Together, my wife and I both have our own AUGEN TheBook E-Readers and I also have an AUGEN GenBOOK 7.4. Complaints? ZERO and all three were purchased after AUGEN had shut down so we have never known the luxury of Augen technical support. We knew up front that we were buying orphaned equipment and approached the units accordingly and are very happy with them.

Having spent 30 years in engineering design and support for a machinery manufacturer I fully understand Augen’s situation. It is a risk faced by any company that attempts to bring a quality product to consumers at realistic prices in a market dominated by big name OEM’s who sell at greatly inflated prices. The Big Names want nothing more than to attract those who want the status of owning their currently prestigious item and willing to be overcharged to get it.

Sadly the proliferation of PCs and other forms of digital information devices has been fueled by an entire generation whose skills only support Point & Click / Plug and Play operation. If they would spend the time to understand the equipment they purchase with the same dedication that is commonly allowed for online social networking their problems would quickly disappear. The rewards for the efforts are many.

I applaud AUGEN’s efforts and having not yet seen an indication of AUGEN’s ultimate demise, I sincerely hope the issues can be resolved and their products will be once again available.

To those who find my comments insulting, I apologize. However if you spend the time to understand these new devices, Augen’s or otherwise, you will quickly see what you perceived as insults were purely constructive in nature.

“A lack of knowledge is never a fault, it is failing to correct that lack of knowledge where a fault resides”. JFF