Anyone Else Here Losing Interest?

[areeve]

The delays were caused by the CC fiasco, so there are no CC orders that will expire, because there aren't any CC orders, because they can't take any.

You mean some people still actually believe the delays are all from the credit card issue / the bank? It's the bank's fault the case isn't done? It's the bank's fault the OS isn't done? It's the bank's fault that there still isn't a real ship date?

I don't think the dev team lied about anything, but as is too common with any project that involves software it's too easy to be overly ambitious with dates. I'm still in awe that they even took preorders at the end of Sept '08 for a product that wasn't even close to done which ultimately caused me to lose money due to the exchange rate issue because I trusted that they knew what they were doing with respect to announcing a ship date. When that fell apart coupled with the 'blame someone else' strategy that completely eroded my trust. I'm sure the banking issue consumed time to resolve... but 4 months?

I wish the dev's the best in getting this device out and hope it all goes well upon release, but it still sounds like there's quite a bit to do before that happens. And I just can't justify being the guinea pig. (Not to mention there are now other devices that will fit my needs better on the market)

 

[hch]

areeve,

you don't really seem to have a clue - software (!) responsible for delays. if you still didn't get it: this project is about new hardware. custom designed hardware. these things come with delays, that's the rule, not the exception. i know a few custom hardware projects and let me tell you, none of them did it with less than a year delay. some i know had up to 3 years delay - which is usually too much to stay competitive with the specs. but one year really is the norm.


and finally: noone seriously believes anymore they could have made the november delivery in any case - but so what?

 

[DigitalWings]

The delays were caused by the CC fiasco, so there are no CC orders that will expire, because there aren't any CC orders, because they can't take any.

You mean some people still actually believe the delays are all from the credit card issue / the bank? It's the bank's fault the case isn't done? It's the bank's fault the OS isn't done? It's the bank's fault that there still isn't a real ship date?

I don't think the dev team lied about anything, but as is too common with any project that involves software it's too easy to be overly ambitious with dates. I'm still in awe that they even took preorders at the end of Sept '08 for a product that wasn't even close to done which ultimately caused me to lose money due to the exchange rate issue because I trusted that they knew what they were doing with respect to announcing a ship date. When that fell apart coupled with the 'blame someone else' strategy that completely eroded my trust. I'm sure the banking issue consumed time to resolve... but 4 months?

I wish the dev's the best in getting this device out and hope it all goes well upon release, but it still sounds like there's quite a bit to do before that happens. And I just can't justify being the guinea pig. (Not to mention there are now other devices that will fit my needs better on the market)


Then why are even posting, no one wants to hear you whinge. Things go wrong, they take longer then they are expected to, it happens to the biggest of companies. This is less a company and more of a community driven project. We have known about pandora since it started, do you think you normally here about a product as soon as some person in company has an idea approved for it? The fact that they took preorders in September doesn't surprise me, most games store are currently taking orders for starcraft 2and diablo 3 and have been since they were annouced.
</rant>

 

[lulzfish]

I expect hardware delays from a group of independent developers who don't have the resources and help of a huge company working with them.

The OS is less important. The worst that could happen is they ship the current OS, and have to send out some updates once things get working a little better. I don't think any amount of un-finishedness of the OS can stop the Pandora at this point.

 

[valhalla]

[quote name='areeve' date='Mar 23 2009, 07:51 AM' post='711999']
You mean some people still actually believe the delays are all from the credit card issue / the bank? It's the bank's fault the case isn't done? [/quote]

yes: no preorder money from the bank => no money to pay the case prototype

[quote name='areeve' date='Mar 23 2009, 07:51 AM' post='711999']It's the bank's fault the OS isn't done?[/quote]

the OS isn't done? from the looks of it we have had a working OS (kernel, drivers) for months, and nobody ever said that first batch pandoras would have shipped with the final revision of the OS.

What the software guys are currently working on are interface refinements, better drivers and better ports, and this is something that is going to continue way past the arrival of pandora.

[quote name='areeve' date='Mar 23 2009, 07:51 AM' post='711999']It's the bank's fault that there still isn't a real ship date?

partially yes

[quote name='areeve' date='Mar 23 2009, 07:51 AM' post='711999']I don't think the dev team lied about anything, but as is too common with any project that involves software it's too easy to be overly ambitious with dates.
[/quote]

except that software seems to be the only thing that is going seamlessy in this whole stuff

 

[RajTakhar]

Came across this on the net shows a product similar to pandora in terms of handheld device (no keyboard though)

http://beaversource.oregonstate.edu/projects/cspfl

May get one of these if it goes pear shape beyond June 2009

 

[urjaman]

Came across this on the net shows a product similar to pandora in terms of handheld device (no keyboard though)

http://beaversource.oregonstate.edu/projects/cspfl

May get one of these if it goes pear shape beyond June 2009


Yeah, the OSWALD, not bad but not for me:
* missing keyboard
* not a clamshell (protection)
* smaller screen (both size & resolution)
et cetera...

