ChrisTaylor

I’m one of the lucky folks that has been included in the TREG group. I’ve been using the TextBlade for a couple of years, and it is definitely not a toy. It’s been weeks since I’ve used a different keyboard.

It’s a more pleasurable typing experience when at my desk, and the portability is incredible. I’m attending a conference this week and didn’t even bother to bring my computer because I’m just as productive with the TextBlade and my iPhone.

Once they start shipping, I would not hesitate to recommend a TextBlade to anyone who spends a significant portion of their day on a keyboard.

TextBladeDenied said:

'that I respect than Waytools'? Did you mean 'that I respect less than waytools' or 'that I respect more than waytools'? Not sure what the intent of your question is. I can tell you that there are plenty of companies I appreciate and respect and even cherish (particularly the one I work for), many CEOs I have learned from and respect, and of course there are companies I do not respect at all. Waytools is a tiny little outfit. I assume it to primarily reflect the will and attitudes of its owner Mark Knighton, a narcissistic liar who has no idea how to grow a company or cultivate customers or deliver a product or meet a deadline. It is relatively easy (compared to real accomplishment) to lie to people and take their money and deflect truth and obfuscate reality, and when a person or company does that, they should not be allowed to hide from it. Ethics in business is extremely important to keep society functioning properly. Transparency is also key to business, and of course politics. Everything waytools does is totally opaque. Because they are liars.

Yeah, sorry about leaving out the critical word “less” from my question. What I’m having trouble understanding is why you would want to do business with a company for which you have no respect. You’ve now suggested that it is so you can sue them, if they don’t deliver the product. That will happen only if they go out of business, so what will be there to sue?

The only way I can rationalize your behavior in my mind is that you really really want a TextBlade. You want it so much that you are willing to look past all of these other significant grievances that you have with WayTools.

I have a very different perspective on WayTools than you do, but I think I can relate a little with your perspective. I remember when I first received my TextBlade. I thought it was amazing and had amazing potential. From a purely selfish perspective, I wanted WayTools to succeed because I didn’t want to be forced to go back to a standard keyboard again. Even so, the TextBlade did have problems. There was a time when I wasn’t sure if WayTools would ever be able to make it reliable enough for the mass market. I don’t think I was the only TREG user with that fear. Even so, the potential was so apparent that there were still lots of positive things to say about it. This could have given the impression that the TextBlade was closer to being ready to ship than it really was.

Today, I no longer have those concerns. I think that WayTools could ship with the current firmware and many people would be happy; however, I understand why they have chosen not to do this, and I support that decision (not that my or your opinion should have any impact on what they chose to do). My understanding is that they are currently doing a significant firmware refactor and they want to have this in place prior to general release. This makes a lot of sense to me. Having two significantly different firmware branches out in the wild would complicate support. In addition, I suspect that the firmware changes are significant enough that there may be a non-trivial chance of users bricking their TextBlade when performing the update.

I almost didn’t bother with the last paragraph because I don’t expect to influence your own view on the current situation, but I thought it may be useful for others who have the stamina to wade through all of these posts.
Can you see how this may seem self-contradictory to others?