How Do We Decide?

[Pseudonym]

I say ship...
50 of them to prominent Devs
35 of them to first people
15 of them to Mods, etc. who helped the project

 

[God Ginrai]

15 of them to Mods, etc. who helped the project

Not that the mods don't deserve credit, but unless you're shipping it to people that will further the process for testing and completion of the Pandora, I don't think you should even consider shipping it to someone who didn't rightfully earn that place in line.

To summarize:
If you are considering sending Pandoras to people OTHER than the people who ordered first, they damn well better be a developer or a trustworthy tester. Otherwise, you should not break up the order of shipping.

-God Ginrai

 

[trats20050]

I think Gruso should also get one.
Hes always updating the unofficial blog.
And always so active in the forum.

 

[gruso]

I think Gruso should also get one.
Hes always updating the unofficial blog.
And always so active in the forum.

While I love the idea (and thanks for saying so) I think I'd feel a little bad about the queue jumping. Unless I'm in the first 100 anyway. dun dun duuuuun. h34r:

Looking over the last few posts, I'm starting to wonder if any of the first 100 need to go to devs at all. We really do have a lot of software done already. The whole slick user experience thing isn't going to happen in a couple of weeks, and Angstrom is already solid anyway. Maybe the order queue should be stuck to.

Especially if I'm in the first 100. dun dun duuuuun. h34r:

 

[GizmoAgent]

I think it should be first in queue but as mentioned before they should all get an email asking if they will opt out for a proven developer.
They of course will be first in line for the next batch.

 

[Vorporeal]

IMO, the ones going out to devs wouldn't be so that people could write new software for it, but so that they could port already completed software to it so that there are finished titles/emus/etc. available on "launch day". There are only a few people who are putting out Pandora binaries/PNDs - not everyone who is writing software for the Pandora necessarily has their code running on an actual board. PandoraPanic, for example, might currently be running on a real board, but with a real Pandora, Poke could probably fine tune it and fix a couple of things so that it runs WELL on the actual hardware in time for launch. I feel that what I wrote about before with people willingly giving up their spot in the first 100 to a dev would work well with this, because most people probably won't take that route, and so there won't be too many open slots for developers to get an "early" device to fine tune their code so it runs well and is available for launch.

 

[EmuGuy]

May I suggest it might take too long to email 100 people and wait to get a response...as if the team doesn't have enough to deal with already? Respectfully, I don't think this is the way to go...just use the list.

 

[Vorporeal]

May I suggest it might take too long to email 100 people and wait to get a response...as if the team doesn't have enough to deal with already? Respectfully, I don't think this is the way to go...just use the list.

Hah - good point. Didn't think of that.

A simple solution though - give it a specified amount of time (5 days? 7 days?) and if they don't get a response by then, assume that they want to keep their spot. No issues arise.

 

[Sphinxter]

sorry, but trying to find who is a developer looks quite a bad idea...
because how will you find out who will be a good developper? example: I am a realtime engineer, i'd be a quite usefull developer, but i won't have enough time for it... how would you find that out?

I think a more simple approach is to simply send the pandora as the order arrives... that makes sense as lot of the people who have the time and knowledge are probably in the first people who ordered...

Not certain but I think when they say developers they're indicating someone who has been producing complete fun playable games on some other platform. You may be doing that in real time, not disparaging your skill assessment whatsoever, just saying they are probably talking game designers of stuff they've played before.

 

[VRAndy]

I say ship...
50 of them to prominent Devs
35 of them to first people
15 of them to Mods, etc. who helped the project

Don't forget :

3 for the Elven-kings under the sky,
7 for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone

 

[aliking]

How do we decide? How about: why is it necessary to decide? The only reason to question who gets the first 100 is if there is going to be a significant gap between those and the rest.

I say just make sure the first 100 are people who knew enough about what they were pre-ordering and sure enough to be ready to order as soon as the stores opened...

a

 

[Vorporeal]

The reason why there would be a decision is that the OP team is thinking of using the first 100 as a short-run real-world test bed, to iron the last few kinks out of the software and make that part of it as ready for launch as possible. They're spending all of their time now perfecting the hardware, as that can't easily be changed down the road (the case is the big issue there). Most of us won't care terribly if we're shipped devices with incomplete software, but if they want to get some units out to reviewers, they're going to want it to be decent in quality and reliability. That's why they're considering the first 100 for intensive testing while they produce the rest - software can always be updated after they're all produced.

 

[Mjlink]

After following the Dingux development lately, BooBoo the primary developer stated he only spent two hours playing games on the unit. All else was development time.

If a developer didn't pay the money before I did, that's her/his loss. Just because they can develop doesn't mean they will. IE Zod Dingoo MAME. So a serious developer will have secured their unit just like the rest of us. Now all of a sudden this question Craig X? WTF? What about the Beagle Board?

Where are any of your Dingoo promises? Nil 0, no reply.

Look at everything that's dropped for Dingux in the last week. I think you are stalling with this muck.

I donate to worthy devs. I'm great at troubleshooting software and operating systems. So leaving someone like me with my thumb up my ass for two more months will help the last 3900 people immensely.

