[asterisk-users] [Zaptel] Why no port to Windos?

[Michael Graves]

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 20:43:05 +0100, Vincent wrote:

>On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 10:30:46 -0700, mgraves at mstvp.com wrote:
>>That said, consider the potential market size for people, the DIY sorts,
>>who would have Asterisk in their homes.
>
>Precisely: The home/SOHO market is huge, and providing an IVR + PCI
>card combo for Windows for, say, $200, would probably be successful.
>Think families with teenagers, one-person businesses, etc.

Yes, the market is potentially huge...for a packaged solution. Not
likely so huge for the kind of geeky DIY approach that Asterisk
entails. 

>OTOH, having to run a separate PC just to handle calls from a single
>POST line AND having to install Linux + Asterisk on this thing... It'd
>have to be an appliance (which I haven't seen avaiable in this price
>range).

There is such thing a minimum critical mass in pricing. That is, you
have to provide support which has a cost. You can't sell for a very low
price and remain viable while covering the cost of the support. The
more deeply technical the product the more involved, and costly, the
support. 

What sort of numbers is Digium doing with the TDM-400? Could they
afford to sell it for half its current price and still offer a suitable
level of support? I think not.

Is there any way to reduce the amount of support required? Not with
Asterisk/Zaptel in their present form.

Michael
--
Michael Graves
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