Everybody calm down. SI, DD, AQ, IA and others are all good companies and all make good products. If everybody liked the same thing there would only be one company. I don't think you all would be talking that way if you were in the same room.
We are small companies and we each take pride in what we make; we don't all do things the same way but you don't see the owners taking cheap shots at each other. I look at other companies products and often I am very impressed with how they improve on older designs and/or create new ones. Small companies have made design changes that are soon copied by the big players as well as our Chinese friends. DD has been around a long time and its designs and inovations are some of the most copied in the world. The same is true of many of todays small companies.
Some of us are not interested in going mainstream. We like it when we only have to answer to our customers, employees and our selves. We can do it our way; I don't care to answer to a marketing department or bankers. I am sure most of the small company owners feel the same way.
Some small companies like to stock inventory because they buy from build houses and lead times are often not met. Some of us build our products as ordered because it works best for us. Some of us use a dealer network and some don't. We all do what works for us. The important thing is we force the big companies to make a better product and everyone gains.
I think one of the worst things about this business is when a small company builds a good name and product, the big companies swoop in with the big bucks; buy them out and the product goes to hell in a handbasket.