Just because Intellivision isn't ready day 1, I now have to wait until Developer IX gets his unit to possibly produce something?

All of you hoping for Zod should realize your competing with iWorld. 4000 Pandoras produce minimal revenue. Open Source.

My 4cents

Sorry but credit card order one that stuck around since Sep 30/08 should get unit one etc.

I thought all this delay was getting us software?

Reality check, not breaking up 100 like algebra class.

 

[atomicthumbs]

I think the first 100 people in the queue should be able to choose (if it's still going to be boards-only) whether or not they'd like to recieve one and do testing. If they don't want one, it could either go to the next person in the queue, or a randomly selected dev.




I'm going to be a dev, and probably in the first 100, so everything's fine.

 

[Phawx]

I'm sure all will be revealed in two months.

 

[elwing]

ut I think when they say developers they're indicating someone who has been producing complete fun playable games on some other platform. You may be doing that in real time, not disparaging your skill assessment whatsoever, just saying they are probably talking game designers of stuff they've played before.

lol, I certainly won't devlop game, I'm more on the driver side of computer... that said I will not have the time to devlop the slightest thing for the pandora until long, I was just meaning that how will you define who is a worthwile (skill, time and motivation-wise) from the 4000 or so order? seem just too complex for me and too much time consuming... send some pandora to the DEV that we see a lot like cpasjuste pickles, other one that are not so present but build pretty important software like zodttd, but otherwise it should go acordingly to the list. (and I repeat I'maround rank 3000 I guess...)

 

[Vorporeal]

ut I think when they say developers they're indicating someone who has been producing complete fun playable games on some other platform. You may be doing that in real time, not disparaging your skill assessment whatsoever, just saying they are probably talking game designers of stuff they've played before.

lol, I certainly won't devlop game, I'm more on the driver side of computer... that said I will not have the time to devlop the slightest thing for the pandora until long, I was just meaning that how will you define who is a worthwile (skill, time and motivation-wise) from the 4000 or so order? seem just too complex for me and too much time consuming... send some pandora to the DEV that we see a lot like cpasjuste pickles, other one that are not so present but build pretty important software like zodttd, but otherwise it should go acordingly to the list. (and I repeat I'maround rank 3000 I guess...)

The devs that would be picked to get Pandoras early would be people like Pickle and cpasjuste, who are already porting software, people like Zod and Franxis, who are the authors of software that we'd love to see on the Pandora (and who would be willing to port it), and people like PokeParadox, who is the head of the Pandora Panic! project, a game that is currently in development, and could use an actual device for control tweaking and some platform-specific bug-fixing.

 

[elwing]

The devs that would be picked to get Pandoras early would be people like Pickle and cpasjuste, who are already porting software, people like Zod and Franxis, who are the authors of software that we'd love to see on the Pandora (and who would be willing to port it), and people like PokeParadox, who is the head of the Pandora Panic! project, a game that is currently in development, and could use an actual device for control tweaking and some platform-specific bug-fixing.

seem quite logical, you are far from 100pandora through... I was meaning that the rest of the 100 should follow the lost order...

 

[Steve F]

Honestly, I don't see any point at all in sending the first 100 to normal users, whether or not they ordered first or last. In a device where they are sending out units for testing, what is the ordinary user going to help having one? They will bitch an complain about things that aren't implemented, and about software which isn't complete. The point of the Pandora isn't just the Pandora sitting like a brick- The point is the software you will be using to play music, watch videos, play games etc. A normal user with super beta versions of sofware just dicking around doesn't help anyone. I don't see how this isn't clear. You are not somehow innately a good tester, or a good debugger. I assure you that a Dev who knows what the bug actually is caused by will be of much more use than you saying "there is a bug".
A dev who can actually devote time to making new software, or testing, refining and so on with their old software is no question THE SOLUTION. It is Open Pandora's discretion who gets the units, which are obviously stated to be the test batch. If you want to cancel the order because of that I'd say go ahead, and I'd hope OP would agree with me.
I think that the list I saw earlier with regular users on the bottom was the correct order-
Personally I wouldn't mind volunteering to be last to get my Pandora- I'm not a dev and I'd rather have stable working software when I get my device, rather than me wasting a Pandora just messing around. I really don't see how so many people are disagreeing.

 

[hedwards]

The major complaint that people have with strictly sticking to the original order is that these users (as hardcore as they may be) are going to have very little software to test. Another issue brought up by one or two people was that if they did find a problem, a dev might be able to identify and fix the problem, making no extra work for the Pandora team, whereas a normal user might just identify and report it. If devs received the first hundred Pandoras, they'd be able to assist in both writing software and fixing the issues that the device has. This is an IMMENSELY useful resource - one that we shouldn't forget about.

That's easy enough, there was no such contract at any point. The first come first served was pretty clearly intended to indicate how the allotment would be made, not the order in which orders would be filled. As long as one made an order within the first several thousand one was guaranteed to get one. In fact at many points along the way it's come up that while they intended to do it in the same order ordered, that there may be reasons why that's not realistic.

It strikes me as silly and more than a little bit self centered for people that aren't devs to want the units before there's really any software for it and delay the people who are going to be developing for it from getting access.