REPLY
Unfortunately this kind of mindset seem to prevail in the current crop of up
and coming business executives - many of them MBA's -
This kind of attitude pleases their bosses and fits with the corporate moral
culture we see so much of today.

The older generation of business executive who survived hard times in the
past and who favour customer service and building up a loyal clientele are
retiring and their collective wisdom is being rejected by the younger
generation who are replacing them. These younger executives have never
experienced the hard times which can only be survived by having loyal
customers who continue to buy a product in spite of things.
I used to deal with Garmin and find the corporate personality much changed
since then.  My old contacts have all disappeared.
I stand by my earlier statement that this is an example of what so often
happens when a corporation goes public and shifts from pleasing the
customer to pleasing the stock holder.
They hope they can retain market share by always coming up with new
products that appeal by virtue of novelty or convenience or cheap purchase
price. They are gambling on the fickle nature of most consumers.
Why build a product that last ten years when it will be tossed out in five or less
because the owner is bored with it?

We still live very much in a consumer culture that does not value longevity and
reliability over decades of use. We prefer to  buy new with a warranty over
having something repaired and no warranty. Our social values are very
different now than it was right after WW2.  This is reflected in our throw away
consumer oriented society. Conservation is still a very new  and minority view.
Cheers

Arild

Actually Garmin is still one of the nicer companies.  They in general fix
their problems quickly and cheaply even if out of warrantee.  I, by the way,
switched my Garmin III for a III+ when the III+ came out for a quite small
fee.

Note by the way that this stands to get far worse in the future.  The
software companies are still pushing an addition to the commercial codes
that effectively allows anything to go in a shrink wrap license.  Been
passed in VA and MD...so don't buy software there.  It is being heavily
opposed by the tech organizations and the consumer groups but the outcome is
certainly not clear. Microsoft and Intel have a lot more money than Consumer
Union or IEEE.

As a long term line technical exec bull.. The old guys were the same.  The
problem they all have is to maximize return within the rules as defined.
Cooking the books a bit is a long term and well understood technique.  The
only rule violated by the present set is getting caught. My old employer
used any number of techniques to look good on Wall Street...and if the CEO
had not he would simple have been replaced by somebody who knew how to deal
a business second.

The chart problem is being screwed up by the governments involved.  The old
US rule was probably optimum. Provide the data to whomever at the cost of
reproduction.  The only other good way may be a true commercial organization
which actually takes the responsibility for providing good data.  Some
version of Jeppesen of aviation fame (though they were I believe, just about
a part of the government).

My old employer made very reliable and effectively infinite lived electronic
printers.  There was much discussion about seperately licensing the software
to prevent reselling of the older stuff impacting the business.  Note that
there is currently talk of doing the same thing on things like
automobiles...you have to renew your software every five years or the car
degrades or quits.

Given the sw guys prevail expect to pay by the event...each time you open a
chart $.10.  That is where they want to go..

Jim