Well, that's exactly what I'm talking about...

Leave those off, and you will be in a store on the same shelf as all the Majors. Only a small percentage of potential customers have the capability of determining what's better based on specs alone. Most want a fair bit of 'proof of the pudding' before they walk out the store with one.

An even smaller percentage is going to already have licenses for the on-board VSTi's (and are still going to need multiple licenses to use on both the computer and the Groove). All I'm doing is looking at this from a marketing POV. If your product is on a shelf next to something that sounds great, and yours doesn't, despite POTENTIALLY (after as much work as it takes to get the MS to beat an OOTB arranger ) being better, guess what 90% of the customers are going to buy?

Now, I'm not saying the customers are always RIGHT, I'm just saying 'The customer is always right!'

If preloading it with premium VSTi's gets you the sale, and leaving it totally up to the user doesn't (as Dom has found out with the MS), wouldn't it make sense to sell it in its' most sellable condition...?

Why not negotiate a 'dealer's license' deal with the VSTi people, that expires after six months (renewable) or when the dealer reports the unit as 'sold'. That way, on the shelf it sounds its' best, but the user still has to buy the VSTi's (but the factory presets will ROCK! ), and the buyer is almost SURE to purchase them just to get the factory presets again...

Only an idiot thinks that he can buy an 'open' product and he WON'T have to load it up with a fair chunk of premium VSTi's on board before it sounds its' best. Load it up at the factory... If the idiot decides he'd rather trade sound and convenience for cost, then deauthorize it, and sell it to him 'bare bones'...

But at least SHOW the thing at its' best, not the same way Dom has for the MS... If Dom had taken this course with the MS, and provided a TOTL VSTi set and TOTL styles developed for it, well, there doesn't seem to be a great shortage of people buying Audya's and T3's at $4500+... That bunch would take the MS FAR more seriously if it sounded as good or better than these, at about the same price. But to save money, I believe he sank the ship.

For the want of a nail...

If he thinks that the WS crowd are any more willing to do ALL the work themselves, he has only to ask himself why the M3, MoXS and FantomG come with such extensive content already provided... Let's face it, if Yamaha et al thought the products would sell anywhere NEAR as well 'bare bones', you bet their LIFE they would save themselves the cost of providing the onboard content..!