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What I'd like to see is Kurzweil predict a new version of the K2600. Preferably one that doesn't cost $4000.

There are lots of versions of Kurzweil keyboards, model K2661 is the latest i think, before that, K2600, K2500, K2000, etc. Perhaps K250 was the first to make great orchestral sounds.

http://www.kurzweilmusicsystems.com/

I think this is his biggest accomplishment. As far as all that futuristic stuff, I don't know...

I knew that name sounded familiar.

Ray is also the man behind Kurzweil Music Products who make a lot of high end and mid range gear, including very nice keyboards.

This is the big question, isn't it? Let's see if we can extrapolate from a few non-computer devices that I have had personal experience upgrading:

My modem was purchased with the K56Flex protocol in it. Later on, I got a firmware upgrade to v.90 - which was promised when I originally bought the thing. But they're not offering me an upgrade to v.92 protocol. (Of course, ever since I got broadband, the modem isn't used anyway, so it's a moot point for me.)

Another example: my gateway router. It comes with PPPoE protocol support. Some early models had bugs in the PPPoE stack. Firmware updates were released to fix it. But the first-generation models that didn't offer PPPoE at all didn't get updates to add the protocol.

And yet another. I have a Kurzweil K2500 synthesizer. Kurzweil periodically releases system software updates. Mostly to fix bugs and stuff. A few years ago, one of their updates introduced a completely new feature - Hammond B3 emulation. To their credit, this feature was made available free of charge, which I did not expect. They did not, however make this feature available to users of the older K2000 models even though the K2000 chipset could probably have supported it with most of of the same functionality.

Note that in all three cases a corporation released a firmware update that was applicable to some customers and not others. They made a product-level decision about how far they would extend support. Some customers are denied upgrades because their hardware can't handle it (e.g. a 33.6K modem user who wants an upgrade to 56K), some because the development effort would be substantial (e.g. Kurzweil not porting their B3 mode to the K2000), and some for purely business reasons (wanting to sell new units, testing effort, etc.)

These kinds of decisions are made all the time. I apprecitate it when companies take the extra effort to give me features that they had no promised me, but I don't expect this, and I certainly don't expect it to be free.

This is the big question, isn't it? Let's see if we can extrapolate from a few non-computer devices that I have had personal experience upgrading:

My modem was purchased with the K56Flex protocol in it. Later on, I got a firmware upgrade to v.90 - which was promised when I originally bought the thing. But they're not offering me an upgrade to v.92 protocol. (Of course, ever since I got broadband, the modem isn't used anyway, so it's a moot point for me.)

Another example: my gateway router. It comes with PPPoE protocol support. Some early models had bugs in the PPPoE stack. Firmware updates were released to fix it. But the first-generation models that didn't offer PPPoE at all didn't get updates to add the protocol.

And yet another. I have a Kurzweil K2500 synthesizer. Kurzweil periodically releases system software updates. Mostly to fix bugs and stuff. A few years ago, one of their updates introduced a completely new feature - Hammond B3 emulation. To their credit, this feature was made available free of charge, which I did not expect. They did not, however make this feature available to users of the older K2000 models even though the K2000 chipset could probably have supported it with most of of the same functionality.

Note that in all three cases a corporation released a firmware update that was applicable to some customers and not others. They made a product-level decision about how far they would extend support. Some customers are denied upgrades because their hardware can't handle it (e.g. a 33.6K modem user who wants an upgrade to 56K), some because the development effort would be substantial (e.g. Kurzweil not porting their B3 mode to the K2000), and some for purely business reasons (wanting to sell new units, testing effort, etc.)

These kinds of decisions are made all the time. I apprecitate it when companies take the extra effort to give me features that they had no promised me, but I don't expect this, and I certainly don't expect it to be free.

This is the big question, isn't it? Let's see if we can extrapolate from a few non-computer devices that I have had personal experience upgrading:

My modem was purchased with the K56Flex protocol in it. Later on, I got a firmware upgrade to v.90 - which was promised when I originally bought the thing. But they're not offering me an upgrade to v.92 protocol. (Of course, ever since I got broadband, the modem isn't used anyway, so it's a moot point for me.)

Another example: my gateway router. It comes with PPPoE protocol support. Some early models had bugs in the PPPoE stack. Firmware updates were released to fix it. But the first-generation models that didn't offer PPPoE at all didn't get updates to add the protocol.

And yet another. I have a Kurzweil K2500 synthesizer. Kurzweil periodically releases system software updates. Mostly to fix bugs and stuff. A few years ago, one of their updates introduced a completely new feature - Hammond B3 emulation. To their credit, this feature was made available free of charge, which I did not expect. They did not, however make this feature available to users of the older K2000 models even though the K2000 chipset could probably have supported it with most of of the same functionality.

Note that in all three cases a corporation released a firmware update that was applicable to some customers and not others. They made a product-level decision about how far they would extend support. Some customers are denied upgrades because their hardware can't handle it (e.g. a 33.6K modem user who wants an upgrade to 56K), some because the development effort would be substantial (e.g. Kurzweil not porting their B3 mode to the K2000), and some for purely business reasons (wanting to sell new units, testing effort, etc.)

These kinds of decisions are made all the time. I apprecitate it when companies take the extra effort to give me features that they had no promised me, but I don't expect this, and I certainly don't expect it to be free.

I guess I'm saying that I don't see why it wouldn't work on today's GNU/Linux systems.