[PUP] Nobeltec dongles

[Douglas Cochrane]

Anthony,

Strapping everything down is fine but having a little plastic gadget
sticking out of the side of any electronic box is an invitation for
something to get dropped or bumped or slammed. Not to mention that the
electronics of a dongle can go phooey for no apparent reason. My short-term
solution is to stick with the older version of the software until I decide
which product to replace it with.

The funny thing about this new approach by Nobeltec is that, in my
experience, a bit of benevolent piracy can actually work to the benefit of
the provider. For example, on our first oceangoing trawler the previous
owner left a computer loaded with Nobeltec. This gave me a chance to learn
enough about the product to know that I wanted the latest version and the
technical support that comes with it. After our first shakedown cruise I
ordered a copy of my own. When a company is more concerned about the few
users who aren't legit than the many users who are, it is time to reconsider
the business relationship.

Thanks for the response.

Douglas

-----Original Message-----
From: passagemaking-under-power-bounces at lists.samurai.com
[mailto:passagemaking-under-power-bounces at lists.samurai.com] On Behalf Of
Anthony Thorne
Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2008 8:17 AM
To: Passagemaking Under Power List
Subject: Re: [PUP] Nobeltec dongles

Having looked at the others and their chart avaliability and currency it
seemed well worth strapping down the laptop.

Anthony
Carmen
NT42

On Wed, Sep 24, 2008 at 8:07 AM, Douglas Cochrane
<Douglas_Cochrane at msn.com>wrote:

> Dear Ones,
>
>
>
> I was very disappointed to discover that the latest version of Nobeltec
> requires a dongle to operate. As the former owner of a software company, I
> have personal experience with the problems caused by dongles. Not only are
> they unreliable electronically but they are all too prone to physical
> damage. Can you imagine a heavy wave shifting your laptop on the helm and
> breaking the dongle off in the middle of a turbulent night? Oops - time to
> shift to the paper charts!
>
>
>
> To tie the reliability of a mission-critical element of the ship to a
> little
> gadget who's sole purpose is making sure I haven't pirated my software is
a
> risk I am unwilling to place on my boat or its crew. Is this a concern of
> others as well? What other navigation software do you use that doesn't
> include this liability?
>
>
>
> Douglas Cochrane
>
> M/V Four Seasons, N46-70
>
> P.O. Box 752
>
> Yachats, OR  97498
>
> 541/913-0632
>
> Douglas_Cochrane at msn.com
>
> [demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type image/png which had a name of
> image003.png]
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