A few thoughts:

Majority of users use PICs as a one chip solution - if they have to run
external memory/program there are cheaper chips than the 17c series.
 (ie, get a chip without any internal program space)

Few people on this list list to develop for 'c' chips, preferring flash
('f') instead.  Develop on flash, then port to a cheaper 'c' part if needed.

Most C compilers (well, nearly every compiler, C, basic, etc) are
seperate for the different series so if you want to develop on both 16,
17, and 18 series you end up buying essentially three cheaper compilers
or one very expensive compiler.  The availability of SDCC will change
this point.

The 18 series is similarily priced, with more features and a future in
flash - IIRC the 17 flash series was considered, but nothing ever
happened.  Chances are they keep the 17 series for products still being
made, but are likely to obsolete them in favor of the 18 series.

-Adam

Jon Baker wrote:

>When I brought my pictstart+ programmer, I invested in a spare 17C44 for
>firmware upgrades- Its been sitting in my
>bits box for months, so I decided to read through the datasheets last night
>to see what the differences were. I was quite
>impressed with the extended instruction set, and more importantly the
>ability to run code from external memory.
>
>I just wonder, with all these nice features, why do we hardly see any 17
>core related questions on the list- is it cost, or
>just because people want to write their own multiplication code for fun - or
>maybe something else? I'd love to know.
>
>--
>Jon Baker
>
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