Easyman,
Try to find something that a government 'won't' fork over cash for. The list of pork barrel nonsense and $800 toilet seats is a neverending litany of the foibles of government spending.
There are thousands of companies that derive their entire parasitic existence from the neverending spigot of government largesse. They never have to prove results or demonstrate that they are earning their keep, they just keep sending in their grant requests.
That this grant gives a hint of a promise that future sales 'may' be contingent on the results of the validation, is at least a positive factor in the long long list of negatives that have occured. To suggest that after 5 years, a $40K grant is evidence of significant momentum is a bit of a stretch.
This thread started with the discussion of whether the latest PR was or was not fluff. It has since degenerated into a discussion over the inherent value built into such a 'validation' by the Australian Government. However if we discuss the grant in it's simplest terms; a very small amount of money, to provide a service that could (or should) have been done by the company on it's own, in order to qualify a new feature (Retinome) to an already existing platform (DNAWitness), that then 'might' be purchased by the police on a case by case basis, then it takes on a more fluff like aspect.
Remember that Frudakis himself has suggested that the Forensic side of the business, while eventually having the potential to become self sustaining will 'never' be a big money maker. So we have a SMALL amount of grant money that MIGHT lead to a few more sales of a SECONDARY product, all of this appearing in the framework of an investment community on the edge of its seat regarding the completion of a major deal that so far has not been mentioned by the company for months.
It is not surprising in this context, that those who are so desperately wishing for news of any kind have grasped this latest missive to their bosom and cling to it fervently as validation of their investment prowess, but at the end of the day, it is fluff, pure and simple.
regards,
frog
AI
