I'm trying hard here to limit the negative vibe of my posts, becaue they could easily sound a lot less positive than I would like just by including facts/thoughts, but here goes... happy thoughts...
I believe much of the problem from a users perspective here stems from the fact that OpenPandora have been optimistic in the past, and had that optimism dashed. The bank crisis wasn't going to affect the Pandora project, the LCDs were ordered so wouldn't be a delay, the case redesign(/s?) would not cause a delay (some onths ago, it feels) and so on and so forth.
At each step the optimisms (like board design #2 would be final - then #3 would be final, then...) have proven just a touch TOO optimistic. My point being that prediction is a whole specialist area in and of itself, and thus far OpenPandora, whilst highly skilled in other areas, do not seem to have a natural talent for prediction. Things tend, it seems, to go wrong for them. The Wizzley game development project - which will not detract from Pandora development - has taken somewhat longer than its original 30 day promise, as just another from the catalogue of woes that affect these chaps.
That's the background against which we are now told that the WiFi problem - however it manifests, we are told they are having a problem with WiFi - won't affect the Pandora long-term. It is software based, they are sure, and can/will be fixed after shipping.
It's easy to be gloomy and wonder why this prediction should be more accurate than all the failed predictions which have come to pass. I am, myself, not entirely sure who is going to be providing the "fix" to this particular problem. After all, the second batch is supposed to happen about 2 months after the first batch. If all drivers were supposed to be ready for the second batch, then the WiFi driver situation is already 4 months late, and counting... Who are we waiting on for this? If Craig should be writing the fix then there seems to be room to wonder if side projects like Wizzley Presto and Pandora Box have cut into his Pandora software dev time. If TI or Nokia or (and so on) are the ones we're waiting on for "the fix" then what guarantee do we have that they will EVER produce the fix that OpenPandora (and we) need? Bearing in mind that others have mentioned that various other products released without WiFi working still do not have WiFi working, and it looks like they never will.
Prediction is problematic. Diagnostic procedures can narrow down the likely problem but, IMHO, until you've fixed it you don't KNOW how you'll fix it or when...or possibly even "if". You can have estimates, predictions, guesses even - but you don't KNOW. With the pattern of delays to date, what is the compelling reason to believe that the problems will be fixed shortly after release when they have not been fixed in the 6 months since the product was supposed to be released?
There's a LOT more upbeat stuff to consider - personally I'm seriously anticipating playing some fo the game sPickle has been porting... looking forward to that a great deal!
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