Respironics "pulling" their Software

I just talked with the owner of another CPAP supply store and he told me that he's not allowed to "Advertise" the Encore Pro software any more... His Respironics Rep has been giving him pressure to stop selling it to Patients and only to doctors and DMEs

Is this the snowball effect of ResMed pulling their software?

Is it all about the "Business Plan" or do these companys really care if we get good treatment or not? Some times the only way is to get the software your self and "Take Charge" they sure are making it harder to do this...

Glad my software is already in the mail... But hope I can still get updates for it in the future..

Gryphon

Maybe you need to start shopping at CPAP.COM......

When THEY notify us, then I'll believe it.

Then again, maybe they'll FINALLY come out with an "end-user" version for those that want to monitor their therapy.

I can think of lots of users that could be very vocal with Respironics is they try to pull that stuff.

Den

I haven't gotten mine yet either; hope they gave you some incorrect information. Was this an online store?

(Gryphon, nice to see another person on the forum in my neck of the woods!)

Pam

Greetings,

My father and I will be sitting down with Respironics next week at Medtrade to discuss the Encore Pro issue. I have a great deal of respect for Respironics and believe a reasonable solution can and will be reached.

I will be posting to CPAPtalk shortly after the meeting to let everyone know where things stand.

Johnny

I just got an e-mail from Respironics today w/an online Sleep Therapy Device Survey.

Naturally, since I just got this Resmed S8 Vantage and am using it I don't qualify to continue past the initial questions.

However, when it came to comments I took the opportunity to clearly state that I resented Resmed's policy regarding patients' access to their software. And when responding to the question regarding what aspects were important to me in deciding which device to purchase I clearly stated in my comments that the ability to monitor therapy response via data available on LED screen and via software and reader were the FIRST criteria.

Thank you so much, Johnny, for your rapid response to the questions on this issue!!!

I just purchased my software from CPAP.com

I had a small problem with a miss key on my part... Unfortunate my ISP decided to have a hickup and messed up my e-mail mail box... so when the nice people at CPAP.com tried to e-mail me to let me know that there was a problem with my order I never got the message...

They called me a few days later and let one of the members of my family know what happened. They passed along the message and I promptly called them back...

They were very understanding and nice... very professional on the phone. I fixed the number problem with my credit card and it was on the truck on it's way to my house that afternoon. I called back to ask if they could resend the invoices that I never got because of my ISP's problems and I had invoices in my inbox before I had time to blink.

Very good service and I will be doing more buisiness with them again soon.

I admit I was being impatient the night I had originaly ordered my software and ordered the card reader from a deferent suplyer... they didn't get the parts I asked for in any way "their supplyer is late?? " not sure... They'll send it to me as soon as they come in. The owner mentioned to me over the phone that he hoped I already had the software because his rep had pressured him to pull all his copys off the shelf...

It kind of worried me and I thought I'd pass this along.

Thanks

Gryphon

Sorry I forgot to login...

Above post is mine.

Thanks

Gryphon

johnnygoodman wrote:Greetings,

My father and I will be sitting down with Respironics next week at Medtrade to discuss the Encore Pro issue. I have a great deal of respect for Respironics and believe a reasonable solution can and will be reached.

I will be posting to CPAPtalk shortly after the meeting to let everyone know where things stand.

Johnny

Johnny,

Is Respironics actually considering restricting their software from the folks who REALLY need and use it?

Thanks,

Den

I'll put on my devil's advocate hat (actually more like tinfoil hat )here & say that one line of reasoning I can think of that both Resmed and Respironics might want to stop people using their software, is that some of us non medical folk have the in-depth skills and capability to start looking into how the machines actually work. The evidence to date is that neither company wants us doing that. They don't even want the medical profession doing it.

It is far easier for them to sell machines when they can't be questioned about the real effectiveness of them or their features in particular situations. The Auto CPAP is one set of machines that has caused a rift between medical profession/researchers and manufacturers.

Possibly the same is being ramped up in regard to the SV class machines now emerging. They appear to represent another marketplace battle between the market leaders.