 

[gruso]

Same SoC, but that's where the similarities end. It's a totally different device. And their latest picture is of an FDM prototype... have a look at when the first Pandora FDM was made, and ask yourself again if you think Oswald will be available this year.

Anyway, as Squidge said, This Is Not An OMAP Forum.

 

[quartercast]

Came across this on the net shows a product similar to pandora in terms of handheld device (no keyboard though)

Ahh, the existence of an "ugly stick for handhelds" is confirmed.

 

[Monk]

Same SoC, but that's where the similarities end.

Oh I don't know - your own post seems to suggest other similarities to me.

And their latest picture is of an FDM prototype... have a look at when the first Pandora FDM was made, and ask yourself again if you think Oswald will be available this year.

Anyway, as Squidge said, This Is Not An OMAP Forum.

It's worried me since that post "This is not an OMAP Forum" came about. There has been no obvious problem with posts about and comparisons to eee PCs, notebooks, netbooks and so on, but with an increase in OMAP products on the horizon suddenly (or so it seems) the forum is getting all protectionist. It FEELS like OpenPandora is scared of other OMAP projects where they weren't scared of outdated x86 products.

Doubtless the Oswald will be delayed, but it's getting quite depressing that the best response anyone can come up with to the criticisms of months and months of delays is "It takes one to know one ". I mean - seriously - is the assumption that no-one in the hardware design and manufacturing game knows enough about what they're doing to be even vaguely on-target accurate? Is there NO industry that is more professional than the {bleep} bankers?

 

[gruso]

It's worried me since that post "This is not an OMAP Forum" came about. There has been no obvious problem with posts about and comparisons to eee PCs, notebooks, netbooks and so on, but with an increase in OMAP products on the horizon suddenly (or so it seems) the forum is getting all protectionist. It FEELS like OpenPandora is scared of other OMAP projects where they weren't scared of outdated x86 products.
I think it's just a matter of them keeping the forums tidy. Browse the non-Pandora areas of the forum enough and you'll see Pandora devs taking an active interest in other systems.

 

[hedwards]

Came across this on the net shows a product similar to pandora in terms of handheld device (no keyboard though)

Ahh, the existence of an "ugly stick for handhelds" is confirmed.

Now if I can just find my clue by four, we should be set...

 

[MaxSteiner]

I am glad I didn't bother reordering.
Between the lies (unintentional or not they weren't the truth, and I think they knew that as they were presenting it as gospal), and the slipping dates I just can't justify it at present.
I'm commited to taking a secound look at the secound batch (assuming it ever happens), but the handheld market is going to be pretty different by then.

Up until this month I thought I might reorder by the deadline, but the project still seems no closer than it was in September (especially if you believed all the stuff we were told in September).

It seems alot of the attention has shifted to places it shouldn't as well.
There's people posting on here, who obviously have no idea what they're buying, who view concerns as attacks, insisting the device is coming out right over the corner.
And they've been doing it so long, that they've forgotten even when it's released its not gonna be functional.
The Pandora release date has gained some kinda near holy symbolism for certain members of this scene, and they're the sort of people who get pissed off when it doesn't do everything they've been waiting a year for out of the box.

Everytime I come on this side of the forums I see more and more topics like this, interspaced with people jumping the boat, people brown nosing the team, flame wars breaking out, well I see alot of stuff but none of the genuine hope which was here last year.
Instead we have people professing how they're just as interested now as they were before a year of delays.
No reasons given.
More often than not its one line.
If they pad it out they might take appart a 'Negs' post and address it line by line, making witty comments.
I don't think that counts as hope.
And even if it did, its not hope that the Pandora is going to kick ass. Its hope that the Pandora will be released one day.

And thats why I'm not interested at the moment.
When theres a little more going on, and the prime concern isn't that it reaches mass production I might be excited again.
Till then I just find myself watching, glad that I didn't decided to wait and bought a GP2x off someone in December, who was convinced he'd have a Pandora by Febuary.

 

[WizardStan]

You mean some people still actually believe the delays are all from the credit card issue / the bank? It's the bank's fault the case isn't done? It's the bank's fault the OS isn't done? It's the bank's fault that there still isn't a real ship date?

It is the banks fault the case isn't done and the ship date was pushed. When the bank froze the account, they couldn't pay for the things that needed payment in order to get done. As for the OS, they knew they were shipping with a complete-but-not-pretty OS, and planned to make upgrades along the way. We were told this at the time of pre-order, that to get them out faster it would be a minimal (but still fully functional) OS. It's certainly naive to blame all delays on the banking, but surely a couple months worth of delays (time used to work on the OS, a blessing in disguise) is laid directly at their feet.

 

[truekaiser]

Right now for me it's a race between the pandora and one of the up coming cortex a-8 based netbooks coming out this year.

 

[Chip]

Nine pages of bitching and moaning is more than enough. If you want to keep whining that the Pandora isn't done yet, do it elsewhere.