What Is Your Worst Fear About The Pandora ?


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*riiing* My doorbell rings. Is it... the day? I go to my front door and open it in anticipation. I find a small brown box stares me in the face. I stand there for a minute looking at it in shock. I snap out of my trance, rush it to the kitchen, and rip the brown box to find a small, black rectangle. I pull it out, and drool for what seems like an hour. Eventually I flip it open, turn it on, and a video shows. I look closer and read the text... YOU'VE BEEN RICK ROLLED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Chip said:
An onslaught of threads from confused, panicky, demanding users who don't understand the device they purchased and lack the sense to figure it out based on the resources provided. This is not so much a "fear" as a "dread of an unpleasant certainty". "Foreboding" comes close. Other more eloquent languages probably have a better word for this.

Today was basically a trailer for the cavalcade of inanity and entitlement that this forum will be for the first several weeks after the Pandora ships.
Wow.... you beat me to it Chip. :) This is my biggest fear and I see it happening as we speak. I think some people are looking at this as the only thing they have in their lives and have to obsess about it are only going to make things worse. If you couldn't bear waiting it out and couldn't afford the payment, you shouldn't have bought one.

I would be delighted to see this at the end of November, but I certainly am not going to freak out if I don't. There are way too many factors that the build team does not have control of and lynching them for each one isn't going to do anyone any good.

Maybe there should be a "Paranoia" forum to keep all of this out of the main view, it's getting out of hand.
 
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On second thought, my biggest fear is that I'm in the group who's gotta refund their money. My dad was already very unsure about paying out of hand for this the first time, but a second? He may not bite, and understandably so; from an outsider's standpoint this could look like a ruse/scam/poorly managed operation.
 
Yep, repaying would be far from ideal, and I'd be rather irritable if I had to do that - the Aussie dollar has taken a *massive* dive since a I paid and it would cost a fair bit more to pay in foreign currency. I can only hope Craig cuts a break to those whose currencies have dived if he has a choice about which groups to select for repayment (some of you may indeed be advantaged by paying now due to a favourable currency fluctuation for your currency), or indeed accepts a payment in equivalent Aussie dollars......

Cheers
Simon
 
Chip said:
An onslaught of threads from confused, panicky, demanding users who don't understand the device they purchased and lack the sense to figure it out based on the resources provided. This is not so much a "fear" as a "dread of an unpleasant certainty". "Foreboding" comes close. Other more eloquent languages probably have a better word for this.
Not being a prolific poster to these forums (but always watching... always watching) I totally agree with Chip. I would have hoped everyone knows the score and what the GP2X scene and this venture are all about by now. It's not a PSP and it's not made by SONY! Give the guys a break, sit back, trust them (they've so far been more fair than you have the right to expect), and wait for launch day.

If you jumped in without looking and now have problems with the way things have turned out (and nothings actually gone wrong yet!) then maybe you should be a bit more careful with your next investments. It may not be a £200 gadget next time but something really important.

Jeez, just relax :)
 
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centrlink said:
Yep, repaying would be far from ideal, and I'd be rather irritable if I had to do that - the Aussie dollar has taken a *massive* dive since a I paid and it would cost a fair bit more to pay in foreign currency. I can only hope Craig cuts a break to those whose currencies have dived if he has a choice about which groups to select for repayment (some of you may indeed be advantaged by paying now due to a favourable currency fluctuation for your currency), or indeed accepts a payment in equivalent Aussie dollars......

Cheers
Simon
Agreed, but on a different count. Our little American Dollar has risen massively against every other currency in the past few weeks, and for all the shit we've been put through as far as paying goes, it'd make an awful nice "Sorry" if they let me plunk down my cash at the current exchange rate. :lol:
 
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CronoTriggerfan said:
centrlink said:
Yep, repaying would be far from ideal, and I'd be rather irritable if I had to do that - the Aussie dollar has taken a *massive* dive since a I paid and it would cost a fair bit more to pay in foreign currency. I can only hope Craig cuts a break to those whose currencies have dived if he has a choice about which groups to select for repayment (some of you may indeed be advantaged by paying now due to a favourable currency fluctuation for your currency), or indeed accepts a payment in equivalent Aussie dollars......

Cheers
Simon
Agreed, but on a different count. Our little American Dollar has risen massively against every other currency in the past few weeks, and for all the shit we've been put through as far as paying goes, it'd make an awful nice "Sorry" if they let me plunk down my cash at the current exchange rate. :lol:

Never thought of that! ahaha.
 
