is true.  All the other chit chat is not going to  
>> make a hill of beans difference in what the pak will do or where this 
>> system will go over time.
>
> To be clear: Mark's critique of the technical merits of your wireless  
> pak doesn't concern or interest me in the least.  I don't have a dog in 
> that hunt.
>
> What does concern me (and what you've failed to address thus far in your 
> replies) is that you chose this venue, an open forum, to post a message 
> indicating that you were considering giving away a product whose 
> functionality mimics a product that I sell. Not only does this position 
> conflict with statements you've made in the past about not wanting to 
> compete with DriveWire, but it also brings into question your motivation 
> for requests that you made to me some months ago to test software under 
> DriveWire (which I obliged to do and which ran fine), under the guise 
> that you were going to buy a copy if it worked (which you never did).
>
> As someone else pointed out, this is America and laissez faire  
> capitalism reigns.  You have every right to change your mind and create a 
> competing product in an already small market, no matter what your 
> motivation (money, ego, or both).  I don't hold patents on DriveWire, and 
> while it's a nice little product that has done well for me, it is not my 
> day job, so loosing sales to your product is not a matter of taking food 
> from my table.  But if you're going to compete, compete fairly. Don't 
> mislead people and take up their time for your benefit at their expense.  
> It is anti-competitive and it's wrong.

It also make continue support, help, etc unlikely.