As readers would gather from previous posts, I’m a fan of Elektron hardware. Yesterday I ran across this Synth Anatomy article talking about new corporate ownership of Elektron. The article included this statement: “They promise that for customers, partners, and the wider Elektron community, day-to-day operations continue as usual.”
When will amateur journalists learn that public company statements, while honest and well intentioned, do not constitute a promise? The only promise a company makes is called a contract — and it’s signed and usually involves money changing hands. A statement without a contract behind it is an intention, an aspiration, or a prediction based on current knowledge. When significant changes occur in the future, anything company decision makers said earlier may need to be revisited and revised.
Just to be clear — I say this as someone who fully believes Elektron will continue to honor commitments and turn out good products. I’m not overly concerned about this news. As an Elektron user, I also appreciate the information. As with many companies, there are lots of good and talented people working there, trying to make awesome stuff for us musicians to create art. But they can’t control or accurately predict the future.
So holding them to promises they didn’t make is senseless and naïve at best, and wilfully stupid at worst.
Therefore, I want Internet content writers to behave more responsibly. By creating the impression that someone made a “promise,” you contribute to misinformation. When a company makes changes, people then feel justified seeing that as betrayal of said “promise” — needlessly perpetuating a culture of over-entitlement.
If you don’t agree this culture exists… check out any synth forum and watch people endlessly wail and gnash their teeth at not receiving new features for something they bought in the past — in some cases, years ago. It’s an amazing time to live in when hardware makers can deliver firmware update that bring new superpowers to gear we already own. They do it because it creates brand satisfaction when a previous purchase continues to build value over time. Not because they made anyone a promise. But to look at these discussions you’d think someone had a contract in hand on which the manufacturer reneged. Sorry, NO.
Do better, Synth Anatomy. And that goes for the rest of you, too.
Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash.