thanks tim.
now i understand .
it is a knife edged line between the two. most aftermarket accesories and over that line a bit and open to interpitation.
i dont see the harm really. most of us here bougth the festool parralel guides and didnt like them . and are looking for a better solution.
i think i would look at this in a similar way to a patent issue.
basically it boils down to are you coping the design or improving on it. .
all of these accesories improve on their predicessor because there would be no need for them if they were the same.
i think that natural selection helps keep all the top brands tools modern and cutting edge.
i think there is a lot of potentail for the parralel guides (festool version) if all these tweeks and modifications were done on them. i have to agree with julian t that a few more rounds of R and D are needed to make them all they can be