Wouter van Ooijen wrote:
> But when you make your own distinction what's the relevance? (seriously)
> Most people seem to prefer a windows interface, but I prefer a command
> line. So which of the two is more prototype and which is more
> development?
>
> For your own distinctions you should use a different set of words, maybe
> indeed the dreaded 'professional' versus 'hobbyist'.

I think there are three broad catagories of use for PIC programmers:
production, professional development, and hobbyist.

Production:
  - Does the same job repetitively.
  - Probably embedded in a production test/calibration fixture,
    mechanically making this easy is a plus.
  - Must be automatable from command scripts or another program.  Native
    program rarely used directly by the operator.
  - Operator is relatively unskilled, low paid, often not on site.
  - Reliability is critical.
  - Price is not a high priority.

Professional development:
  - Used by engineer or technician as needed.
  - Should be scriptable so that can be automatically run as part of
    firmware build script if desired.
  - Must be a reliable tool that can be counted on.
  - Should just work, lots of fiddling to get working not tolerated.
  - Price is medium priority, must be good tool to be considered.

Hobbyist:
  - Price is top priority.
  - More inconveniences and unreliability tolerated as price get lower.

Note that these catagories are largely mutually exclusive.  A programmer
that meets the needs of one will do a poor job of meeting the needs of the
others.  Of course this doesn't mean that all hobbyists want hobby-level
tools, but the term "hobbyist" for that particular use pattern of a tool is
still a relevant label that I think most people would understand.

When I first developed the EasyProg, I wasn't expecting to make any profit.
It was a first attempt at directly selling a product, setting up a web site
where things can be bought, and a lot of associated logistics with
production, stocking, shipping, etc, that is a lot more envolved than most
people realize who have never done this before.  In the end I think I did
actually make a little money on the EasyProg in materials, but definitely
not if I were to account for my time.  I did this on the side, so in this
instance I considered my time more like a hobbyist.  This was something I
wanted to do, and kept separate from real business activity.  The point is I
don't think there is a way that a for-profit commercial venture can provide
a hobbyist programmer.  This is why you only see hobby programmers out there
produced by other hobbyists.

At the other end of the spectrum, it is possible to make a profit providing
a production programmer.  The ProProg is my best product, partly because the
low price sensitivity allows for a decent profit margin, and partly because
most customers buy multiple units.  I haven't looked, but I guess the
average is about 4/customer.  I know the maximum is 14.  After all, you
don't want a single broken test fixture to hold up all the production of
your product.  Then engineering probably has a fixture too for support.  And
once a product has been used in a test fixture and a comfort level has been
established, you are going to do the same thing in future fixtures until
they carry you off the production floor feet first.

I don't know yet whether a professional programmer can be a viable
commercial venture, but I'm going to find out shortly with the USBProg.  For
those who keep asking what "real soon now" means this week, I got the first
production sample, identified a few issues (it would be good if they would
actually *read* the BOM), and the first lot is being built right now with
the issues fixed (supposedly).  I'm supposed to receive them in a "couple of
weeks", but I'm figuring early January is more realistic.  I will definitely
post a announcement here when they are available.


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