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CronoTriggerfan said:
Agreed, but on a different count. Our little American Dollar has risen massively against every other currency in the past few weeks, and for all the shit we've been put through as far as paying goes, it'd make an awful nice "Sorry" if they let me plunk down my cash at the current exchange rate. :lol:
Just to add a touch of perspective, it only seems like it's risen massively this past month because it spent most of 2007 dropping like a rock. :p
 
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If, due to the current turmoil, anyone wishes to relinquish their order spot, let me know. I'll make sure you don't lose anything on fees, etc. You get your money back, I get the Pandora you were too afraid to buy.
PM me if you are interested.
Thanks
j.
 
Chip said:
An onslaught of threads from confused, panicky, demanding users who don't understand the device they purchased and lack the sense to figure it out based on the resources provided. This is not so much a "fear" as a "dread of an unpleasant certainty". "Foreboding" comes close. Other more eloquent languages probably have a better word for this.

Today was basically a trailer for the cavalcade of inanity and entitlement that this forum will be for the first several weeks after the Pandora ships.
Jeez get over yourself Chip! "Other more eloquent languages probably have a better word for this." The language was good enough for Shakespeare and a few other folks to express themselves. Or, were they all just less perceptive than you? And as for calling the folks who bought the product simpletons ("lack the sense to figure it out") - way to foster community spirit there bud.

Why do you intelligent folks who know a lot about the pandora have to be so condescending to us poor clueless folks who paid our hard earned cash and are now confused after the head honcho poured gas on the flames of confusion and caused the panic to spread. He could have as easily poured water on those flames.

BTW - I'm glad it's got 256MB and that the lead developer clearly sees this as a UMPC - my first posts on the board got me into a p*ssing match with folks deriding the query about more memory. I particularly liked the posts where folks were harking back to prior GUIs and claiming one never needed more than X, Y or Z.

So, ride the cavalcade of inanity all you want but please get off the "I'm holier than thou" bus before outright condescension sets in. Your too knowledgeable to have to ignore.

Now Craig - for the love of <insert your favorite deity here> can you give us some CLEAR and UNAMBIGUOUS news about when those folks will have to re-order and how long they will have to re-order and what the communication method will be - including back ups (first time around I got lucky and saw the availability on the website - I didn't get the email until 48 hours late and I think there was another newsletter before then that I didn't get at all).

I love the fact that you are being open with us - and I believe your intentions are great. I really hope your display vendor comes through for you and I appreciate the 256MB in the first batch rather than holding it over to just the second batch). So don't take this the wrong way. You guys truly do rock - but you might want to appoint a "communications manager" at this point...

I nominate Chip (no, really I do).
 
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I have a question. If the LCD screens are delayed etc, will the completed Pandoras (at present 640 screens are ready) be sent as they are finished? or will the team wait until they have all of the completed units (when even that mey be) and send together?

I wouldn't call this a fear or concern of mine, just curosity, as I really dont mind when the Pandora arrives as long as team does their best.

I hope Craigix and the team dont take it to heart with all the complainers etc., you can't please everyone all of the time. ;)
 
They have previously stated that they will ship individual Pandoras as they are are assembled in order of who preordered earliest.
 
jdh2550 said:
Now Craig - for the love of <insert your favorite deity here> can you give us some CLEAR and UNAMBIGUOUS news about when those folks will have to re-order and how long they will have to re-order and what the communication method will be - including back ups (first time around I got lucky and saw the availability on the website - I didn't get the email until 48 hours late and I think there was another newsletter before then that I didn't get at all).
Confused? Clearly. Panicky? Definitely. Demanding? UNAMBIGUOUSLY (see what I did there?).

Craig's posts were perfectly understandable. Their current bank is being difficult, so they're switching banks. The old bank is pulling a Paypal and not honoring some of the credit card deposits, so those will be refunded. When the refunds go out, the people affected will get an email with further instructions. There is nothing more that you need to know. In fact, there is likely nothing more to know, as the details are not fully sorted out. When the details are sorted out, they will be made available to everyone. By "made available", I mean you'll get an email at whatever address you used to order, it will be posted all over these forums, and likely the blog as well. If you remain calm and use basic reasoning skills, you'll have no problem re-ordering.

