I dont think that this is a fair comparrison as you are not taking into account all the man hours that you have to put in just to make the open keyboard mirror the ease of use of a closed system each time you upgrade the software. You are also ignoring the resale value of your hardware when you upgrade from one closed keyboard to the next. I think if you were to take into consideration all the factors, the the real cost margins in terms of both time and money would be much much closer and maybe even cheaper under the closed system keyboards. Thats with the understanding that your time is valuable and that tinkering with applications to try and make music is not actually making music (which is what i as a musician prefer to do) Just my opinion folks.

Obviously the advantage of the open system is that you can custom make your instrument do what you like.....if you have the technical ability and essentially , access to help and support from experts. The main selling proposition of the Open labs business model is that they give their customers access to a technical support helpline. If the MS ever goes mainstream Dom will certainly need to do this. whilst he is available to personally answer your queries it does nopt take much imagination to see the dificulties he might face if you the MS take up really increased

[This message has been edited by spalding1968 (edited 03-27-2010).]