The NI licence policy exclude the "Touch Panel Module" from use in the medical segment

[Coq_Rouge]

At our firm we continuously evaluate how we may cut prices and increase productivity. In this process we have evaluated the use of windows CE, and Labview. As we use Labview in other productcs. And windows CE is a interesting OS for small modules. Medical grade units are also available on the market. So we did some testing on the side as both Windows CE and Labview Touch Panel Module, can be evaluated for free. The testing was promising so we almost decided to take it further. That is, until we discovered the licence policy for the Touch Panel Module. Since the NI HMI units are not of medical grade type devices, we can not use any of them. And because of that we have to purchase a Touch Panel Deployment License for each and every unit we sell. And that license will cost us the equivalent sum of 730$. What a showstopper. I can understand the LabVIEW Real-Time Deployment License for Standard PC's- ETS RTOS (813$ converted from locale currency) . As in this case we  also get a RTOS not developed by NI. But what do get for 730$ a piece of paper, and a plastic sticker with some NI logo? And we still do have to pay for Windows CE licence. So shame on you NI for the most greedy licence policy I have ever seen.  If NI keep this up they will soon end up like the American car industry. Producing cars that hardly even Americans are interested in.

[Robert_Jackson]

As the product manager for our touch panels I appreciate the feedback.  The LabVIEW Touch Panel Module deployment license is intended to cover the support costs we incur when our customers use third party touch panels with Windows CE or Windows XP Embedded.  It is also intended to encourage our customers to clearly investigate the potential development challenges I have seen others encounter when using third party touch panels.

For touch panels with Windows CE their are often components mising from the Windows CE OS.  We have also encountered 3rd party hardware and driver issues with I/O peripherals.  In general a Windows XP Embedded OS includes the necessary OS components, however in a few cases we have encountered issues where critical components are missing. It can be quite difficult to debug.

I would be glad to speak with you directly about your HMI needs, the NI roadmap, discounts for volume and a plan to have our team validate a third party touch panel so you can continue to use LabVIEW for your deployments.

Sincerely,

Robert Jackson

Senior Product Manager

robert.jackson@ni.com

[Steve.J]

Coqrouge - Please use the Discussion Forum for posting items intended for general discussion or feedback.

Thanks!

[Coq_Rouge]

In the spring this year I broke my leg, so I had to stay home for about 2 weeks. I used this time to learn how to build Windows CE image and run it on an old laptop. I needed almost all that time to get it up and running. To get it working with Labview took me a day. So yes I can agree that Windows CE is not uncomplicated at all. And due to this complexity I see that some may need support beyond a normal and quick support phone. So if NI says sorry we can not support non NI modules, unless you pay for this extended support is legit. But to charge this for every deployment is very a very strange license strategy. It is also unfair. If we mange to get some Windows CE application up and running without any help form NI. Why shall we then have to pay for support we have not used. And why shall our end user pay for support from NI. They will probably not know it as Labview software. They will not burden NI at all. If they need support they they will come to us, and we will have to take care of it, not NI. So my advice to you is to come up with a more reasonable and fair system for paying for extened support then using non NI touch devices.

As for now we have none planned CE projects. Due to your licence policy if think it will be to complex for us to use CE and the Labview Touch Panel Module. I think we will use XP embedded. But with Labview for application development then applicable of course