I think back to when I was buying my new mains and my new console back in 2004.
Digidesign wouldn't give me the time of day. Soundcraft? Same deal. Midas? Well, it's Midas, I couldn't afford it anyways. Yamaha? No love there. Digico? Laughed in my face. Crest, nobody home. Studer? Right, whatever. Even Mackie was copping attitude. Allen & Heath? They'd talk to me and got a $60K sale. I guess since I don't have a million bucks to spend, apparently some of the big boys don't feel the need to talk to some lowlife such as myself.
Looking for mains, got a little better love. Mackie was still acting as if their poop didn't stink and I stepped in dog doo and EAW copped the same attitude. Nexo wouldn't talk to me. Meyer didn't seem to take me seriously. MacCauley would talk to me, but it was just too much to buy, but that's how line arrays work. KV2 Audio brought me in and let me check things out. L-Acoustics wasn't into even giving me the middle finger. JBL decided I wasn't worth their time. There were other vendors, but I can't recall. $40K later, I have my KV2 Audio rig.
Money talks. Now all those vendors except Midas is trying to pretend to be nice to me. Midas won't even talk to me, bt they know where I sit with their products: Nothing I can afford, but we're otherwise on good terms. I can't afford an XL4, much less an XL8 or even a Pro6.
I hae to say that Paul clearly didn't do his homework ahead of time, best that I can tell. Then its suddenly everyone's fault but his that he's got issues/problems that let's face it, he created by buying a severely "restricted" fixture.
Jingles pointed out some good points: He's gonna have to do the work pretty much on any package anyways. I made the point of you can either whine and not get it done or just go get it done, or even "drop a product, spend more money, have to redo the work anyways and probably have to redo the work the next time something like this happens again".
Should I get all graphic? It's like I bought a Shure SM57 and now I expect Shure to kiss my butt up one side and down the other because "I'm a customer". I know, not a fair comparison, not applicable, not appropriate.
Now, if it was me, I'd probably have ranted about this issue, then it would be "whine time over, I gotta get this working" and I'd be gone and making it work. Why? Because honestly, my clients only care about end results, they don't give a crap about what it takes to get the job done. They want results. They don't care about my aching back, loading 2 tons of gear by myself, custom wiring harnesses, assembling and testing racks of gear, the grief my family gives me over this, the hours upon hours of otehr work that I won't even mention rihgt now. I just go and get the job done. And if that means a buttload of work, then I better home I have to get it done. I don't have time for excuses that my clients don't want to hear and don't care about anyways.
I want to just spout off and say what I spent on MyDMX, but that's against policy. I mean, I enjoy my DMX Operator, but MyDMX smokes it, however, it still has lots of strengths in it. Both are great products and ideal for what I do, but MyDMX is definately how I am moving forward.
Since ADJ/Elation is offering sponsorship deals, and despite my rants, I think it's well known my position. I don't even need no fancy endorsements, just a link and a shout out and I'm a happy dude. I'm a pleased ADJ customer. see lights by other brands, see what they can do, find the ADJ equivalent and then I go buy when I have money. I buy the ADJ fixture only. I won't buy non-ADJ fixtures going forward if at all possible. Yes, there may be exceptions, but I'm for the most part sticking with ADJ.
In closing: Make sure you have the right tool for the right job. Know waht you're getting into. Whining doesn't resolve anything.
I probably won't be a Compu Live client but it helps me to have some basic awareness of it. Both MyDMX and Compu Live are good products. Do your research, find what you need and purchase wisely. Common sense in business.