Re: Colorimeters and third-party developer support (Tom Lianza)
Re: Colorimeters and third-party developer support (Tom Lianza)
- Subject: Re: Colorimeters and third-party developer support (Tom Lianza)
- From: Richard Wagner <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2011 10:12:13 -0700
On Aug 23, 2011,Tom Lianza <email@hidden> wrote:
Hi Tom,
Thanks for the enlightenment. My pain as an early DreamColor adopter was apparently nothing compared with yours as a developer.
With regard to the HP / X-Rite colorimeter compatibility issue, I do hope that X-Rite chooses not to go this route in the future. You guys make outstanding hardware and software (I've bought a lot of it), and most of the high-end user base wants more than one tool in the tool box to be able to identify and verify problems for themselves and others, or simply to confirm that all is well or that a given problem lies elsewhere (like with someone's vision!). Hardware and software compatibility is really key to this, and designs that intentionally reduce compatibility make life more difficult than it needs to be.
I understand that the DreamColor was a special case. My experience with the NEC-branded I1D2 is that, contrary to rumor, it "works as expected" with software other than SpectraView, and it does not default to a generic I1D2 filter set / matrix. (It would be nice if this was officially confirmed or refuted somewhere.) I bought the device and the software, it works well with the PA 271 display, so what objective would be obtained by not allowing the device to function appropriately with other software that supports the I1D2? If I prefer to use different software to calibrate and profile the monitor, or do other color management tasks, and I am willing to shell out the additional cost of licenses (and/or use Argyll), X-Rite and NEC still win. Forcing me to use hardware from another vendor to use the software of my choice or need is counter-productive. If necessary, throw on a charge for an "unlocked" device, but please give us options.
It is still not clear what the compatibility of the new I1 Display Pro III will be (particularly OEM versions), and there are undoubtedly parts of the marketing equation that are relevant but proprietary. As your experience with HP showed, bad management decisions can ruin a product and a reputation. From the end-user's standpoint, I hope we're not in for a repeat. Thanks for listening.
Regards,
--Rich
>
> Hi to all,
>
> The DreamColor display and program was probably a victim of the turf wars
> inside of HP at the time it kicked off. Big promises were made by
> management, they got canned and the workers were left holding this huge
> political hot potato. For me, it was a tremendous learning experience in
> how development programs could get so complicated so quickly and how they
> could get undermined easily by shifts in management priorities and managers.
> Those of you that are interested in the business aspects of technology might
> want to read this article in Forbes magazine:
>
> http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/08/17/why-amazon-cant-make-a-k
> indle-in-the-usa/
>
> The program manager of this project and the system integrator were both
> heroic and dogged in their devotion to the project, but they were dealing
> with too many vendors, delusional management, and no one really had a final
> "say" in the system design. The firmware was (and is) especially fragile.
> The USB interface was designed by another vendor and it was dog slow and it
> didn't have a physical handshake with the I2C bus so the communication
> protocol was especially complex. I tried to write a hardware abstraction
> layer to mask all of this from developers. The guys at Dreamworks were
> pushing for an open source solution and they built their own solution. Once
> that decision got made, HP lost all control of the project. Read steve
> dennings publications and you will have a much better understanding of why
> innovation is so hard and fails so often in today's environment.
>
> Regards
> Tom
>
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