EDITORIAL
SSS Starts Fourth Year of Publication!
Yes, we made it another year -- but not without some pain and strain! SSS has had to
fight to keep our existing subscriber base and even though we offered a nice new
subscriber bonus disk to new subscribers, we have been unable to attract a money
making following yet! (All new subs and renewals will get the bonus disk until June 1995).
Thus we have been forced to go to a quarterly publication schedule and thin down on
our advertising. We are therefore cutting our available advertising space to the bone.
We will accept only advertising from non-RF/SS competitors and only from vendors with
the highest level of quality products/services for the Wireless Industry. In the past
it seems that advertising has been more trouble than it's worth, what with trying to
collect on overdue 30 day accounts (a standard in the publishing business) and competing
on a cost per thousand readers basis. Anyway -- we will probably eventually become an
essentially technical only journal and hopefully you, our dear readers, will enjoy SSS even more!
"Vapor" Products, Intellectual Property Rights and Other Timely Gripes
I cannot believe the acceleration of "vapor" product announcements in our
industry. We get a lot of new product announcements and press releases, some of
which are about real, readily available products. But, I would say that the legitimate
ones are less than 25% of the total. This is not a software industry or an industry based
on what will be available next year!
The Wireless Industry is based on solid products which fill solid niches and perform a
needed function while generating company profits. Where is this industry going? Why do
we seem to tolerate such irresponsible product announcement and product advertising practices?
Perhaps in the rush to capture market share, we are tempted to exaggerate just a little
too much. Perhaps in order to get a leg up on the competition we get excited and claim
a little bit too much. Perhaps we forget that design engineers, product developers and
system designers need products and services today in order to design tomorrow's Wireless products.
I say: Buyer Beware, in response to what I see! You the buyers, users and consumers of
these products ultimately determine survival in this marketplace. Choose your vendors
and new parts or tools carefully.
On intellectual property rights, do you know if the product(s) you are buying are
"clean?" By clean, I mean free from patent infringement problems or use
designs that have been paid for. Recent experiences have shown us that many small
companies rip off consulting companies like us and continue to sell our designs
without ever paying for them. While not widespread in this industry yet, this
practice makes many products highly suspect. I cannot name names without being
sued, but many of you could be affected by disreputable small companies like this.
I suggest that you evaluate the technologies used in any new product and the design
capability of the vendor, as well as checking with Dun and Bradstreet as well as
the BBB about any new small company offering.
This industry is finally maturing. More and more, other publications are taking
notice of "The Wireless Explosion" and covering our turf with lots
of new useful information. I think it's great that "big" magazines have
finally discovered Spread Spectrum and are covering some of the necessary technologies.
It's about time! But as always, even articles in IEEE journals, though professionally
reviewed, can contain misleading or incomplete information about this subject area.
We are not The only Keeper of Knowledge about SS, but we try to provide useful information
to our working readership that is complete, accurate and timely. Stay with us for more
in our Fourth Year!
Return to Table of Contents for this issue
In October 2000, this website and the copyright to all editions of
Spread Spectrum Scene Online was purchased by
SSS Online, Inc., and is operated by
Pegasus Technologies. For more of the best information
on RF, Spread Spectrum and wireless, press one of the buttons below:
|
|
|