[Asterisk-Users] Is the X100P a WinModem?

[Chris Albertson]

What I see are two types of Asterisk users:

   1) People running Telco consulting firms who are charging
      thousands to install and maintain Asterisk based systems.

   2) Hobbists who are installing these systems in their
      homes for self educaton and entertainment.

If digium's bussines plan is based on making money off #2 above
they got big problems as these folks can't justify spending money
The #1 users however can.  I would think a good plan for them would
be to sell to the #1 guys while doing everthing they can grow the
size of the #2 type user base.  That is how Linux took off,
Geeks (likeme) loved it and it was free so they took it to work.
It was
great because a low level technician could get Linux because it
did not require that a PO be cut or approved.  Basically the
hobbyists took Linux in through the back door.  Digium would
be smart to follow that model.

If I were Digum I'd sell FXO card with bootable Linux CD, asterisk
preinstalled for $20 a bundle.  What I'd really like to see is
multi-line fxs cards at $10.00 per line.  When that happens Asterisk
will _really_ take off.  They'll make money on consulting, feature
requests that come with payment and hardware aimed at the
office with more than two incomming lines.

As for contributing, I do software for a living, my time is billable
at something like $125/hr.  I'll contribute many hours of time,
don't worry.  I've written many thousands of GPL'd lines of code.





--- John Todd <jtodd at loligo.com> wrote:
> I have no financial interest in Digium, nor do they pay me for 
> anything.  That being said, I am a strong proponent of the work that 
> Digium has done with Asterisk, and I recognize that there would not 
> be an Asterisk project without Digium.
> 
> I have done the same research as you have, and I figured out that the
> 
> X100P cards are not terribly difficult to duplicate if one is 
> suitably clueful and finds the information out by themselves.  There 
> is an unwritten rule that those people who have clue on this 
> particular topic should not go out of their way to make that data 
> available to anyone who happens to read the list.
> 
> Digium is barely able to make ends meet, and anything that threatens 
> Digium's well-being is a threat to my customers, since if Digium's 
> contributions to Asterisk cease, the project will most likely 
> languish and die.  This would be bad for you, me, and everyone else 
> on the list.
> 
> I would appreciate it if you could let this topic drop, so that the 
> other members of the list don't start producing and selling cards 
> which undercut those of Digium, as we have seen with some people on 
> eBay already.  $100 is a completely reasonable price to pay for such 
> a card, considering that the "profit" on that price is going to 
> funding the software, and I encourage everyone to spend the $100 and 
> keep the project alive.  As soon as an alternative becomes widely 
> known, I suspect most users will not send any kind of "contribution" 
> replacement fund to Digium for the time spent on the project.  This 
> method of OSS funding works for the moment, so please try to keep 
> things in their current state as best you can by not outlining 
> specific methods to implement non-Digium cards as X100P replacements.
> 
> JT
> 
> 
> 

=====
Chris Albertson
  Home:   310-376-1029  chrisalbertson90278 at yahoo.com
  Cell:   310-990-7550
  Office: 310-336-5189  Christopher.J.Albertson at aero.org
  KG6OMK

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