Encore Pro no longer for sale on CPAP.com

Bella wrote:I'll warn you, Solitaire is meaner.

So THAT'S what took them so long.

oceanpearl wrote:It won't be long before microsoft announces that they will no longer support XP. Then everyone will be scurrying around to buy Vista. LOL

Actually, no. Microsoft has committed to supporting XP through at least 2013 or 2014, if I recall right. There was an announcement to that effect recently.

This may be a silly question, but have we considered putting together our own software?

I can even put together a reader...


Would there be any interest?

Wolfmarsh wrote:This may be a silly question, but have we considered putting together our own software?

I can even put together a reader...


Would there be any interest?

Wolfmarsh, it looks like a few are toying with the idea. I hope someone does it.

viewtopic.php?t=20691
May 31, 2007 subject: Legality of software restrictions

Wolfmarsh wrote:This may be a silly question, but have we considered putting together our own software?

I can even put together a reader...


Would there be any interest?

Good luck with that.

Correct. just bought a Respironics myself, and find this news distressing.

CheezWiz wrote:

JeffH wrote:Did a search and it's gone.

WOW!

I just got mine delivered on Monday.

If they did force them to pull it, then you can bet it will be on BitTorrent before long . All they are doing is punishing those who wish to be honest and creating software pirates.

Morons...

Wolfmarsh,

Why don't you talk to jskinner and mhacker?

arrrrgggg..

I found site that had the1.8 and they had to quit selling it last Friday!!!! I could have ordered it there!

very frustrating!

Why seamonkey21, I'm surprised to hear you suggest something like the use of BitTorrent! Why, that might be illegal! Oh Snap!

What I can't believe is that it is not already up there. I've looked.

The other problem with that distribution method is that most computer users are not going to be familiar with BT usage. A pass-it-forward "cell-based" system is probably better for this sort of thing, in parallel with BT, not that any of us would consider such a thing. I mean if Res* says we don't need to see our own data, that's the end of discussion, right?

Any 1.8 users out there, feel free to PM me to discuss your satisfaction with that software.

I chose my machine because software was available, and the day I ordered my machine, the software was pulled. That Sucks.

As a programmer, I'd love to work towards a solution that could serve the needs of the patients..

BUT..

Since my machine is using a "smart Card" designed for SECURE storage of data, writing software to read that card could easily be construed as a violation of the "Digital Millenium Copyright Act".
Even if the encoding was trivial, the law forbids it.

I'm all for finding a better solution, but I'd prefer a path that doesn't include lawyers, court cases, and possible jail time.

I'm dismayed at what our government is doing to us, and amazed that the public at large is allowing it. But that is yet another topic.

I hope I'm wrong.

LyleHaze

It will be at least a little interesting to view this graph - https://www.cpap.com/brandChartLines.ph ... l-AUTOCPAP - in the coming months. If Puritan Bennett continues to sell its software to mere mortals, that yellow line will likely hit the ceiling (or raise the ceiling.) Note the major dip taken by the ResMed Vantage the quarter after they blocked software sales. (Q4 of 2006.)

LyleHaze wrote: Since my machine is using a "smart Card" designed for SECURE storage of data, writing software to read that card could easily be construed as a violation of the "Digital Millenium Copyright Act".
Even if the encoding was trivial, the law forbids it.

You ALWAYS have the right to your own data. The law does not prevent you from accessing your own data. If you can write code to read the smart card AND as long as you read only your own data, no laws are broken.

yardbird wrote:You ALWAYS have the right to your own data. The law does not prevent you from accessing your own data. If you can write code to read the smart card AND as long as you read only your own data, no laws are broken.

Ah, but is it our data? I thought software that Respironics wrote put that data on the card. Sure, it may pertain to us, but it is not a part of our medical records.....

But really, even if it is legal, keep in mind that anyone can sue you for anything, even if it's not accurate in the slightest. Who has more money for lawyers? If they don't like what you're doing, they can always sue you for everything under the sun, and then it's your job to prove them wrong. I'm not that rich, personally.

I'm 55. I'll tie 'em up in court so long that we'll all be dead before it comes to a conclusion. I'm still working on cracking into a smart card so that the data can be extracted. Whatever I come up with will be read only. No changing the card (no formatting, erasing, anything.... strictly reading). The information pertains to my health maintenance. If it's there, I want it. Let 'em sue..... 'course that's meaningless until and IF I ever get the data off the smart card

my thoughts are:

1. You are only reading your own data so there are no privacy issues you have to be concerned with.

2. You are NOT doing anything with the machine (at all), you are ONLY reading data that is completely "separate" from the machine at the time you read it. Once you pull that card out of the machine it is no longer a medical device, you have a SmartCard in your hand with data on it. Your own data at that.

3. If I gain the ability to read the data from that card, I can do what I want with it from that point on. I can decide I want that data in daily delimited ascii text file that you can import into your Excel spreadsheet and create your own reports if I want. Then all I need is a SmartCard reader, small driver I tweak from Mako and a small program that reads the data and writes it to a file on your PC.

Of course at this point it is just speculation on my part, still have to put together a draft proposal for my hardware buddy to look at. I know he is busy and you don't waste his time. At this point, I don't even know if he has the time or interest in doing this, but I'll run it by him. Should be able to do that in the next day or so. I have a machine I can send him if needed, but I don't think I'll even need to do that, knowing him he will respond with a small binary program that reads the card and says try that. This guy can write assembly code in his sleep.

But the more I think about it, the better we may be to just to use the existing SmartCard technology found and develop a way to read the existing card data. I know that card has CPU, memory, real-time clock and other features already built in. That is why you use it, cards are cheap, they do a lot and save you from having to design those components in your product. That circuitry is already miniaturized. That data may be just sitting there for the taking. If you were going to put a door key on it, why would you also encrypt the data. It is not like the data has your SS# or bank account info. Sure if I started snail mailing it around the country I might want the data also encrypted. Same chip used in GSM cellphones, that is how they keep the clock running on them, all your phone book data can be stored on them etc., etc.