Torn, I think everyone, including Deere, will agree that Apex has struggled.    But, to Deere's great credit (and I have publicly documented issues with Deere) EIC was available to third-party software vendors so that they could interact with the GS2 BEFORE Apex and the GS2 were released.   For all the progress that Deere has made in opening up their systems to third-party vendors, CNH and Ag Leader have equally regressed.   Is it Ag Leader's or CNH's right to say you have to purchase and use their software to interact with their hardware?   Yep.   But if the 800 lb gorilla got the message that they needed to open up, it is a shame it has been lost on the CNH "consortium".

In my opinion, Ag Leader has made a decision that software is a significant part of their business, and they are going to use their hardware and CNH hardware to ensure a feature advantage for their offering, rather than hoping that strong third-party support promotes their hardware.    And as long as people keep writing checks for Ag Leader and CNH hardware, their business decision is validated.

Frankly, had JDOffice been nearly as good as SMS, Deere might not have felt the need to open up.  Who knows?

Given that Deere has given us the ability to fully interact with their hardware, and that the GS2 is as powerful as any other hardware solution, MapShots actively encourages our customers to migrate to Deere hardware, given a choice between the Deere and Ag Leader/CNH.   Actually, at this point, we really promote any harware other than Ag Leader and CNH.   Agcohas become fantastic to work with, and Raven is coming around nicely.   MidTech works with us fine, too.  When Ag Leader and CNH give me the same ability to make their hardware look as good as they do within their own software offerings, they get back on our "recommended" list... for what little that is worth.