There's an old saying in business, the early bird gets the work but it's the second mouse that gets the cheese.

Historically pioneers fail at an astonishing rate, because they are fighting two battles at once. It is very difficult to re-engineer a product once it is released and shipping in significant numbers. Every time you make a change, you have to go back and take care of the people who have the earlier products. This is something that held DA back a lot, they have been responsible enough to retrofit engines that had problems. This is one of the things we pay for in the higher purchase price, great support.

It is really a simple matter to look at a product and find the flaws and make improvements before you produce a new version. The problems come later.

The sign of a competent company is not in getting out a whiz bang new product, it's only the really good ones that can get out a new product while delivering older products and supporting them.

"Going to school" on a competitor's product is done every day in every business.

TF