If we put the issue of the actual products aside, what I appreciate about TE’s approach to things is that it presses the buttons of people that feel they are owed something by a manufacturer or brand. There’s this odd relationship that I see in video games, music equipment, artists, TV shows, etc where people who purchase the products of a company feel like they should have say in how the product is further developed or the direction that the company should go in. Because they made one purchase, that company is now beholden to them in perpetuity for input and guidance.
And while I do believe the voice of the customer is an important one for the sake of having functional and reliable products (something that, admittedly, TE could probably do a better job at), not only is the customer usually wrong but it’s also incredibly presumptuous to assume that they should have a right to be “mad” that a company isn’t doing what said user wants them to do. Some companies have active forums where they take customer input, some don’t. Some are open about their development plans, some aren’t. There’s a great big spectrum out there for how to run a business.
The expectation is that TE should be working on a new OP-1 and they can’t be working on anything else. People get angry that they aren’t. How messed up is that? There are plenty of companies making all sorts of wonderful groove boxes and people are angry that TE, a company who has developed enough innovation to presumably earn Fuck You money, are doing their own thing at their own pace. I hope they make a million unlabeled t-shirts and clear music equipment holders and dancing speakers or whatever it is they want to do.
