Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Pocketop Now Charging For Drivers?
Posted by Janak Parekh in "HARDWARE" @ 07:30 PM
Pocketop is the maker of a relatively popular wireless keyboard. Their driver has also been a popular way to get landscape use of Pocket PC 2002, even for users that didn't have a Pocketop keyboard. However, they recently changed their driver download page to a request form. There's a small link at the bottom, though, and if you click on it they freely admit that...
"Until now, we have supplied drivers free, which means that whenever an owner of a Pocketop keyboard has upgraded to a new hand-held device, he or she has been able to continue to use the keyboard without incurring further expense. It has also come to our attention that users of portable keyboards purchased from our competitors download and use our free drivers because of their enhanced functionality and compatibility.
For these reasons, we have introduced a registration and payment policy for drivers. Purchasers of our keyboards must register with us and pay US$10 to $20 for each driver. We believe this is a modest price compared with our costs, and will help us get new drivers out in a timely fashion to meet your needs and the increased number of new devices entering the market."
I understand their desire not to have people profit unfairly over their product, but I'm torn about legitimate owners of Pocketop keyboards -- if, say, I were to buy a Pocketop keyboard today and it had an old CD without WM2003 drivers, if I lost the CD, or if the next version of Pocket PC were to come out and my CD wouldn't work, I'd be up the creek. In fact, PPCT reader Mike Welch bought a OEMed version of the keyboard, only to find it had old drivers that are incompatible, necessitating a further purchase. :evil: Verifying the legitimacy of customers is one thing, but this is at another level. What do you think?
"Until now, we have supplied drivers free, which means that whenever an owner of a Pocketop keyboard has upgraded to a new hand-held device, he or she has been able to continue to use the keyboard without incurring further expense. It has also come to our attention that users of portable keyboards purchased from our competitors download and use our free drivers because of their enhanced functionality and compatibility.
For these reasons, we have introduced a registration and payment policy for drivers. Purchasers of our keyboards must register with us and pay US$10 to $20 for each driver. We believe this is a modest price compared with our costs, and will help us get new drivers out in a timely fashion to meet your needs and the increased number of new devices entering the market."
I understand their desire not to have people profit unfairly over their product, but I'm torn about legitimate owners of Pocketop keyboards -- if, say, I were to buy a Pocketop keyboard today and it had an old CD without WM2003 drivers, if I lost the CD, or if the next version of Pocket PC were to come out and my CD wouldn't work, I'd be up the creek. In fact, PPCT reader Mike Welch bought a OEMed version of the keyboard, only to find it had old drivers that are incompatible, necessitating a further purchase. :evil: Verifying the legitimacy of customers is one thing, but this is at another level. What do you think?
