Transferring old S&T trips??

[salmore]

I have a collection of trip files from MS-Streets & Trips.

Is there any way I can transfer them to the RTN2012 format so I can use them with this program?

[xavier]

Good luck I think they are totally incompatible.

[salmore]

Good luck I think they are totally incompatible.

I think companies intentionally use different formats for storing their trip files, so they can keep you hostage to their product. One would expect that there would be some sort of standard format for all of them to use! It reminds me of the cell phone companies which would not allow you to keep you telephone number, if you changed carriers, until just a few years ago. So, if you had a business number and had given it to all your business associates, the last thing you'd want to do is change that number - therefore, you stayed with the cell carrier you had, hostage to your telephone number.

This is where the government should step in and regulate things! Make them use standard formats and give the consumer freedom of choice!

[xavier]

Salmore, you want the government to regulate the data formats companies use for their programs?

That's a bit much, even for me

[artmart]

Salmore, I can only agree getting the government involved in this case is a bad idea. Customers have different needs and companies have different ways to satisfy these needs and this means there may be some incompatibilities.

I think Xavier put it more bluntly, but I'll agree what most companies are trying to protect is their knowledge and technology. A standard doesn't occur until a winner is declared. Here's some examples before standards occurred:

Beta versus VHS - both did video recording and even though Beta was better, VHS became more popular and became the standard. There were other standards but since they weren't major they didn't even enter the contest.

Blu Ray versus HD-DVD - Both did High Definition DVD storage and playback but this argument got solve quickly when some big companies got behind Blu Ray. Again, there were many other companies but this technology moving so fast, Blu Ray became the standard.

Right now, Navigation systems using GPS technology and mapping are all over the place with no clear winner, so even though there are minor standards within guidance, there is no winner on who will be the base of a Standard. The government probably won't get involved with this because since the Dept of Defense is greatly involved they don't want their technologies discussed and standardized.

[xavier]

What? Art is agreeing with me?

I have to add that although government regulating formats is over the top, it might be a good idea for the trailer life program to be able to read S&T trip files. S&T is sort of the standard nowadays, just like google maps is the on-line standard.

[artmart]

I can agree with you and sometimes I can't agree with you.

I don't believe I would consider S&T the standard just yet because there is at least one other company I can think of that is equally as good and that's DeLorme and at last check their files couldn't be converted to S&T or vice versa. There are more companies (GARMIN, Magellan) but I'll leave it at that.

What may happen, which may make this the standard, is that the company that makes S&T "allowed" themselves to be acquired by Microsoft and have been able to distribute themselves due to the popularity and cheap prices that the volume of a company like Microsoft provides. When you are as big as Microsoft, they can do that. They solve their revenue issues by selling cheap but making up the price loss by creating volume.

This is what killed Beta. Sony invented VHS, then came out with Beta which was a better recording format. So they sold VHS rights to everyone, kept the Beta to themselves, then got killed when VHS became cheaper and more popular. It's not always the best company that wins.

The battle with Navigation is still going on from several companies and I think it will be hard to standardize until each company gets the money back from their R&D or they drop out from lack of popularity or sales.

[mrhagen]

I never thought I'd see Art and Xavier agree with each other, either

Just adding my 2 cents here, making the Navigator able to read S&T files would not hurt anything and would help make the program better.

[artmart]

What do you do with the incompatibilities? For example, the information provided by TLDCN/RTN also includes Campgrounds and elevations and the MS S&T provides many other things like hotels, etc.How does that data get treated for a product that can't support it or does it in a completly different.

Even if one company tries to do this for some other select company, in order for this to occur, there will some be "reverse engineering" to understand how each other's stuff works or is formatted, then you start running into usage rights and other legal mumbo jumbo. Then what about the other companies out there that use other information and formats that aren't included and whose responsibility would be to expend the funds for this effort.

I think the biggest "pissing contest"* will be the sense that one company is either giving into or succumbing to another company's intellectual property and giving it more credit that any company would care to do. It's about business and money. The battle will go on for a while and the product costs too low to not want the variety us customers can appreciate.

But guess what> There's probably a consortium of companies working on a standard and it will come out tomorrow and I will have argued for naught.... naw, ain't gonna happen.

* Pissing Contest = See who can pee the furthest, the most, the stinkiest or any other arbitrary, nonsense measure of perceived victory on something completely worthless.

[xavier]

Ha, ha, ha,... I like your explanation of "pissing contest"