03/29 Blog Entry

[bzar]

So I have a question. I just sent my payment on Monday so I'm probably one of the last one's to recieve my Pandora. If there are 4,000 in the first batch, around how long am I looking to get mine? PLUS I live in the U.S. - If the first ones begin releasing at the end of April, am I looking at the end of the year for mine? God I hope not..

I think it was stated at some point, that when the production gets rolling, the first batch will be sent in six weeks or so.

EDIT: CODE
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showtopic=46486&st=15&p=696218&#

 

[Bronek]

Phawx, ... shut ... up ... Do you have to derail every thread you partake in moaning about the ambiguity of dev communication, ... get over it ... !

citation cut, as not to sound rude, but I actually agree with the intent if not with the spirit.

 

[humanfly]

Nice of you Chip for closing the other Thread... Yes we're still 'winging' since it's been HALF A YEAR since we paid for Pandora when it was supposed to be out in Nov... Then Dec came and Jan, Feb... and we're suppose to be quiet and hope it will come one day...

So I presume I'll be banned from this Forum now? I've been waiting patiently for 6 months but I think it's time to say something, especially when you and your mates treat the people who've been supportive of this project since the begging like rubbish. Irony and silly jokes were funny up until a few months ago...

Please show some respect. I understand you're sick of the same old same around here, but so we are of waiting.

 

[Monk]

Please show some respect. I understand you're sick of the same old same around here

That's probably the best bit of advice I've seen on the board for a while - not just aimed at Chip, but all around - in every direction. It'd be so much nicer if the sniping could be kept to an in-game activity

 

[rokdcasbah]

hey everyone. just wanted to say thanks, for reminding me why i stick to the OP blog now.

 

[Chip]

So I presume I'll be banned from this Forum now? I've been waiting patiently for 6 months but I think it's time to say something, especially when you and your mates treat the people who've been supportive of this project since the begging like rubbish. Irony and silly jokes were funny up until a few months ago...
"My mates" have a hell of a lot riding on this project. They've dumped literally all of their personal time and money into getting the Pandora made over the last two years in the face of setback after setback. Having a sense of humor about the whole thing is the only thing that allows them to keep going despite the complaints and bellyaching. If you had tens of thousands of hours and your future livelihood invested in a project and people were wondering aloud if it were some sort of joke or scam, your only options are to laugh it off or get angry. I'm not going to fault Michael for taking the high road.

If you've been following this project at all you know exactly why it's taken so long and you know that everything is being done to get Pandoras out the door to everybody who has paid for one as soon as possible. Complaining about the wait isn't going to make anything go any faster. All it does is annoy all the others who are waiting patiently and demoralize those who are actually working to get things done.

 

[gruso]

So I have a question. I just sent my payment on Monday so I'm probably one of the last one's to recieve my Pandora. If there are 4,000 in the first batch, around how long am I looking to get mine? PLUS I live in the U.S. - If the first ones begin releasing at the end of April, am I looking at the end of the year for mine? God I hope not..

The fact that you're in the US doesn't matter. Even if the FCC thing causes a short delay, you're near the back of the first batch "queue" so you'd never even notice. I realise that sentence doesn't have a very comforting ring to it, apologies.

As for actual delivery times, it's not going to take eight months to send 4,000 Pandoras once shipping begins. They'll do the first couple of hundred, and assuming no dramas, will increase production every week. The factory can produce thousands in a week, but they won't go full steam until the second batch (ie., after this 4000). I reckon it'll take around 6 weeks to ship the entire first batch. That's just a guess though.

 

[humanfly]

So I presume I'll be banned from this Forum now? I've been waiting patiently for 6 months but I think it's time to say something, especially when you and your mates treat the people who've been supportive of this project since the begging like rubbish. Irony and silly jokes were funny up until a few months ago...
"My mates" have a hell of a lot riding on this project. They've dumped literally all of their personal time and money into getting the Pandora made over the last two years in the face of setback after setback. Having a sense of humor about the whole thing is the only thing that allows them to keep going despite the complaints and bellyaching. If you had tens of thousands of hours and your future livelihood invested in a project and people were wondering aloud if it were some sort of joke or scam, your only options are to laugh it off or get angry. I'm not going to fault Michael for taking the high road.

If you've been following this project at all you know exactly why it's taken so long and you know that everything is being done to get Pandoras out the door to everybody who has paid for one as soon as possible. Complaining about the wait isn't going to make anything go any faster. All it does is annoy all the others who are waiting patiently and demoralize those who are actually working to get things done.


As I said before (and before prolonging this conversation any longer), I'm just asking for you guys to show some respect with the people who invested and believed in this project half a year ago. I understand your frustration (especially when criticism isn't constructive or bring any value into the project) but please be mindful of people out here. Sarcasm is not always the best way to communicate (especially at this stage) and I don't think it help keeping a good vibe around the forum and the project.

It's been a hard and LONG process for all parties here.

C

 

[fettouhi]

So when does the CE testing start then? Does ED need to have a MK3 board first?