Alternately, if this whole non-catastrophe has left you with no faith in the project, this refund is a perfect opportunity to take your money back and beat feet. If a minor ordering snafu has you this bent out of shape, how are you going to deal with the real problems when they pop up? This is a 1.0 product from a first-time manufacturer running user-generated software on a brand new platform. Issues and setbacks are going to crop up a lot. There are probably going to be hardware problems of some sort or another. There are definitely going to be software problems for the first several revisions. If you want to get the most out of it, you're going to have to deal with the issues. You're going to have to suffer through a few months of buggy software. You may have to bust out a soldering iron or dremel. You're going to have to RTFM. You're going to have to be patient.

If you can't accept that, then the Pandora is not the device for you. Not right now, anyway. You think I'm condescending now? Wait until I've answered the umpteenth "How do I get program X to run?" post. I'll likely have gone straight through condescension and come out the other side. The thing is, I'll still answer. While users like you are throwing their hands in the air and getting ornery because they bought what basically amounts to a commercially distributed prototype and they're shocked that it isn't plug-and-play, I'll be helping them through it. I'd like to keep it to an reasonable minimum though, so if you're going to be one of those problem users, it's better for everybody if you buy from a later batch when all the rough stuff has been smoothed out.

My worst fear is that the "reasonable minimum" ends up being half the user base.
 
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Chip,
jdh2550 has a very valid point. I think its in GBAX/GP32X LLC/Openpandora/whatever it chooses to call itself's best interest to get a dedicated mouthpiece.
This could all have been handled much better if Craig had decided to reveal the two 'big' pieces of info in a clear, concise, UNAMBIGUOUS news post. Instead, it was dropped as a couple of off the cuff comments in the middle of a thread dedicated to Chicken Little musings.
It started with a vague off the cuff comments about
1) LCD panels being the item on the critical path most likely to cause delays, but he had 600 already.
2) A vague post about what a jerk the banker he was using was, and that they may need to change bankers. This might impact CC orders, but more on that 'later'
3) A riddle about possible compensation for the inconvenience.

and it steamrolled from there. This information was spread in 2 or 3 different threads, and in the end, several different FALSE assumptions were generated.
1) The Banking issue was causing a delay.
2) The upgrades to RAM and NAND were causing a delay of up to 6 months. or were somehow tied to the banking issues directly.
3) This was an elaborate halloween prank.
4) There were 640 units complete and almost ready for shipping.
5) massive exchange rate assumptions
6) the red dev boards from the blog post already had 256 MB onboard.
etc etc... I know you have read through them too....

I understand, and accept, the volatility of the situation. However, it would be folly to say that this is all the hand wringing is because the user community doesn't know how to parse the information given by the Devs. The Devs (ok, maybe just Craigix) are sowing confusion with their impromptu revelations.

I appreciate what he is trying to do, and I understand that alot of this angst comes from a desire to be honest and upfront about the situation. However, a little controlled dissemination of the information would go a long way towards quelling the largely unfounded concerns. I'm not saying an actual PR person, but perhaps someone such as yourself who understands what is going on can speak with the Devs once a day and provide an organized update without the drama...
 
My fears concerning the Pandora have elevated today from none to the following:

I may have to preorder again, causing delay on my shipment because I've little time lately to check in on things. Minor fear, but now here.

That I may need/want a soldering iron and/or dremel since I have neither (at least in usable condition) and have barely used a soldering iron (never used a dremel). Software issues I can deal with or live with, hardware for the most part comes down to what can I do to minimize or who do I send it to for repairs, beyond that is beyond what I've time for and my skills I believe. An escalated fear, but one that will decrease as I get some sleep tonight.
 
Well said ingrin, instead of dribs and drabs of information hidden in threads not everybody is carefully monitoring, maybe a new thread/blogpost/news item that deals with each issue if any head on.

The exchange rate thing kind of has me worried atm, I will wait patiently for an email of some sort from the source before deciding what to do about it.
 
I agree with ingrin as well. I was going to form a post just like his but he beat me to it :)

Truth is chip information is scattered throughout at least three threads and devouring all of the real information with misinformation is what's causing all the FUD.

I was always amazed at how well you could compose yourself. I guess the elites break sometimes too.

Also, Chip I do agree with you about people buying this device and than complaining that they had no money for a week. If money is that tight for anyone that shouldn't be buying anything entertainment wise let alone a pandora.

But paying customers have the right to ask questions. From your post I don't think you've worked retail a day in your life. Sometimes customers can be done right loony. But communication is key. And I think you would be the best "mouth" for the pandora team as well.

The information is here. But some people don't have the time or the "common sense" to apprehend the truth.
 
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