Hello Alice. I'm not Charles, nor do I represent Sendero in any way other than the simple fact that GW Micro uses Sendero SDK for our Sense nav GPS product. With this in mind, I'd like to point out a couple of things.
Let's take GPS out of the picture and simply talk about a new feature or set of features for any software. The truth is, no matter what new features, enhancements, or bug fixes are added to any software, it's not going to benefit everyone. This however does not mean that just because not everyone can always take advantage of new features, that their needs are not important. Where the difficulties start is when you have a set of features which might benefit a few, VS a set of features which might benefit a lot. Sure, we can go back and forth as to where the line is drawn on what determines a few and what determines a lot. Believe me, everyone's needs are important, but any software company has to look at the bigger picture.
Now, let me use Window-Eyes as an example. When version 6.0 came out, one of the newest features of it was the ability to work well with PowerPoint. There were a lot of other features and enhancements, but PowerPoint was one of the bigger ones. I personally do not use PowerPoint, nor do I really care how well it is supported. However, I realize that in a lot of cases, the ability to have access to PowerPoint might mean the difference in a person's ability to keep a job. In addition, there were, as I mentioned, a lot of other features which were not show-cased quite as much, but which over all enhanced the stability and usability of Window-Eyes regardless of whether people used them or not. At the time, I did not work for GW Micro, so what I say comes from the view point of a customer and not an employee. Did the fact that I didn't use PowerPoint prevent me from purchasing Window-Eyes upgrade? It certainly did not. While PowerPoint was useless to me, I still wanted to get the upgrade to take advantage of all the other features, not only that, but I like staying current with my screen reader. The simple truth is, no matter what enhancements come from a new upgrade, whether they are major ones or minor ones, it does not mean that the needs of a smaller group of people are not being met. I'm not saying that round abouts are less important or that it was left out because of not as many people requesting for such support. From the messages I've read, it has not been a simple matter of adding good support for this type of area. But what Sendero, and any company for that matter, have to do is balance out where they will focus for new releases. The simple truth is that usually that focus is where it will benefit the most people. My suggestion to you is to hang in there and keep supporting Sendero. From their track record, it's obvious they do what they can to stay on top of various situations regarding traveling with GPS.
All the best. alice dampman said the following on 12/20/2007 7:11 AM:
Charles, You wrote: "I can't for example spend all my time working on just thing that may only help out a select few people or when we release we would get hammered by those users who don't need such an enhancement and will scream why are we forcing them to pay for this upgrade when it only helps out some users. "Quite frankly, IMO it would be better to pay attention to those requesting, even pleading for a feature that is vital to their everyday navigation and ignore those who scream if some feature added is not necessary to them. No matter what you do, there are going to be some who like it, need it, can't live without it and some who never use it. So why is this roundabout matter any different from any other? I live in Boston, and we have tons of these roundabouts all over the place.Alice alicedh@xxxxxxxxxxx
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