Investments, Production start, preoderings and a wish (2011-10-02)

[renegadechic]

Well, if Craig is "bowing out" I am certainly sad to see it. All the criticism I've seen against him are almost entirely down to him being, feeling and reacting like a normal human being. I never had anything other than fantastic service from the him, Jacqueline and the rest of the UK team so thanks for everything really. I hope that when things settle down, and I truly believe they will, that people actually start giving him the respect he deserves and apologise for all the venom. Probably wont happen though, because people suck.


*raises amaretto and coke to the UK team*

 

[Darkknight512]

Craig, I know It IS a lot of pressure, and I think everyone on the OPT team has done a tremendous amount of work on the Pandora, of course you included, but I think it's just the tone of your posts that seems to tick some people off, and it is easier for people to get pissed off at the person that sounds like he does not care, even if they are doing everything they can.


You have done great work, and as you bow out, please don't feel that everyone hates you. Its not that way, people get pissed off, but some don't understand the pressure the whole project is on everyone, and how hard everyone is working.


I joined this community a year ago (After I bought a Wiz), and ordered my Pandora used from someone a month ago, so I have not felt how it feels to order something and wait for years.


Before I bought a Pandora, I went through the entire forum, wiki, youtube and blog and it seems ED has a better presence in the community.


Is it your fault your presence in the community is much less? No, I understand you have done a lot of work on the project that a lot of people don't see, and because not many people see it, they feel you don't do anything.


Thanks for everything you have done on this project, I love my Pandora, and I'm sure it could never have been the way it is without you.

 

[diligentcircle]

Yes, thanks for the great 'support' I've been shown here by some users, after all, investing only 4 years of my life, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and almost continuous 7 day weeks I probably deserve it.


39,000+ 'sent' emails in that time, 2500 in the last 2 months. I can only image it is tens of thousands of forum posts and PMs too.


That's what not communicating looks like I suppose, or at least to those of you who only want to see what you want to see.


Almost constantly during this project I've had hate mail in public and in private, every step of the way, every hurdle cleared and it's time for a new target to be set up to criticise me.


The Pandora won't happen, the Pandora won't work, The Pandora won't ship, The support won't happen and I am in general a lazy good for nothing bastard.


Every bit of it true, if you like.


Thanks,


Craig


PS, those of you who sent me kind emails and have met me in person, you kept me going and for good or bad the Pandora eventually existed and works. As I bow out of this I want to thank each and every one of you for your support, orders and kindness, without you it would never have happened. Cheers.

I imagine it must be incredibly frustrating. I can't help much, unfortunately, but you have my full emotional support, Craig. And you too, ED.


As an aside, may I ask people to please stop comparing Craig and ED? I can only imagine how infuriating that might be to both of them. It doesn't feel nice to be told that you're better than someone you like and respect, at least not to me. Comparisons like this are the kind of thing you do with competitors or enemies, not people working together.

 

[fusion_power]

A cool tactics for the future would be to make it so that useres don't need to send any E-Mail to Craig & ED


Just ordering, paying, shipping - done. If the build quality improves, there should be way less RMA cases in the future which means alot less E-mails and alot more relaxed OP-Team. ^^


And for a possible "Pandora 2" it would be cool if every part is tested befor shipping to customers so no bad surprises can happen anymore when it's actualy to late.

 

[Darkknight512]

A cool tactics for the future would be to make it so that useres don't need to send any E-Mail to Craig & ED


Just ordering, paying, shipping - done. If the build quality improves, there should be way less RMA cases in the future which means alot less E-mails and alot more relaxed OP-Team. ^^


And for a possible "Pandora 2" it would be cool if every part is tested befor shipping to customers so no bad surprises can happen anymore when it's actualy to late.

Well, that's how it was supposed to go, but then one of the production companies didn't work out... Also, other issues cropped up that I feel could have been fixed earlier on by more testing, but I still find no fault in the proccess the Pandora was designed, tested and produced.


What I see you saying is, make the proccess perfect so no one gets upset, then no one would need to ask you any questions?

 

[EvilDragon]

No one is better, neither me nor Craig.


We're different, and some like it or not.


The Pandora probably wouldn't exist if Craig nor me was missing.


I would've never started it, it would've been way too risky in my opinion.


Also, I'm not the hard businessman you need to be sometimes to keep something like that going.


Craig is.


On the other side, I'm trying to please and help everyone. While that's good for the community, it's not that good for some situations in hard business life.


So yes, we're both different, we both help each other, everyone of us plays a role in this play.


Yes, right now, it seems like I'm doing all the work.


However, what I'm doing is basically just continuing production here in Germany.


And I'm handling this, as my German is better


But if Craig hadn't gone so far and got the Pandora produced, I couldn't handle the production in Germany.


Craig made the path, and I'm following it.


We both help out each other and try to achieve whatever we can together.


And yes - I can confirm we got an incredible collection of emails

 

[BeefJerky]

Given that I have been a critical voice in this thread, while part of me is telling me to step away from the keyboard, another part of me feels the need to clarify and expand. I, for one, do not think you have done nothing, Craig. Far from it. The Pandora is a dream and you have realised it with your hard work and years of dedication to it.


But let's be very clear that, at least for me (and I can only speak for me), your communication style has never been reassuring and therein lies the problem. Even very early on in this process, there were complete update blackouts and then when you'd surface, what we'd get was some cryptic response that left more questions than answers. That makes people uneasy. There were times I genuinely wondered if this was all going to turn out to be an elaborate scam. And, yes, even here, the tone of your post speaks for itself. Each individual involved here took a leap of faith right at the beginning. That was faith in you. And I think now that faith was not misplaced in any way. But, man, you don't make it easy sometimes to keep the faith.


ED has made a big difference to all that. In fact, I can't thank him enough for his communication here even with the ongoing quirks. And similarly, I can't thank you enough for your hard work in making the Pandora happen (it's not about anyone being better than anyone else). But with the split in orders between the different stores and those thread in which people just can't reach yours, it's once again that communication that would make all the difference.


I apologise if I rubbed you up the wrong way with any of this. But unlike Darkknight above, I don't believe that people think you don't do anything. I just see a gap in communication. One that the importance of which, when you've got something we're calling a community, shouldn't be understated.

 

[Darkknight512]

^ I did not say the people don't believe he did not do anything, I just said that the presence (or lack of) he has in the community makes everyone feel he has not done as much as he has.


But I agree, this project is all held up by communication, it is easy for people to get pissed off when they have $350+ in the project and they can't seem to get a clear answer of what is going on when they have been waiting for months and months.

 

[chosen]

I hope next year we'll have ... a lot of different OS choices for the Pandora like MeeGo, ArchLinux (we have that already), Ubuntu, etc., supported by OpenPandora GmbH ...

I have just discovered this about MeeGo:


On 27 September 2011 it was announced by the Linux Foundation that MeeGo will be replaced by Tizen during 2012. Tizen will be an open source Linux-based operating-system which itself will be released during the first quarter of 2012. Intel and Samsung, in collaboration with the LiMo Foundation and assisting MeeGo developers, are involved in the development of this new software platform, with Tizen's software frameworks for third-party developers being primarily based on HTML5 and other web standards.


http://meego.com/


http://www.tizen.org/

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

I think that the weight of expectation from us the community while the pandora was being developed was huge and was not always easy to deal with. I can imagine this could have been quite a pressure for Craig or any human being really. To always know what to say is not easy.And we can be a demanding lot at times.Then again this whole venture is quite unprecedented


to begin with to say the least.It was a bit like trying to keep 4000 plus investors happy all the time.An impossible task really.

 

[DaMummy]

craig....stick to what you know. keep pumping out pandoras, icp's, and iGames. dont go into the jaffa cake industry, and let ED be the voice behind the pandora. he has a proven record of outstanding customer support, and unlike you, he knows when to keep his personal opinion to himself and outside of the business. someone in your position of the company cannot speak out the way you seem to think you can, its quite obviously biting you in the ass in the long run. ED has shown a great deal of support for the community, while you try to control your market. and for everybodys sake, please stay as a team with ED, because you are the Yin to his Yang....(or is it the other way around?)

 

[LineOf7s]

I prefer to think of it as an elaborate game of Good Cop/Bad Cop.

 

[ethereal]

Few questions..


Is this something I can invest in over fidelity or etrade type trading platform?


What is the name of this new German company making the new pcb's?

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

Few questions..


Is this something I can invest in over fidelity or etrade type trading platform?


What is the name of this new German company making the new pcb's?

The companys called global components i believe.Dont know what fidelity or e-trade are.

 

[mcobit]

Hey craig,


I know we had arguments in the past, but they were not about critizising your hard work for the Pandora.


Really, you played a big, if not the biggest role to make the Pandora happen and I really appreciate that.


What I don't understand is, that you don't seem to work with the community at times and just talk in short cryptic sentenses. If you would elaborate more on what you are doing, so someone understands what you mean it would be a lot easier to follow your thoughts.


Also seeing your opinion as the right one, no matter what others say makes it seem like you won't listen to anybody. Of course everyone can have his opinion, but you seem to ignore every discussion and stay with your personal opinion.


That said, I don't want anything bad for you or your company and I am glad, that a person like you stepped forward to create something so many people love!


Keep up working together with ED. But maybe listen a bit more and shout a bit less.


Keep up the good work! It seems like everything will come together nicely now, that the production is moved and the investors are found.


Edit: THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE AND WILL DO TO MAKE THIS A SUCCESS!

 

[ethereal]

Few questions..


Is this something I can invest in over fidelity or etrade type trading platform?


What is the name of this new German company making the new pcb's?

The companys called global components i believe.Dont know what fidelity or e-trade are.

I looked at global components website and it says "made in America". I really don't think this is the German company they were talking about.


etrade and fidelity are online trading platforms. I'm wondering if you can invest in Pandora through these online trading platforms?

 

[Darkknight512]

Few questions..


Is this something I can invest in over fidelity or etrade type trading platform?


What is the name of this new German company making the new pcb's?

The companys called global components i believe.Dont know what fidelity or e-trade are.

I looked at global components website and it says "made in America". I really don't think this is the German company they were talking about.


etrade and fidelity are online trading platforms. I'm wondering if you can invest in Pandora through these online trading platforms?

Here, http://www.global-components.de/

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

Few questions..


Is this something I can invest in over fidelity or etrade type trading platform?


What is the name of this new German company making the new pcb's?

The companys called global components i believe.Dont know what fidelity or e-trade are.

I looked at global components website and it says "made in America". I really don't think this is the German company they were talking about.


etrade and fidelity are online trading platforms. I'm wondering if you can invest in Pandora through these online trading platforms?

If youre interested in investing.Pm Evildragon.

 

[jasay]

I looked at global components website and it says "made in America". I really don't think this is the German company they were talking about.

Maybe this one? http://www.global-components.de/


Edit: Dang, I'm slow apparently.

etrade and fidelity are online trading platforms. I'm wondering if you can invest in Pandora through these online trading platforms?

I don't use those companies, but would guess they deal in public stocks. Sounds like the Pandora investments will be private.

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

When pandora 2 happens Mr Rothwell will be called upon again as it is written in thine Book of Pandora as it will be....