H
Christopher [email protected] wrote:
> Look at www.opcfoundation.org we are a major player
> in that open standard.
Excuse me, but what is so "open" about OPC? As the "O" stands for OLE (Automation), it is based on a proprietary component system called "COM". How can I interface my Linux PLC with some office PC, loop tuning software, etc., each running on a
different o/s? How can I integrate my PLC with Distributed Control Systems, running Solaris and HP-UX (because they have to work, not to reboot)?
And the OPC foundation is open? Well, some guy from the OPC foundation's booth at Interkama fair last year asked me to join the foundation. "It would be only around $1000 per year" -- <irony>a
real bargain for a university chair</irony>. I asked him for the benefits. "Well," he responded, "we would then get the documentation." "Early than those which are available from the public section of their web site," I asked. "No," he responded. So I asked him what are the benefits of paying $1000 and getting the same specs everbody+dog is able to download. "Then I have to ask someone for what are the benefits," he told me. Good guy.
For me, "open" is about openness and frankness, without signing a big cheque first. Reminds me somehow of the "Open Software Foundation" -- was incompatible to "open" and now is history.
<bigot mode off>
Regards,
Harald Albrecht
--
Harald Albrecht
Chair of Process Control Engineering
Aachen University of Technology
Turmstrasse 46, D-52064 Aachen, Germany
Tel.: +49 241 80-7703, Fax: +49 241 8888-238
email: [email protected]-aachen.de
_______________________________________________
LinuxPLC mailing list
[email protected]
http://linuxplc.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxplc
> Look at www.opcfoundation.org we are a major player
> in that open standard.
Excuse me, but what is so "open" about OPC? As the "O" stands for OLE (Automation), it is based on a proprietary component system called "COM". How can I interface my Linux PLC with some office PC, loop tuning software, etc., each running on a
different o/s? How can I integrate my PLC with Distributed Control Systems, running Solaris and HP-UX (because they have to work, not to reboot)?
And the OPC foundation is open? Well, some guy from the OPC foundation's booth at Interkama fair last year asked me to join the foundation. "It would be only around $1000 per year" -- <irony>a
real bargain for a university chair</irony>. I asked him for the benefits. "Well," he responded, "we would then get the documentation." "Early than those which are available from the public section of their web site," I asked. "No," he responded. So I asked him what are the benefits of paying $1000 and getting the same specs everbody+dog is able to download. "Then I have to ask someone for what are the benefits," he told me. Good guy.
For me, "open" is about openness and frankness, without signing a big cheque first. Reminds me somehow of the "Open Software Foundation" -- was incompatible to "open" and now is history.
<bigot mode off>
Regards,
Harald Albrecht
--
Harald Albrecht
Chair of Process Control Engineering
Aachen University of Technology
Turmstrasse 46, D-52064 Aachen, Germany
Tel.: +49 241 80-7703, Fax: +49 241 8888-238
email: [email protected]-aachen.de
_______________________________________________
LinuxPLC mailing list
[email protected]
http://linuxplc.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxplc