On Sep 30, 2009, at 6:41 PM, Scott wrote:

> Because Microchip sent me free samples, I became familiar with their  
> product line and use their products as a hobbyist at home. Now I use  
> them as a professional at work.
> I know this is an exceptional case, but their free samples got them  
> another customer.

I doubt that it's that exceptional.  I still have a fond spot in my  
heart for Analog Devices, who sent me a sample A-D converter for my  
college design project.  25+ years ago...


> as Bob A. said, obtaining samples is a hassle when working for a big  
> company. If they were free, I could simply order some and have them  
> in a few days. But when charging for shipping, I have to submit a  
> request to accounting, they have to approve...

Bah.  If you work for a big company, and you're actually interested in  
a particular PIC, you call up your rep and say "could you bring me  
some samples of XXXX" and you can get them in a couple of hours (or  
sent to you, free, in a couple of days, if there is no local office  
that has them in stock.)

I can see the non-freeness of "low overhead samples" cutting down on  
"speculative" sampling, though.  There are probably a bunch of people  
"somewhat interested" in the new PIC16 enhanced architecture who  
didn't have a compelling case to put themselves or their reps through  
such a sampling process.  It depends on how important it is to  
microchip to push NEW product over old standbys.  A liberal sampling  
policy increases the RANGE of a particular vendor's products that I  
might look at, especially when there are as many products as there are  
at Microchip.

BillW


-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist