I concur with the possibilities of reverse engineering and purchasing of an
additional manual - both of which drove some form of revenue to Europa. My
point is that it's not unreasonable for Europa to limit access to the manual to
either those that are bonified builders, or those that choose to pay for access
to the manual. It is as proprietary as the parts themselves and represents an
equivalent amount of effort to produce. If it were not of value, then we should
not care if it is available.
Access to the manual on-line could be part of the newsletter fees we pay, or
reasonably, the newsletter price could be increased marginally for the
additional recency that a current manual provides.
Cleve
On Wed, 25 September 2002, "Nigel Graham" wrote:
>
> Cleve,
>
> While I respect your views, I cannot agree with you.
>
> The Europa has some stunningly clever design features, but the construction
> is standard composite and used by countless other kit a/c
producers. The
> technology is in the public domain and if anyone should have IP rights, it
> would be Burt Rutan who started the ball rolling some thirty years back.
>
> You could no more produce a Europa clone from an assembly manual than you
> could re-create a Dodge truck from its maintenance manual.
> It is the Assembly manual we are talking about - not the engineering
> drawings - which would reveal IP.
> You may rest assured that the competition will already have been inside,
> under and around the Europa.
>
> From the factory's perspective, there are attractive cost benefits to
> on-line manuals.
> No printing, distribution or postage costs, instant and cost free on-line
> updates.
> By comparison, think of the logistics (read cost) involved in an
English
> company printing hundreds of manuals, shipping them to the US and then
> having to update them?
>
> From the builders standpoint, it is so much more convenient to print off a
> page, use it during that part of construction - then bin the resin covered
> remains. I used to photo-copy my manual pages to achieve the same.
>
> My vote remains public access - online.
>
> Nigel
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: clevelee@cswebmail.com
> Subject: Re: Manuals on the Net
>
>
> My company too supplies software, and under certain conditions will supply
> .pdf
> files for customer review.
>
> The problem is that manuals also represent significant intellectual
> property and
> creative solutions to problems. You are effectively giving all the
> competition
> clever ways to design their aircraft. The europa control system is
> reasonably
> unique, as is the strength/structure of the molded cockpit and ways to
> install
> controls into this environment. If it were my company I wouldn't do it
> for
> general consumption.
>
> On the other hand, it would be an additional strong selling point to make
> the
> .pdf version available to registered builders of Europas. As the kit
> market
> advances, it is a way for Europa to stay on the leading edge (pun
> intended - as
> their airfoil is 'leading edge'. One is still faced with the relatively
> easy
> capability to distribute a manual in .pdf format even after it has been
> purchased as part of a kit.
>
> One solution may be to provide access to chapters on their web site
> through
> password protection and do not allow downloading.
>
> Cleve
>
>
>
> The Europa Forum is supported by Aviators Network UK info@avnet.co.uk
> In the event of problems contact forum-owner@europaclub.org.uk
> The Europa Club website is at <a
href="http://mail.cswebmail.com//jump/http://www.europaclub.org.uk>";>http://www.europaclub.org.uk
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