Regards

André

 

[lingenfr]

I return to my previous suggestion, a single weekly post done at regular time that includes weeks activities, next activities, remaining activities until shipment. There is a saying that when you wrestle a pig, you get dirty and the pig enjoys it. The porkers are already plenty entertained.

 

[EvilDragon]

I return to my previous suggestion, a single weekly post done at regular time that includes weeks activities, next activities, remaining activities until shipment. There is a saying that when you wrestle a pig, you get dirty and the pig enjoys it. The porkers are already plenty entertained.

Well, I DO post at least once a week in the blog and tell you, what has happened...

 

[Monk]

Well, I DO post at least once a week in the blog and tell you, what has happened...

A lot of us appreciate your posts. One thing that would be nice would be if posts were dated. Maybe they already are and I just can't see the dates, in which case they could be more prominent, but looking at the Blog it can sometimes be hard tor emember if the latest post came out last week, last month, or... so on. We're an impatient breed!

Ta

 

[EvilDragon]

They have dates... in the database.
I'm working on a new site, though I might just put the dates into the current site, as the new one takes a lot of time...

 

[emil10001]

@Monk, check the unofficial blog, dates are posted there, along with the 'Official Updates' tag:

CODE
http://openpandora.wordpress.com/category/pandora/official-pandora/


Also wanted to say that I think that the devs are doing a great job of keeping us informed of the progress. And I really appreciate the frequent updates. Thanks guys!

A tip for everyone else who is bitching about slow updates, just subscribe via RSS or Twitter to the unofficial blog, and don't expect to see news unless you receive an update from them. It is a nice change in perspective, as you aren't expecting to get pandora news, but then there it is.

 

[Phawx]

After we have Pandora's in our hands, this forum will be a far greater resource than the Pandora's by themselves.

In an effort to get the community back together, please accept my apologies. Despite what you may think I am not opposition. I know I bring this up a lot but I dropped $1,000+ of my own money into this project. I want this project to succeed.

I should have examined my end game before I began. Even if my point did get across, I don't think it would change anything. Personalities are personalities.

So with that being said, I hope you all can accept my apology and let us move past this because, in the end, this discussion will not change anything.

 

[Monk]

@Monk, check the unofficial blog, dates are posted there, along with the 'Official Updates' tag:

CODE
http://openpandora.wordpress.com/category/pandora/official-pandora/

Yup - but then it kinda defeats the purpose of an official blog if you have to look elsewhere for some of the data that relates directly to it (dates) and the unofficial blogs... actually I posted there before I posted here, and it's a great way of avoiding many of the controvesies, but it doesn't have the authorative tone that the real actual official blog has/should have.


@EvilDragon lol... :nod - it would be nicer to see dates online than not IMHO - if only to see how often we HAVE had posts this year (it seems to me to have been much better this year than last in terms of update frequency, but I'm going purely by fallible human memory)

 

[Game_over]

apology accepted Phawx, Glad that ends that! But yeah, we tend to forget that certain things take time, time which is unavoidable. It's good to be excited and critical though, it shows that you care and want it to succeed. What wears that notion down is when people on here (just ignore the n00bs) who come across as whiny and disrespectful (which you weren't at all Phawx). Things will come when they come, so lets focus on other aspects until it is released, we really need to stop posting about the state of the system and leave all of that up to the team.

 

[lingenfr]

Well, I DO post at least once a week in the blog and tell you, what has happened...

ED, not criticizing your efforts. I appreciate your posts, etc. A lot of the discussion comes from folks attempting to compare one weeks/days posts to the next. I am just suggesting that if the team would get into some minimal kind of consistency in the way the information is presented and a predictable schedule, it might squelch some of that speculation. I do read and don't bitch but I have to confess that I still really can't tell what remains to be done based on the outdated list that is on the homepage.

 

[gruso]

I don't know that the list is outdated... it may be due for an edit, but the basic steps on the roadmap still remain. We're waiting on case completion, FCC testing, and then creation of the factory moulds - then production can start. That hasn't changed.

 

[Monk]

I don't know that the list is outdated... it may be due for an edit, but the basic steps on the roadmap still remain. We're waiting on case completion, FCC testing, and then creation of the factory moulds - then production can start. That hasn't changed.

Except that, if you check the blog, it says that "Get the final Prototype case" as a step has been completed. I know that everyone says that the "tweaks2 required are minimal and that only 1 peice needs to be CNC'd again, but the fact is that the FINAL finished prototype case, as per your post, isn't actually finished yet. So the list does appear to be out of date because it doesn't accurately reflect reality.

On the other hand - it's not organised in a way that leads to good comprehension of the probable timeline. Last night the wife and I sat down with a post from Chip on 1 Feb and that list of "things to do" and tried to work out how long till delivery. We reckoned that as of 1 Feb we were probably about 4 months away from the last unit shipping "if nothing else went wrong" and that, as of 1 April, we are still about 4 months away from delivery of the last unit "if nothing else goes wrong". It could be that we're TOTALLY wrong on this, but the blog does not, over the last 2 months, seem to show that 2 months worth of forward movement has been achieved making us 2 months nearer to getting our Pandoras. There's no real feeling of forward momentum, IMO