[Bharat Nain]

I have to agree with what Dave and Greg said. This is a huge step on the part of FIRST. I wish IFI communicated with us earlier when they had the 8.3/8.2v bug and the radio problems so teams like us were not wondering if something was wrong with our code. All this was a result of a version 1.0 as mentioned above. I hope FIRST puts in a lot of time and effort into pre-testing the new control system. There are more than enough off-season competitions through out the continent for this to be tested. The hardest part of accepting a new control system is their familiarity with FIRST. IFI has been a very long time partner and they know the way FIRST works and its requirements. I hope we know who the new vendor is and I hope they attend many competitions next year to understand what is required. Version 1.0 of the new control system should be 2007-2008 off-seasons so by the time the season rolls around, a lot of the bugs are worked out and there is considerable amount of experience among FIRST teams. Like many others, I will not be happy if we have to deal with a very buggy system in the 2009 season. I am sure FIRST realizes this but I hope they take appropriate steps to ensure this wont happen. At the championship, we were told there will be increased communication between FIRST and teams, so we should get updates as this progresses.