Kits vs ready-made (was RE: Rebirth of IMSAI)

From: Philip.Belben_at_pgen.com <(Philip.Belben_at_pgen.com)>
Date: Wed Mar 31 10:38:37 1999

Sorry if this thread is old hat now - I've been having a hard time keeping up
with the volume of traffic here recently.

> Kits are often more costly than ready-built products because kit builders
> fix their mistakes, while you can't expect the user of ready-made stuff to
> fix your mistakes. Tech support is a necessity, yet most kit builders don't
> need it. Tech support is what costs when you're selling a ready-built
> product for the home computer market.


This is strange. You are saying: Tech support is what costs. Kits don't need
so much. Therefore kits are more expensive. ???

I claim the other way around. Most kit suppliers have to spend _more_ on
technical support because they have to help people who try kits too hard for
them and expect the supplier to sort out their mistakes.

Kits generally have shorter production runs than complete units, hence less
quantity discount / economy of scale.

Finally, kits are generally better documented than complete units sold as such.
And documentation costs a lot!

Philip.
Received on Wed Mar 31 1999 - 10:38:37 BST