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HP 6000 scopes with crippleware....

Just been looking at the new HP 6000 series scopes. Very nice kit but something bugs me about the upgrade path....

The DSO6034A has 4 analogue channels and lists at $7229. The MSO60634A adds 16 digital channels and lists at $9029

However looking at the detail, the DSO version has all the hardware of the MSO version, but the functionality is disabled in the software. You can upgrade the DSO to the MSO for $1800, for which you get a cable and a licence code.

OK, you may argue that you're getting additional functionality. But $1800 for a cable doesn't exactly give a warm happy feeling of having got good value.... At least the upgrade cost is the same as the price difference between the models.

However if you look at the memory options, you see that when you buy either of these scopes, you are actually buying 8M of memory, however only 1M of it is enabled. To "Upgrade", you need to pay $495 or $995 to upgrade to 2 or 8M respectively.

You have already bought 8M of memory but are being asked to pay $999 for permission to use hardware you already own.. (I see this as different to the MSO upgrade, as there is no additional software involved.) Maybe I'm just thinking in an old fashioned way but this strikes me as a bit of a rip-off.... Comments...?

Reply to
Mike Harrison
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"Mike Harrison" schreef in bericht news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

You can't be but a technician or an engineer. We want to deliver a good product preferable the best. Sales persons tend to think - if they think - different. They want to get as much money as they can out of it. If you feel cheated they will try to convince you that they are right and always will have at least one story at hand to "prove" it. The only way to handle this behavior is: Acting like a consumer. "I am the client, I feel I've been cheated whatever that salesman talks about, so I want to pay a reasonable price or I'll look for another product." Personally I should not threat to do so unless I'm ready to do it but I'm neither a salesman nor a pokerplayer.

petrus bitbyter

Reply to
petrus bitbyter

version, but the

licence code.

a cable doesn't

models.

these scopes, you are

permission to use hardware

additional software

of a rip-off....

What rock have you been living under? What do you think it costs the phone company to supply you with caller ID? Probably costs them more to turn mine off than it would to just give it to everybody. But that would lower their revenue.

We pay extra for costless services all the time. "Yes, I'd like to buy a starwars ringtone." The incremental cost of software is nearly zero. But when it comes to hardware, we get all bent out of shape.

There are measurement products that sell you an option to improve their signal to noise ratio. When you pay the fee, they turn off the noise generator that's reducing the SNR. The research shows that buyers are turned off by the high initial price of a full-featured unit. But most of them buy the upgrade to the cheaper initial price.

Bottom line is that they do it for only one reason...buyers are gullible. It's all about the Benjamins. mike

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Reply to
mike

This isn't the only time HP/Agilent, and other companies have done this. Its a common practive.

You are paying for extra performance, functions, and value. If you don't want the option, don't pay for it.

Look at it from the manufacturers point of view. If they had to develop and support additional hardware for every option, the

*base* price of the instrument would have to rise. Either way you're going to have to pay.

Steve

Reply to
Steve

the MSO version, but the

cable and a licence code.

$1800 for a cable doesn't

the models.

either of these scopes, you are

respectively.

for permission to use hardware

there is no additional software

a bit of a rip-off....

If it was in Windoze, it would have been cracked by now. ;-)

Come up with a solution that's half the price, and you'll be able to make a million.

Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, th

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