Offer version 2 free to all existing customers as compensation.

Walt - KZ1F

I think it is a definition of Ham Radio Operator, that they all have a sedentary lifestyle.
How else would you explain pile-ups for a DX station that encompass an entire band for a solid week if not more.

James Kennedy-WU5E

Being able to remote your station will make this radio history making. Now with that said DSP I could less about, I live in the country and have no noise. I pointed my beam to 86 degrees and hear E30FB pile up just fine and got him on the 15th call. I hope I can watch my BIG Screen by start of the actual baseball season. I have no issue with waiting a little longer for a ROCK Solid product.

Walt - KZ1F

Sadly, it took until this morning to 'get' the symbolism...Well done sir!

Walt - KZ1F

Howard, that would be Kool Aid, a popularized children's drink who's mascot is a big clear glass/plastic pitcher (with a goofy face that talked to the kids). Add water and stir. Deadly poison is optional.

Bill -VA3WTB

Tell us Bert, considering the complexity as has been explained, do you think you would have got the release out much faster?

Bill -VA3WTB

As Gerald said in his last post, now that the ground work in 1.4 witch is need for future updates has been completed, the rest of the releases will be coming faster.

Walt - KZ1F

From Neil, "SQQ, your insight of internal Flex matters is amazing! I am sure you are absolutely correct that we will not see 1.4 anytime soon. I do plan on checking back with you when they finally do release it so you can do a "victory lap"!"

There seem to be an awful lot of spokespersons for FlexRadioSystems, most of whom are not employees of Flex Radio Systems.  Further, there seems to be an awful lot of people pontificating on how to develop software for a living and what is, and is not, acceptable. People have a radio that works. If you don't like how it works, buy yourself a multi-thousand dollar Microsoft SDK (that would be software development kit) and have at it. For those that ask Elecraft, Kenwood, Yaesu et al, if they can change the color of their control knobs, ask the developer of RemoteHamRadio, he'll be glad to tell you how to do it on an Elecraft. For those who feel as James does that remoting to a radio will be history making, um, again, talk to the developer of RemoteHamRadio, it's been done, Talk to Howard, it's been done, talk to Stu, it's been done.

It's wonderful that folks like (or dare I say LOVE) their radios. Get a room. This sycophantic worship of FRS and the 6000 is just too over the top. This whole topic reminds me of the husband that so LOVES his wife that he beats the snot out of her whenever she fails to live up to the pedestal  he has placed her on. No software is "ROCK Solid". The best a developer can hope to accomplish is finding and fixing the next to the last bug. <-- industry humor.

Steve W6SDM

"But daddy, you said we were gonna have ice cream!"

"Sorry kids.  The store is closed now.  We will have to wait until tomorrow when it opens."

"But daddy, you said..."

Bill -VA3WTB

I know Burt, but wonder what would have happened if he did not give any idea of a release time at all? And going foreword they may not say anything again, I hope that makes people feel better. Because Gerald has been so upfront with what has been going on and explaining the complexity, I for one fully understand why the long delay.

Walt - KZ1F

:-) you've had kids huh Steve?

Neal_K3NC

As with all things, especially aggrevated by the internet's lowering of the barrier to act like a complete ****, there are people who see things going well and getting better, and people who see things as going horribly and getting worse. The lowering of the **** barrier means we hear a lot more from the negative thinkers today than we did 20 years ago.

One thing is simple, someone else cannot change the nature of another person, only people can change themselves. Even though I am on the alpha team and see what is going on there (and great things are going on), I usually run my 6700 on the latest general release because I am continually setting it up on new computers. 

When 1.4 comes out, it will be more stable, more performant and with functionality than promised in that release. After all, Flex has over performed against promises on every other release to date (which again makes me wonder what koolaid those negative guys are drinking).

We cannoit shut out the negative people and only give them satisfaction by entering into their bitching. This is not being mean about anyone saying anything negative about flex, its about this negativity with no purpose type of discussion.

Wait a bit. Regardless of those that"know" we have a long time to wait until 1.4 is released, I believe the opposite. And i know it will be great. And, ignore these guys and the chips they have on their shoulders.

DrTeeth

It's not like it's impossible to remote right now.

DrTeeth

The complexity of the task was foreseen, it did not materialise suddenly. It was mentioned in official posts a good while ago. I do not care about release dates as such, unless they can be overstated or accurate. I would like to be kept informed of progress if possible though.

Steve W6SDM

Yeah I did.  Six of 'em. 

