Bobby
Felt compelled to sign up to the forum so as to write you a note of support.
I roll out telecommunications networks around the world andam back home for the next 24 months rolling out a new one for a certain ah,"Telecom". When I negotiatewith suppliers and speak to them about the amount of R&D that goes intotheir products and the licensing that they go through to both achieve theirspecifications and protect their intellectual property it really should makecertain members here take note. I'llgive you an example, right now we are rolling 4G LTE, its obviously the newstandard. What is interesting is oursuppliers are already shopping "true" 4G which is the next gen 4G andare already well underway in developing 5G which may be the CSIRO product whichwould be nice for Australia and an example of why you invest in R&D -anyway I digress. All in all, thesetechnologies are a series of both innovation and licensing. Some here seem to not have an appreciationfor what R&D costs, mere tooling to turn a theory into a reality is prohibitivelyexpensive. So in real numbers, if wespend $2 billion as a total cost of rollout over the network (which means 4Geverywhere with a 3G backup), that pricing on our supplier discount - afternegotiating price - leads to a margin so small to our suppliers that they maketheir money on picking up the network management agreements (in other words servicing). They have no option but to continue to rollnew ideas and new technology otherwise their business falls over but moreoverthey fight tooth and nail to keep their information proprietary. A quick Googleand you will see each manufacturer is suing the other over patentinfringements.
What is unique with you is that rather than protect what youhave paid for you have made it public and allowed others to glean from it, thatis rare and should be appreciated by all members of this forum. In addition, considering the wealth ofknowledge you are buying, the tooling and the manufacture (not even factoringsupply cost) I would have thought you were getting out quite cheaply for abespoke product in relative terms.
Just a point to sway your argument for people like simon32et al (and Simon I don't mean to single you out or offend) and the argumentthat bolt on for $1000 gets near to the same results - how much money do youthink HKS invested in their V-CAM system? I would hasten to guess they made a loss on it. Its relative failure to penetrate the marketto the extent they intended is reflected both in its scarcity and its inabilityto achieve economies of scale and drop its price point on the entry specsystem. Of course its price point isreflective not only of its performance benefit but moreover of its cost ofdevelopment. They also did what most do, they restricted its use to theirmanagement system and their direct suppliers. Of course, as you would expect its a software restriction so this has beencircumvented. My point is this, for$10k, if this works as Bobby intends, the V-CAM is suddenly moot. Scary thoughtif like me you ponied up for a V-CAM.
Now think about HKS and turn them into Nissan, how much doyou think Nissan spent in what 1986-88 doing R&D on just the head designalone, let alone all the individual components that were unique such as ATTESTA- now factor in CPI. My point is this,stop thinking of Bobby as an end user like yourself "oh I can get the samefrom a HKS bolt on" and think of him as a most generous manufacturer. It is determination like this that seesmarket change, if I'm a manufacturer like Full Race or the Japaneseequivalents, I am praying that someone points me in the direction of this forumand I get a team to cost mass production of this product.
I'm not saying it's going to work, it's not my area, butBobby I applaud you on taking the risk, doing the research and investing insomething that you believe in but moreover making it open source and providingthe information for everyones benefit is extremely admirable. And Ian if youread this thumbs up to you too, I fully understand what you say when you talkof the pleasure it brings you to know that you have something unique that youcreated.
Finally, as the grandson of a famed steel fabricator andcar/bike restorer it's great to see the quality of work, though process andtraditional skill in John's work.
All the best to you.
OAB
