The question no one wants (or dares) to ask

**abrookfield** · 03-01-2006, 09:19 PM

I'm a newbie and am looking at which front end(s) I'm going to use

Obviously RR is prime choice cause it's free BUT I also like the availability of XML and a true "sdk"

SO

How much is CentraFuse going to cost once it goes "Live"?

I'd prefer to know up front rather than going "whole hog" CentraFuse then getting stiffed for another $300+ if you know what I mean

(ducks, expecing to get flamed all over the place)

**Freelander** · 03-01-2006, 09:48 PM

you are worried about going "whole hog"? dude, you just bought your computer last week. have you even received it yet? just install the different free front ends and see which you like best. you'd be an idiot to choose a front end by the first few people's opinions that respond to this post.

**nkotch** · 03-01-2006, 09:50 PM

Yea, definitely download several and play around with them, even if it's just on your current computer. As you play around you'll quickly start leaning towards one or the other.

**DoubleC** · 03-01-2006, 10:26 PM

To answer your question it will probably range from free to quite a bit of coin depending on what you add to the package.

There is a lite version that will be free don't have the link to the thread handy but David posted on it a while back

then it goes to pro and enterprise levels. Price really seems to depend on what the cost of the destinator software will be for the pro version. Plus, now there will have to be some hardware packaged with it I would assume for the real time traffic information ect. ect.

But yeah try the other ones for the hell of it you will probably be plesantly surprised with what they can do once you get past the learning curve.

**abrookfield** · 03-02-2006, 10:44 AM

Originally Posted by Freelander

you are worried about going "whole hog"? dude, you just bought your computer last week. have you even received it yet? just install the different free front ends and see which you like best. you'd be an idiot to choose a front end by the first few people's opinions that respond to this post.

Up and runniung, including wifi, TV/FM (just not installed in the car yet)

**tC_install** · 03-02-2006, 01:53 PM

Originally Posted by Freelander

you are worried about going "whole hog"? dude, you just bought your computer last week. have you even received it yet? just install the different free front ends and see which you like best. you'd be an idiot to choose a front end by the first few people's opinions that respond to this post.

However dumb I may feel for getting my rig installed and first trying Centrafuse and sticking with it due to laziness, Centrafuse is a great start! I plan on trying RR out too though.

**abrookfield** · 03-02-2006, 02:06 PM

Originally Posted by tC_install

I plan on trying RR out too though.

No problems with RR, it's running great on my box (even with my OWN skin). I'm just wary about the possibility of a "sucker punch" from CentraFuse when it's out of beta (been there, done that... the last one of those cost me $495 because I didn't have time for a whole new development cycle), that's why I asked the question.. "How much"....

**evandude** · 03-02-2006, 02:24 PM

When I went for my first long road trip just a few days after I finally got my touchscreen, I was running out of time to get it all working, and I literally set up the frontend the night before my trip. I didn't do extensive searches of people's opinions and stuff, I just started trying things out; I happened to try centrafuse first, and I really liked it, but after a half hour or so of tinkering I just could not get street atlas to embed, so I went and installed RR. Only took a little while to configure it, and everything worked fine, I had music and GPS navigation, and it was flawless for my entire trip (about 12-14 hours both ways).

The point is, it doesn't take much time and effort to try out a few frontends. There's no reason that you have to pick one frontend and stick with it before you've even tried other ones, or for that matter before you've tried any at all. Looking at screenshots, reading feature lists, and listening to opinions is nowhere near as helpful as actually trying one out, and probably takes more time anyway.