Subject:
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Re: Mindstorms on Slashdot
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Fri, 2 Dec 2005 10:11:12 GMT
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Viewed:
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2658 times
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In lugnet.robotics, dan miller <danbmil99@yahoo.com> wrote:
> this may sound a bit dumb, but give it a few seconds of consideration (and
> try to supress your own prejudices):
>
> One of the problems with being an AFOL is that the bright, happy colors of
> Lego pieces make everything look like a preschool toy. If I could replace
> all my pieces with a few shades of grey and battleship green, I would do it
> in a heartbeat.
>
> Another factor that could even help make AFOL's and older children better
> (ie paying more) customers would be to focus on making models that are
> permanent rather than transitory. This would encourage more purchasing of
> sets (I've bought 5 already mainly to avoid taking apart complex robots).
>
> I know some of these ideas fly in the face of the hard-core Lego culture and
> aesthetics, but the point is, this market is potentially much larger than
> TLG is assuming, and they are just giving it away -- to Technics, to Vexx
> (both of which are $300+ btw), and it just seems sad.
>
> One final piece of advice that will surely not be listened to: Stop being
> so anal about people selling sets that interoperate with Lego. As far as I
> can tell, vendors like Charmed Labs still have to be careful not to actually
> sell pieces that can snap together with Lego -- you have to strip wires and
> so on. This is diametrically in opposition to how new technology paradigms
> succeed -- think of open source, or the IBM PC and clones.
That's a very interesting point "should Lego allow others to make Mindstorms
pieces". It would mean a big culture change. On the one hand they could lose
sales to an outside company, but on the other hand they could generate sales by
selling parts packs (beams & stuff) to support the 3rd party sensors.
It would be the first time Lego wasn't wholly responsible for the product, and
their high standards of quality could cause problems with third parties. But if
Lego provided the casing's it shouldn't be too hard.
They could have a "Lego approved" program for 3rd party parts.
I think the main benefit to Lego apart from selling more RIS kits is that it
would generate a lot of info of what people do and don't want. If a particular
sensor sold well Lego might consider buying up the 3rd party's patent, or coming
up with something similar. Although putting newly formed third parties out of
business wouldn't be popular.
And if everything was licensed, Lego would retain control, so that 3rd parties
couldn't bring out a replacement RCX for example without their permission.
Steve
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Mindstorms on Slashdot
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| (...) Steve brings up some very interesting points here, some of which I am already familiar with. As far as TLG is concerned, I talked with folks like Brad and Jake some years ago about the company's attitude toward my plans for making and selling (...) (18 years ago, 2-Dec-05, to lugnet.robotics)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Mindstorms on Slashdot
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| this may sound a bit dumb, but give it a few seconds of consideration (and try to supress your own prejudices): One of the problems with being an AFOL is that the bright, happy colors of Lego pieces make everything look like a preschool toy. If I (...) (18 years ago, 1-Dec-05, to lugnet.robotics)
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