[Openicc] Minimal X Color Management

[Graeme Gill]

edmund ronald wrote:
> A low-end add-on colorimeter based on current technology costs $7 when
> fabricated in China.
> A colorimeter for a display adds $2 to the display cost.
> I know because I offered an instrument design to Xrite, and they were not
> interested, and I know it is feasible because I had prototypes fabricated.
>  I considered distributing myself, but the world simply isn't ready for a
> low cost product.

So you say, but anything selling that cheap is either very high volume,
or compromised. And in either case, most of the art in
making a good colorimeter is in production tolerance,
reliable production calibration, and long term stability.

> The thing is, channel costs, support, distribution etc push the end-user
> price of an add-on colorimeter to the $50 minimum, which is a significant
> fraction of the cost of a display, so people then refuse to purchase it. I
> can understand that.

I can't. By definition the instrument has to be of a higher grade to
act as a reference for the display behaviour, and on that basis
it should be more expensive, not less. To expect otherwise, would be like
expecting the the micrometer to be cheaper than the wooden ruler, or
the reference laboratories lab instrument to be cheaper than the thing
it is testing!

> I did some market research, and told photo shops that I could supply them
> with a $50 instrument, would they carry it. They smiled and said "Look, we
> sell $200 instruments, why should we sell a $50 instrument to the customer
> instead?".

Exactly - $200 is cheap enough. Cost is not the barrier, valuing the result
enough to spend the money and take the trouble sets the limits for the market
size.

Graeme Gill.