[Openicc] ColorVision Open Source Policy

[Craig Ringer]

Bob Friesenhahn wrote:
> On Mon, 12 Nov 2007, Robert Krawitz wrote:
>> The fact that he says people are asking for an SDK suggests to me just
>> how wide the gulf is.  I think it's much more likely that people are
>> asking for the programming specs for the hardware, not an SDK.  A
>> proprietary interface to a binary-only library with functionality
>> restricted to what ColorVision thinks is important isn't likely to be
>> too interesting to the kind of hard core *IX people who want this kind
>> of device.
> 
> A bit of research will likely reveal that the profit margins from 
> associated software are much greater than the margins associated with 
> the measurement device.  They probably feel that if they give away the 
> hardware interface, someone will create software which undercuts their 
> own products.  In fact, it may be a commercial competitor which takes 
> advantage of the hardware but offers much more sophisticated 
> software, or offers the same thing at a better price.

GretagMacbeth / XRite make the vast majority of their money from the
software. Most of their basic products can be upgraded by software to a
higher end, more capable version. The measurement hardware and most
associated accessories remain the same for many of the upgrades.

The EyeOne LT and EyeOne 2, for example, have been noted here to be the
same hardware - you can upgrade from the LT to the 2 with software.

http://www.xrite.com/product_overview.aspx?ID=1099

Similarly, you can upgrade their more capable i1Pro devices to add the
ability to handle different types of media etc:

http://www.xrite.com/product_overview.aspx?ID=1022

I can't find the comparison table that used to be on the (much better)
GretagMacbeth site now that they've moved their content to xrite.com,
but the point is that a LARGE part of the money comes from the software
sales. The high end i1Pro packages and upgrades are seriously expensive.

Despite that, it seems they've been at least reasonable about OSS efforts.

ColorVision, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have anywhere near the
range of software, nor the same level of hardware capabilities. Yet
they're apparently violently opposed to the idea of their hardware being
supported by other software suites.

Of the two, I'd say XRite  / GretagMacbeth have more to lose from
alternative software. I also suspect they're smart enough to realise
that their high end software is specialized, complex, and decent
quality, so the amount of effort required to produce an OSS alternative
would be very large. Even if there was one that's exactly as capable,
most of their big money customers would buy from them anyway. In fact,
if there was a really good OSS option they could probably pick up the
OSS offering, stick their name on it, wrap an alternative GUI around it
and sell that!

I'd say this reaction by ColorVision is possibly a bit short sighted,
and definitely excessively strongly negative. Certainly my own purchase
of the GretagMacbeth i1Display 2 was motivated partly by the emerging
OSS support for it (For which I send thanks to Graeme Gill, Hal V.
Engel, and anyone else involved!).

--
Craig Ringer