Whatever happened to this product?

Ratchit · Apr 14, 2018

ChrisP58 said:
A google search brought up this spec sheet. Looks like there was even a push button selectable version.
**broken link removed**

Here's the patent that covers the pushbutton version.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US3919505

The patent, as well as other references that google found, dates the product around 1974. While I see very little use to this in anything I do currently, I can't personally judge what it's comercial value to the electronics industry might have been in 1974. I was still in high school.

Good job! I could not find anything on the internet about that product.

Ratch

Ratchit · Apr 14, 2018

dknguyen said:
This sentence has no meaning. Irreplaceability is neither a feature nor something you offer.

I perhaps should have said that the SFR was not irreplaceable like a pulse transformer might be. They could have still been useful.

The so-called "convenience" you keep arguing for is specious at best. All conveniences also come at a price and that convenience must outweigh both its own price tag as well as that of any alternative. Just because something unique is being offered doesn't make it a good idea.

True, but I think at the time it was offered it has its place. Convenience just about always has a price. Nothing new there.

Weren't milkmen more convenient than running to the grocery store? They're not around anymore despite the convenience because it was outweighed by the cost.

Quoting the internet. "Home milk delivery from local dairies and creameries was a mainstay for many families in the 1950s and '60s. But as it became easier and cheaper to buy milk at the grocery store, and as processes were developed to extend milk's shelf life, the milkman began to fade into the past.".
I remember my family being serviced by both a milkman and iceman for a time when I was young. Milk is heavy, and cars were not so prevalent back then.
I don't think that example furthers your argument.

Ratch

MrAl · Apr 16, 2018

Hi,

Someone should look up the part with the dip switch. It's basically a dip switch with resistors soldered to it to make up a very tiny resistor substitution box. I would like to get a few of these.

unclejed613 · Apr 16, 2018

this device may have been originally developed for a DOD contract, and Bourns then thought it might be a good product for prototyping companies. there are environments that aren't good for potentiometers, even sealed ones, and this device looks very rugged compared to a potentiometer. it may have been for a "set-and-forget" function, or a tamper resistant adjustment (it's easy to turn a potentiometer, adjusting this looks like it would be a PITA).

hyedenny · Apr 19, 2018

I'll bet those things were a nightmare in even more ways than have already been mentioned. For example, their parasitic LC must've been all over the place!
As a hobbyist, I'd never want one. How hard or expensive is it (or was it ever) to keep a good stock of resistors?!? Good grief!
What competent hobbyist doesn't take great pride in the quality and the quantity of their lab stock?

KJ6EAD · Apr 20, 2018

MrAl said:
Hi,

Someone should look up the part with the dip switch. It's basically a dip switch with resistors soldered to it to make up a very tiny resistor substitution box. I would like to get a few of these.

Possibly you're thinking of the Phidgets 1134 switchable voltage divider.

gophert · Apr 21, 2018

Ratchit said:
What was a good idea then might not be a good idea now.

Ratch

Unfortunately, a "good idea" doesn't make for a good product or a successful business - satisfied customers willing to pay a reasonable price make a successful business. It wasn't a good idea "then" either. My evidence? Nobody has ever heard of the damn things, never seen the damn things used in a device and they are not currently made.

Ratchit · Apr 21, 2018

gophert said:
Unfortunately, a "good idea" doesn't make for a good product or a successful business - satisfied customers willing to pay a reasonable price make a successful business. It wasn't a good idea "then" either. My evidence? Nobody has ever heard of the damn things, never seen the damn things used in a device and they are not currently made.

I am glad I have the published advertisement. Otherwise, no one would believe that product ever existed. Still have not heard back from my inquiry to Bourns.

Ratch

gophert · Apr 21, 2018

Ratchit said:
I am glad I have the published advertisement. Otherwise, no one would believe that product ever existed. Still have not heard back from my inquiry to Bourns.

Ratch

You likely wouldn't hear much back from...
- Apple about the Newton,
- Microsoft about the Zune,
- Coke about "new" coke.
.....

(Please feel free to add your own...)

I doubt AT&T will comment on this one...

dknguyen · Apr 21, 2018

What you do is call them on the phone (new fangled internet is no good) and pretend to be a 70 year old engineer looking for a part he can no longer find who is not really willing to accept that it's no longer made and demanding to know why such a useful product was discontinued. I see this at work fairly often.

Ratchit · Apr 21, 2018

gophert said:
You likely wouldn't hear much back from...
- Apple about the Newton,
- Microsoft about the Zune,
- Coke about "new" coke.
.....

(Please feel free to add your own...)

I doubt AT&T will comment on this one...

View attachment 112486

I never heard of Zune, but I remember Bob https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob . That whiz-bang was supposed to be based on research done by someone at Stanford University. To give him credit, Gates was smart enough not to call that product "Bill".

Ratch

gophert · Apr 21, 2018

I was working with Microsoft (Zune) and Apple (iPod/iPhone) as a material supplier about 12 - 15 years ago.

Based on the size of the Apple vs Microsoft teams, it was clear which company was interested in handheld devices vs committed to handheld devices.

When Microsoft finally announced the device, Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" segment nailed the announcement.

Fey: "On Tuesday, Microsoft released their iPod competitor, the Zune. Yes, the 'Zune', as in ‘Zune to be discontinued'."

unclejed613 · Apr 22, 2018

Ratchit said:
I never heard of Zune, but I remember Bob https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob . That whiz-bang was supposed to be based on research done by someone at Stanford University. To give him credit, Gates was smart enough not to call that product "Bill".

Ratch

i remember "Bob", what an awful piece of software. in case anybody doesn't know what it was, it was supposed to be a "user friendly" graphic interface. what it actually turned out to be was "jailware", which means you couldn't get back out of it to do things like install device drivers. where i worked at the time, we had tons of customers bringing in their computers to get rid of Bob.

schmitt trigger · Apr 23, 2018

Anyone remembers the Microsoft paperclip assistant?

Anyways, to the original post: I feel that unclejede's theory is correct. It may have been a DoD contract, and Bourns decided it could develop it commercially.

atferrari · Apr 23, 2018

unclejed613 said:
i remember "Bob", what an awful piece of software. in case anybody doesn't know what it was, it was supposed to be a "user friendly" graphic interface. what it actually turned out to be was "jailware", which means you couldn't get back out of it to do things like install device drivers. where i worked at the time, we had tons of customers bringing in their computers to get rid of Bob.

Maybe similar to the assistant provided you could use with an older Office version. Found it a nuisance and the first I learnt was how to disable it. It had several personalities.

/EDIT schmitt trigger already posted about it. Stupid paper clip /EDIT

Whatever happened to this product?

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