OK guys....
I have negotiated with Thom on the cost... he initially brought the hourly rate down to 50% of the norm, but even that was going to leave the price/person prohibitively high. So I discussed it with him again and he has very kindly offered only to count half the initial hours he works on it, effectively bringing this down to a 1/4 of the total cost.
This leaves us with approximately $75 per person as an average contribution. I note that some people were prepared to pay a little more, but many were not able to offer as much as this. What I need to do now is get everyone on this thread to PM me directly with the maximum they can afford to contribute for the project so that I can try to cover the costs, and make up the shortfalls where necessary.
This is the point at which you need to commit to this payment as any drop-outs later will mean a financial impact to all the others involved. So:
If you have posted here already that you would like to contribute, but have changed your mind since - please PM me immediately to tell me this!!
If you have posted here already that you would like to contribute - please PM me immediately with a $ value that you are committing to.
Once all are in, I will post back here to confirm whether we have made the target or not. If so, then I will coordinate with Thom to arrange payments so that he can begin procuring the necessary analyser.
Best regards,
Col