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Hi Guys,
I’ve been tussling with this one for a while now and what to do with the FCG. I know that for some people it’s an invaluable tool and I know that a lot of people want it updated ASAP.
I also see the alerts seeing people trying to get it for free on a number of file sharing sites across multiple platforms and protocols.
There’s obviously a demand for it.
So, here’s my problems with it just for the WTA members..
It costs a fortune to produce in a printed format. It took almost a year to break even and, we (UKW the company) really didn’t make anything from it bar a few hundred quid at best.
But, the outlay is in the thousands. From memory it was £3.5-4K to get it printed up and I suspect it’d cost a bit more now.
That doesn’t include the time writing it and, trust me, it’s a ball breaking task that numbs your mind for ages. It took me three months to write the first one and I can’t say that I particularly relish the thought of doing it again but, to get it into a sensible format, I’d have to put in that sort of effort near enough. As I’m sure you can tell, I’m not falling over myself to get cracked on with it.
The time is fine, I don’t really mind giving up a bit of time to help everyone out so I’m not really all that bothered about the cost of that. Some people in the company do get a bit shirty about it but I generally just tell them to wind their necks in and shut the **** up, I could live without the grief though.
So I looked at doing it as an app for iOS and Android and that’s gonna cost even more!!!
£7K basically to get it done.
I can get other “stuff” (;)) tagged onto that as well for the money but it’s a hell of a risk with probably no chance of ever getting paid back on the cost let alone the effort. It’s therefore hard to justify the outlay.
I also have reservations about it from the point of view of, I think there’s more important things to be tackling in the short term.
From a WTA point of view, the CCAS is way, way more important (ADE!!!). The opportunity to comment on the DEGs review was way, way in front of this as well and both came up at the same time. The FCG therefore went onto the back burner until the other stuff I had to do was done.
And, in the midst of all of this, I still have to juggle the balls with ISE, UKW and of course NWAR as well.
The short of it is this, unless someone pony’s up a lump of cash and frees me up to be able to do it, for the short term, the FCG is not getting looked at as I don’t have either the time or the budget to do it.
It’s not dead. Just on hold.
Which leads me onto the small dilemma I have with it.
If I make it available to the WTA members as a PDF that you can mess with as much as you like how do I know it’s not going to end up on one of those file sharing sites?
I don’t much care in many ways TBH but I don’t really want to see you guys undermined by whatever other company that hasn’t paid for it and, really don’t have the rights to it using it. Or, punters getting it as, if it goes that open, they will.
On the other hand, I preach about open systems all the time and there’s some merit in just saying “stuff it” and releasing it publicly in a “good way” that tries to get us as much publicity and links back as possible from it.
So, there you go. There’s the dilemma to think about and, depending the opinion on this tread will determine what I’ll do with it. No opinion, I’ll call it as best I see for the indies as usual.
K.
Re: Fault Code Guide
Instead of separate ios and android etc programs, why not just use a php/MySQL web page with member access rights with, apart from fault code database lookup, a facility to submit new or unrecorded codes for approval.
That way any smart phone with a browser could access the info.
Just an idea 😕Re: Fault Code Guide
Martin114 wrote:Instead of separate ios and android etc programs, why not just use a php/MySQL web page with member access rights with, apart from fault code database lookup, a facility to submit new or unrecorded codes for approval.
That way any smart phone with a browser could access the info.
Just an idea 😕I have a contact who might be able to help to do this as he is a software designer and works with MySQL, can give you his email, don’t know how much it would cost though but an inquiry wouldn’t hurt
We employ a code writer in-house. 😉
The trouble is the cost, time and effort that it takes. Plus, in the end, you guys need it in customer’s homes and pulling down a string of data from a server is *much* faster than waiting on a page load over 3G and most certainly a 2G network.
Where there’s no signal it’s a moot point.
K.
kwatt wrote:We employ a code writer in-house. 😉
I was only thinking of saving you some time, I certainly didn’t want you to lose your job 😉
Re: Fault Code Guide
Would there be no way of getting a team of volunteers together to do this ? Two heads are better than one type of thing ?
A lot of folks here including myself have benefitted from the FCG and the idea is just what the indies need. As regards people having access who have either not paid or have downloaded it from a torrent or whatever we now live in a world where once something becomes digital the world becomes its oyster and I am afraid that will never cease. That said the positive aspects are far stronger than the negatives of this task in my mind.
What we need is a team if articulate people who can have a framework in which to operate. As I have said so many have benefited from its publication and another idea may be to get a kitty running up front. I bet there are more than 120 people on this forum who have benefitted from the FCG and if each were willing to fork out say £ 60.00 each thats just over seven grand in the pot to get this on its way. For each person listed as contributing they get a copy as part of the deal of advance funding, everyone else pays say £22.95 ?
I am not sure how many copies were sold but if you sold another hundred thats another two grand plus the seven grand raised at the outset ?
That should take care of the printing costs, and why this is in the making why not produce a electronic PDF version watermarked which we could have on a disk and use on laptops, iphone, android loaded as PDF and this would serve us all well this way you would not need skd codes and the like.No doubt there is more to this but where theres a way theres a will !
Re: Fault Code Guide
Hi Squadman,
It’s a challenge to do. Co-ordinating it and keeping it on track would be the issues.
TBH we were talking about it last night and I’m very tempted just to allow the fault codes to be released without the diagnostics stuff.
PDF cannot be protected, watermarked or not.
It also can’t be updated centrally whereas apps can be. 😉
That’s more the point, is to have a constantly updated version available to the guys that only requires information entry at one point, done. If you start with all different formats of it you’ve got multiple versions floating about the place which can get very confusing very quickly.
K.
Re: Fault Code Guide
kwatt wrote:TBH we were talking about it last night and I’m very tempted just to allow the fault codes to be released without the diagnostics stuff.
I hate quoting myself but…
I decided that, since this was a UKW document and I can pretty much do as I please with it, that I’d add a lot of the new stuff from the forums, PDF it and make it available for download completely free.
So, it’s now 136 pages and should cover the vast bulk of what’s out there in the field now.
I’ll perhaps update it over time as info becomes available and I can be bothered. TBH it’s not a priority to me as all it does is eat time and produce nadda. The only reason I do it is to help the troops really, just don’t expect monthly updates ’cause it ain’t gonna happen.
WTA members get a head start and the version with not a lot adverts on it as, it will get out so I may as well use it for something.
It’s compressed to 3.7Mb approx and protected against copying as much as can be done.
Enjoy.
K.
Re: Fault Code Guide
thanks was trying to do this to put on a netbook to carry with me saved me a lot of work
Dave
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