Whats up with PDS?

[John Drew]

Hi Les,
My preference is the second one but we'll see what others think.
Yes, I noticed the fix, all good.
Best wishes
John

[Gary Scott]

I haven't found mention of a license model yet so I'll ask. Will we be paying a yearly sub, or possibly pay for future updates, to keep the dev inspired?

I have used Proton for at least a decade with the dongle and pre dongle I believe, but have been exclusively on Linux for a couple years so I'm behind on Proton news.But I have gotten good mileage from Proton for the original price I payed.

What y'all say?

[Tenaja]

I haven't found mention of a license model yet so I'll ask. Will we be paying a yearly sub, or possibly pay for future updates, to keep the dev inspired?

I have used Proton for at least a decade with the dongle and pre dongle I believe, but have been exclusively on Linux for a couple years so I'm behind on Proton news.But I have gotten good mileage from Proton for the original price I payed.

What y'all say?

I hope he charges an annual maintenance fee. I would happily pay an $5 or $10 invoice...it ensures longevity.

[Stephen Moss]

Les,
're the front cover, some ideas:

"A powerful package for beginners and developers"

"Power and ease of use - the compiler of choice for all skill levels"

"If it's possible in an 8 bit PIC, Positron8 can do it"

For this last one you'd need the copyright sign after PIC.

Just some thoughts.
John

I like the way the 1st one reads and I know that the use of "beginners and developers" is intended to highlight the compilers suitability for both new and experienced PIC programmers however, at the risk of being pedantic it could be argued that anything you do with it from flashing an LED's as a fake car alarm to a high end control system counts as development. Thus all users of any level are developers and so although it reads well I would consider "beginners and developers" to be a little bit of a misnoma. 

I also like the 2nd one however, while "the compiler of choice" makes for a good tagline/marketing slogan it does perhaps suggest that Positron is used by the majority of PIC (or at least PIC BASIC) programmers which legally may leave you on a bit of a sticky wicket. Although the possibly of someone taking issue with it may be low, I just thought I would flag that as a potential issue.

I am not keen on the last one as I don't think it captures the essence of the complier as lots of PIC programming software could say the same, although if you apply that logic there is almost nothing (i.e. "PIC programming the easy way") that it could not be applied to.

Combining certain elements of all John's suggestions, how about...
"Powerful and easy to use, a compiler for all skill levels" or
"Powerful and easy to use, a PIC^TM compiler for all skill levels"

[Stephen Moss]

I haven't found mention of a license model yet so I'll ask. Will we be paying a yearly sub, or possibly pay for future updates, to keep the dev inspired?

I believe I am correct in saying that the current situation is that users can pay for major upgrades as and when they come along, or not get the upgrade if the upgrade offers no immediate benefit (assuming each upgrade is not dependant on having pervious upgrades installed) and that updates for fixes in between upgrades will be free.

An annual subscription fee would certainly be suitable for anyone using it regularly (i.e. for commercial use where product sales pay for it) although it may prove to be be too expensive for more ad-hoc users who may go several years between using it.
Also with annual licencing there is likely to be the additional administration which would be more work for Les and the compiler would probably have to be changed to access an online licence key for easy of maintaining active licences, which again would mean more work.

[John Drew]

Greetings Stephen, your comments are fair enough. I like your last proposal. It covers it all.

I was trying to capture both markets because it's true. Perhaps I could have used "experts" or "experienced" or maybe "industry" in suggestion 1. We have some smart people on this forum.
John