Walt - KZ1F

Most people on here I presume bought their radio 18 months ago. I don't imagine $200/unit will support much of any activity and salary since people 'wrote' that first check. This is why most companies I've worked for, either ISV or Vendor, go to the subscription model. You want the next release? Is your subscription current? People should just be happy their software isn't tied to the serial number of the box as other companies do. Contest winning? You sure? Flex is clearly moving the ball down the field. This is a good thing. Attributions of turning water into wine...?

Walt - KZ1F

Why should a software company inform users what progress is being made on the next release? In fact, a model software companies have gone to is (the next release) will not be available BEFORE whatever quarter. There is another saying, "when you are up to your **** in alligators it is difficult to remember your task was to drain the swamp". Since I am so fond of sayings, "Software is not release, it escapes".

Norm - W7CK

That looks like Jimminey Cricket's violin.  I'd love to hear it play!

Norm - W7CK

I didn't even know you COULD order it with the radio.  I totally missed that as well as the free GPS module.  :[

Bill -VA3WTB

WA2SQQ, interesting. Can you explain in detail what they have not disclosed?

Walt - KZ1F

I thought it was common knowledge. the radio is the lowest on the list of reasons why you won a contest, made a contact, whatever. When a split is listening up 5-30, 'on the 15th try' is mostly luck followed by a distant second with antenna, followed by RP followed by operator skill, followed by radio. I have a 6000 and have yet to work E30FB. Why? Largely luck or lack thereof. However, I do kick **** working into the South Pacific.

WA2SQQ

When you share your opinion in a civilized manner and get such heated responses, you immediately know you’ve hit a nerve.  There are two issues on the table. When Flex announced the 6000 series, and later shared their road map for software development, together that info defined what they planned to offer. The features and those that were planned enticed many of us to upgrade. We also expect the new software to work properly and add the advertised features according to how they were described. I’m certain that FRS subscribes to this theory.

However, when there are delays in delivering what was advertised, or when these delays aren’t explained, many may soon start to see this as false advertising. How many times will one accept hearing, “the check is in the mail” before you decide to do business elsewhere? We are all part of this community because we have faith in FRS, but the lack of a two way dialog with facts will test anyone’s faith.

This brings us to the second and more important issue that no one seems to be talking about. Let’s all acknowledge that SDR radios are becoming more popular and FRS is no longer the only game in town. Other “open source” designs are making some remarkable strides in a fraction of the time. Personally, I still believe that FRS is still the best choice.

FRS built their community one radio at a time but they cannot forget that the honor and respect they accrued can easily be lost over just one mistake. And, as Neil pointed out, the Internet and social media now enable more facts and opinions to be shared literally in the blink of an eye. Such comments do influence perspective buyers, and today a company’s reputation is only as good as its perceived to be. I work for a major Japanese consumer electronics company. The competition from Korea and China is fierce, and there isn’t a day that goes by where we are not reminded that “if we ignore the customer, they will go away!” We all need to have patience, but that’s easier said than done when you have no idea when or why the check hasn’t arrived. If my comments offended anyone, I'm sorry - they were not intended to do that. And for the record, when you start comparing people who like their Flex radios to wife beaters, it's time to get a check-up from the neck up!

Walt - KZ1F

Um, can we have the names and contact info for your kids? I bet they'd disagree. What so many people do not understand, writing software is not like building a tree house or any kind of house. Writing software is largely a learning experience. Depending on one's experience they venture into the project with some knowledge of where they are heading and some tools in their tool belt. How much knowledge they have and the number of tools in their tool belt is just the beginning. You never say date certain when the journey will be accomplished. Golden Triangle, you've got resources (people), you've got tasks (features or bugs) and you have time. You can set any two, but you can't set the third. And that is never set the third. Back in the 70's they did research into the number of bug-free non comment lines of code could be written by one person per day. It was something like 20. That was a long time ago and, frankly, I'm not sure that was even bug-free LOC. It may have been, it was an embarrassingly low number.   Over the years the tools have gotten better, but that number is still going to be embarrassingly low. The reason people make $125k (and that is a very high end person) is because you can't take someone off the street, give them an SDK and tell them to 'have at it'. It takes decades to get really good. And it is still an embarrassingly low number.

The expectations on this board have no semblance to reality.

Steve W6SDM

Burt didn't live 30 miles from the nearest traffic light.

DrTeeth

@ Walt
>>Why should a software company inform users what progress is being made on the next release?<<
Because it keeps customers happy and makes them feel appreciated rather than annoyances to be tolerated. Each customer can be a positive advert for a company or they can be the opposite. Especially important when one can transmit one's opinions either on the air or via the internet.