Naturally, manufacturers do have strong incentives to keep selling their products (survival & growth). If one manufacturer gets ahead of its rivals, you can bet the other manufacturers would not want people being able to work out that there is a serious gap in the quality/capability of their brand vs another. That may dent the lesser manufacturer's ability to out market the leader with smoke & mirrors claims about what their inferior machine can do against a better one if this scenario were to emerge.

If anyone is in any doubt about the size & growth of the xPAP market, and its future potential, just go look at the 5 year share history of the major players. Respironics and Resmed have both been blue chip stocks in this market.

German companies are wanting to move in and take a slice of the pie. You can bet that Chinese & Indian medical manufacturing companies will also want to get into this market (both have a rapidly growing middle class who can now start to afford what used to be luxury class items).

Us having access to the software seems to me to be a threat.

DSM

I think that the effect of this hypothetical policy will be burned bridges with the end user. But I doubt that it'll keep the software out of the end users hands. The difference will be that it'll be free for those who venture to unscrupulous websites that point to pirated software. This happens quite a bit with everything from sophisticated design software to the ubiquitous Microsoft office suite. Once the distribution is limited, people will find a way.

I hope...

-Leaves

P.S. I'll be part of the cause.

Kinda hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube.
The information is available and many in our generation (and the next generations to follow) are not content to rely on the "medical professionals" to tell us how we're doing......we want to know for ourselves.

Information is power.

Den

The problem with that, it basically a software that's only need by us. so the base for exposure is small compaired to popular software. I won't need newer, I have a lifetime supply of tanks, and I know how to use them. Jim

It's the people that have to have the latest and greatest, that will be out in the Cold.

leaveye wrote:I think that the effect of this hypothetical policy will be burned bridges with the end user.

I think it would push a lot of people to Puritan Bennett machines provided Puritan Bennett doesn't pull SilverLining as well.

I guess we just have to start buying "other" machines. If I want to know what I'm doing sleep-wise, I'd rather look at a 420e Silverlining report anyway.

All someone has to do is tag on to the SmartCard chip contacts via the machine and hack the key and write their own software, you would have a huge market, hit up all the Respironics dealers and doctors, I'm sure they would be interested in something that worked and was based upon a 7-day week instead of a 5 or 6 day week as it is versions prior to 1.8

Dell brings back XP to desktops:
http://news.com.com/Dell+brings+back+XP ... =nefd.lede

Ubuntu Releases 7.04 desktop and server (Portland site pretty fast):
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

[quote="dsm"]I'll put on my devil's advocate hat (actually more like tinfoil hat )here & say that one line of reasoning I can think of that both Resmed and Respironics might want to stop people using their software, is that some of us non medical folk have the in-depth skills and capability to start looking into how the machines actually work. The evidence to date is that neither company wants us doing that. They don't even want the medical profession doing it.

It is far easier for them to sell machines when they can't be questioned about the real effectiveness of them or their features in particular situations. The Auto CPAP is one set of machines that has caused a rift between medical profession/researchers and manufacturers.

Possibly the same is being ramped up in regard to the SV class machines now emerging. They appear to represent another marketplace battle between the market leaders.

Naturally, manufacturers do have strong incentives to keep selling their products (survival & growth). If one manufacturer gets ahead of its rivals, you can bet the other manufacturers would not want people being able to work out that there is a serious gap in the quality/capability of their brand vs another. That may dent the lesser manufacturer's ability to out market the leader with smoke & mirrors claims about what their inferior machine can do against a better one if this scenario were to emerge.

If anyone is in any doubt about the size & growth of the xPAP market, and its future potential, just go look at the 5 year share history of the major players. Respironics and Resmed have both been blue chip stocks in this market.

German companies are wanting to move in and take a slice of the pie. You can bet that Chinese & Indian medical manufacturing companies will also want to get into this market (both have a rapidly growing middle class who can now start to afford what used to be luxury class items).

Us having access to the software seems to me to be a threat.

DSM