Bob Lunn
10/23/97 11:54 AM


I said:

> 1.   Large volume users will not sacrifice
>      price or performance for eerom (they
>      don't need it).
And then Bill asked:

> How valuable is in circuit programming?

     Bill, I'm not sure what the link is between
     eerom and in-circuit programming?

     All but the lowest end PIC's (and most of
     those are no longer available) can be pro-
     grammed in-circuit.

     If you're asking how valuable is in-circuit
     RE-programmability then, in my experience,
     for high volume users not much.

     If I shipped a million mix-masters/blow dryers/
     ring tone generators/display multiplexors/keyless
     door locks/dog-collar alarms (etc etc) last year,
     I'm not likely to want to go back this year and
     update all those units in the field.

     The cost of the service call, or of having the
     unit returned to the factory, is probably many
     times the cost of just replacing the unit (or of
     just replacing the controller chip).

     The cost equation may be different if my units
     are already connected to a comms network and can
     be accessed remotely.  But this is still the
     exception, not the rule.

___Bob