When did this become such a deep philosophical debate? I was just asking if anyone used open source PLC drivers - not about the satisfaction of charities or religious convictions. I have little expectation that "everything should work that way". There are
existing open source Industrial projects and I hope that some of the forum members here take advantage of useful free resources.
As to the driver thing - you're right, the industrial suppliers can do what they want. Something is worth what people are willing to pay for it, and this industry's brand snobbiness and insistance on "20 years back to be supported 20 years from now" supports their monopolies. That's why: cables, programming software, and drivers cost so much. At least they're slowly being forced into standardization. I think you guys
like being tied into products like that - at least, that's what the industry signals.
Let me give you an example - I had a customer who had long ago decided to standardize on AB. Did they remember why? no... But their most "recent" projects ran on PLC 5s. AB still supports the PLC 5, but they
substantially jacked up the price to "encourage" users to move to SLCs or Logix. So, of course, my customer decides that the new project will run on AB hardware. He doesn't know a thing that matters here. But does he ask about the price? Not yet - that complaint will come later after he's already decided on brand. Does he ask about feature sets, alternatives, anything having to do with the requirement of the project? Nope. Does he ask for our professional opinion - sure, figure out what you need from the AB distributer and bring me a quote.
It's not that I'm against standardization. The decision wasn't really bad, it was just made for all the wrong reasons. His PLCs weren't really uniform and they needed separate software and cables anyway.
What really kills me is when integrators "educate" their customers in this manner then say, "the customer specifies the software". To some extent yes, but you're the professional. Do you tell your doctor what to prescribe you? No! You tell him your symptoms and needs.
Anyway - it's all kind of weird to me since most people are "thrifty and practical". I don't walk through the cereal isle of the supermarket
knowing that I'll buy Kellogs regardless of the price - because I have Frosted Flakes and Mini Wheats at home.
Competition will be forced over time, though. You have companies like Automation Direct. And the new emerging powerhouse countries
won't have the same considerations.
LadderLogic said:
All kinds of charities are thriving. A lot of people find enough satisfaction and pride in their work without seeking monetary or any kind of tangible compensation. This is just a part of human nature where the majority of people while being thrifty and practical are still not Scrooges and quite often do things just because they like doing them. It also could be a matter of their religious convictions or the way they were brought up.
But you cannot expect that everything should work that way. In a big picture everyone still does something because he wants profit or because he needs something to live on. I might tend to agree that for a company that sells hardware, giving the appropriate software for free would be a good and potentially profitable idea but apparently some companies don't think that way. And those who don't think that way tend to be those with the most popular, highly-demanded product: Allen-Bradley, Siemens, Omron. The spread of interchangeable standards amy change the picture but for now each one of these big guys are a monopoly to itself: why giving anything for free when a lot of people are tied to their products arm and leg?
