Why pay for PLC programming software?

[sanger]

Ahhh, the thread that will never die!

As much as I grumble and complain about the expensive software I use I only have to try some of the free alternatives (thinking ConnectedComponents vs RSLogix or VB.NET vs FactoryTalk as examples) to realize that the productivity I've lost much more than negates the cash money I've saved.

 

[DLMUK]

I'm not sure, but I think HP & Cannon practically give away their printers, but make a fortune on the Ink Cartridges?

But... how many times do you have unexpected errors with a printer compared to a PLC?

I'm sure you could get a printer which worked 99.9% of the time as expected, if you didn't mind paying £200 for each ink cartridge...

 

[uptown47]

I think this thread will outlive me!!

As I get older it's great to see that some things never change

 

[harryting]

Well, thanks to the internet, your grand kids will argue the same points in a similar (or the same) thread.

 

[uptown47]

Probably rename the thread to "Why pay for brain enhancement implant software"

 

[just the cowboy]

I argee

I'm not sure, but I think HP & Cannon practically give away their printers, but make a fortune on the Ink Cartridges?

I bought a new HP printer for $50 with ink, any it would of been $65 for both color and black for my old printer.

 

[irvim]

I am very happy to see that people are back at the thread
Vijeocitect these days is selling only the runtime license. The development is free. Isn't this the way to go?

 

[adisharr]

I bought a new HP printer for $50 with ink, any it would of been $65 for both color and black for my old printer.

You only received a bit of ink in that cart though.

 

[Mike_RH]

Cars should be free - but fuel cost 50$ per litre.
or
Houses should be free - but electricty costs 50$ per kilowatt hour
or
.....

Even when its free, you pay, you just not have figured out how yet.
No one gives anything for free - except opinions of course!

 

[FactoryTalktotheHand]

My question is simple, but the answer escapes me. To all you devoted Allen Bradley people and to everyone else who uses PLCs, why do you pay for their programming software?

As opposed to...what, exactly? Pirating it? What's the viable, legal alternative, here? I'm sure my company would love to avoid having to pay thousands of dollars every year for the tool kit, but we have a huge customer base and a huge demand for Allen-Bradley hardware. What are we doing to do? Purposely shut ourselves out of a huge market and tell 99% of our customers we can't help them anymore because we don't want to pay a few license fees?

 

[irvim]

The case when a big business is on few licenses is not the right argument. You will buy them all and more.
When you have to serve some very small number of systems what is to be done?. If you go and buy full license not knowing how many projects to divide it to than one will need to make the first customer pay a lot, especially when the cost of the licenses surpasses the real cost of the project..

 

[Ken Roach]

I just turned down a project because they use Modicon controllers. I don't have enough experience with Modicon, and don't have Modicon tools, so I just didn't take the job.

That's better for the end user; they aren't going to get a person unfamiliar with the toolset working on their machine.

And it's better for Modicon; they aren't going to get somebody taking up time on the technical support line and making their equipment look suboptimal because I'm not an expert at using it.

Is it better for me ? I think it is; I can move on to a project that uses tools I am more familiar with and will do a better job using.

Is the cost of the Modicon toolset part of my decision ? Yes, but not in the top four considerations.

 

[Ronnie Sullivan]

And in a similar vein Ken.... about a year ago I attended a job that was finished but not working. The installation company had gone bust and were from abroad and everyone involved had scarpered.
There were lots of panasonic PLC's which I have never worked on. The job as they say was in the ****. It seemed to me that the programs must have been very raw draft programs because only basic things worked (and then not properly) The analogue inputs and barcode readers did nothing.
I gave them the option of me changing every plc to mitsubishi and starting from new or buying the panasonic software and spending a lot of time teaching myself the nuances.

As time was now the most crutial thing, they went with quick change out's of the PLC's

 

[RoTaTech]

I bought a new HP printer for $50 with ink, any it would of been $65 for both color and black for my old printer.

I bought ink for my old printer, as it would *have been a shame to waste all that electronics, load new drivers, and get used to the new one. As well - I don't know if it's true for all manufacturers, but several will supply only partially filled cartridges with the new printer.