Walt - KZ1F

@Rob, this is why I have said in the past, the negative banter on this board is against the self interest we all share. So, let's discuss this open source phenomenon. Yes, it can be great but it also IS a huge challenge. As I said previously, it takes a long time for a developer to get 'good'. Open source projects are done as an act of love. All sorts of experience levels show up. People generally aren't paid. Someone has to commit the changes of others and take philosophical ownership of the direction of the software. There is no guarantee a person really good for several months, got into what the code actually was doing, would be there tomorrow or ever again. It's very hard to keep control of it and, just look at some of the dead projects on Apache, unpaid people tend to move on ...paid people tend to move on, not nearly as frequently as unpaid. If you want to get stuff built by the lowest bidder (on the planet), go to Walmart. I'll be honest, one of the reasons I bought the 6000 is because it was made in the USA. I suspect (hope) many others did as well. How many radios, or TVs or toasters are made in this country. Carly Fiorina, while head of HP, said, "Many people think we are moving projects to India. That's not our long term goal, we are moving to China. I've been gainfully employed in the software development field for 43 years. It is much different now that it was even 15 years ago. The bulk of Millennials that entered this field will almost assuredly not finish in it. When given an opportunity to buy an outstandingly good product built in America, supporting American workers, that is a huge draw. Is it unfailing love, no. It is still a quality product, made right here, and it's getting better. Flex is moving the ball in the right direction. If they went out of business tomorrow, wouldn't the radio be just as good then as it is today? But they aren't going out of business tomorrow. They have plans to make this radio even better. Will there be a Flex 7000 series? I suspect so. Will the 6000 series stop working the day the sell their first 7000, no, my 1500 still works. My TS-530SP still works, even though I'd forgotten how to tune it (there's an app for that). Computers: People don't not buy a computer today because there will be a better one tomorrow. There will always be a better one tomorrow. According to ARRL Labs and Sherwood Labs we all own probably the best Amateur Radio on the market. So, what is the complaint here? Maybe we won't see WAN remote this year... That will be moving the ball further yet but Howard, Stu, Amir (4X6TT), Barry Baines and more are already using their Flex radios remotely. It is an outstandingly good radio and it is getting better...relax

DrTeeth

I also bought into Flex as it is not made in India or China <shudder>.

Ken - NM9P

This whole subject line is very old, like pit bulls fighting over a slipper already ripped apart. It serves no purpose other than continued venting of frustrations already addressed multiple times by FRS, alpha testers, et. al. How many times must we flagellate this deceased equine before it is regarded as sadistic animal cruelty? Why don't we just go play with our radios and wait until it arrives? Then we may actually have something worthwhile to discuss.

Walt - KZ1F

@Burt, I would not have given a date certain. I don't believe Flex did. I believe at their Dayton dinner (that I did not attend) it was more a case of 'here is what we are aiming for". That someone took that to the bank, is more the fault of the listener than the speaker. I would have said, 'such and such, not before 3rd quarter or 2016. But I am not there and it is incredibly easy to Monday morning quarterback esp when you don't know all the facts. I did not take what they said as 'date certain' for two reasons, 1) I don't believe they said that and, 2) I know better. However, it is what they were aiming for, shooting at. I don't have an inside track with the folks in Austin. I've had several conversations with Steve, but that's conversations I had with Steve. I suspect, based on what I've heard on this board, we will see two things going forward, 1) no date certain ever, and 2) every 30 days or 60 days or 90 days we'll see something. Again, golden triangle. Maybe it'll be a fixed bug, maybe a new feature, maybe a fixed bug AND a new feature. I suspect they will go out of their way to not leave any impression this feature will be born on this date. You know, 9 women, one month. Again, moving the ball. As Gerald so eloquently said, they are trying to run a company and give themselves and staff a living wage.  Dude, feel good that you did your part. While I suspect they don't want to offend any of us. I hope none of them stay awake at night worrying about what Burt, or Walt, or Stu, or.... might have our nose out of joint about. You will all be thrilled with 1.4. In six months we'll all laugh at this.

OK, so now can I be an Elmer too? :-)

Bill -VA3WTB

Hi Ken, your right, but I wonder if is really from frustration, it could be an agenda. Why do we even reply to this type of post, lets just let it go...

KY6LA_Howard

@BURT and all the others who have no idea about writing software


You keep on MISSING THE POINT.....

Flex did NOT PROMISE A DELIVERY DATE

Flex published a RoadMap with best Guessimated Dates -  NOT PROMISED DATES


No one in his right mind in the software business would ever promise an exact delivery date when INVENTING an entirely new product.. for that matter even simple modifications of existing codes by very experienced codes always take much longer than even the most experienced predictions.

Of course you guys all got your wish.. as Flex will likely never again give best guestimated dates in the future.. software updates will be released when they are ready...