programming suggestion - a la carte
I'm going to make a Smarty programming suggestion that I haven't heard yet.
Assuming that Smarty is limited to 10 programming options (one of those being fixed as the stock program), and knowing that you can't satisfy dozens of different interests with just 9 Smarty programs, I propose a la carte programming.
The way I envision this is having 20-30 different programs that the user can download to his PC. From there, the user can download any 9 programs into his Smarty in the 9 available program slots. From there you download any 1 program to your ECM as usual.
Advantages:
- This gives great flexibility to satisfy a wide assortment of needs.
- You don't have to lose old functionality as you would with a sweeping firmware upgrade.
- The Smarty becomes individually customizable
Disadvantages:
- The current 1-9 program references will no longer be standard. That is, my #3 could be different than your #3.
- Documentation may be more complex as a new naming convention might be required
Pricing:
Individual programs could be sold a la carte, much like downloading a song for your MP3 player.
Of course, if the Smarty was changed to support 2 or 3-digit program keys, then it would be simpler. I could just load program #27 if that was my favorite.
I hope this is something worthwhile to consider as I would like to be as easy as possible for Smarty to get better.
Thanks,
Neil
I'm going to make a Smarty programming suggestion that I haven't heard yet.
Assuming that Smarty is limited to 10 programming options (one of those being fixed as the stock program), and knowing that you can't satisfy dozens of different interests with just 9 Smarty programs, I propose a la carte programming.
The way I envision this is having 20-30 different programs that the user can download to his PC. From there, the user can download any 9 programs into his Smarty in the 9 available program slots. From there you download any 1 program to your ECM as usual.
Advantages:
- This gives great flexibility to satisfy a wide assortment of needs.
- You don't have to lose old functionality as you would with a sweeping firmware upgrade.
- The Smarty becomes individually customizable
Disadvantages:
- The current 1-9 program references will no longer be standard. That is, my #3 could be different than your #3.
- Documentation may be more complex as a new naming convention might be required
Pricing:
Individual programs could be sold a la carte, much like downloading a song for your MP3 player.
Of course, if the Smarty was changed to support 2 or 3-digit program keys, then it would be simpler. I could just load program #27 if that was my favorite.
I hope this is something worthwhile to consider as I would like to be as easy as possible for Smarty to get better.
Thanks,
Neil