I'd be interested, too. I would be willing to invest up to 5000 CHF, even though I think it's a pity in a way.
Let me explain: I have always been impressed with the self-funded nature of this project. In my opinion a purely debt-based economy is a Bad Thing, so the perseverance and determination of all the creative people involved in the Pandora project against all the ridiculous obstacles they encountered is really admirable. The project was able to stay debt free all this time which is mind-blowing. Of course it would also not have been possible without the patience of the majority of the buyers and especially the developers.
I have two concerns:
-The possibility of hostile takeovers that could change Pandora from what it is now.
-The reaction of the community to the transformation from a community project into a business.
What I mean by the second point is that the enthusiasm to work for free on the Pandora operaing system and drivers could be lessened by going commercial. The work that DJWillis, notaz, vimacs, Squidge, cpasjuste, Skeezix and Pickle have put in the Pandora OS (and the work DaveC put in the case design, of course) would have cost a fortune in salaries for a commercial product.
Of course I do not know all their motivations, but I believe at least a part of it is motivated by the belief in the open/free software. I think it should be made sure that this openness can not be threatened by going commercial.
What do you think about the following:
-It's only possible to sell shares back to Openpandora, not directly to someone else. This would prevent someone buying up everything behind the scenes. However, I don't know if this could be legal at all.
-Some contractual rules that limit the influence of investors (i.e. explicitly prohibit a move away from open source). Again I don't know if this could be legal.
Your thoughts?
