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A few further refinements on what was said above.
You were never able to keep the old control system permanently. You could keep them after the season by putting down a deposit to FIRST. I think the deposit was around $1000 but you had to return them around October.
As for the Tekin Speed Controllers, it was not only not unsual for them to go up in smoke, it wasn't that unusual for them to literally catch fire during a match. I don't think anyone was upset when we got the InnovationFIRST Speed Controllers (which first appeared in 1999).
Other differences included the fact that the radio modems were hardcoded for a certain channel to operate on (it was at least not configurable via software) so that you hooked the equivalent of the operator interface (it was a much simpler box) to a radio modem that FIRST had supplied to the field. There also wasn't a competition port.
The final change was the fact that the additional $1000 for the first event you register for is for the control system. The price was bumped up in 2000 to account for the fact that we now get to keep the control system.
Matt
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