New cables, more boards (2011-04-15)


I have a comment I wish to get some feedback on. I'm not trying to be crotchety but explain to me how the current situation is different than:


A new restaurant opens up in town unlike any other. Before there was only fast food and convenience stores but this new Restaurant serves gourmet food, so much so that they have to special order all the ingredients. These are truly ingenious chefs (truly). Although many people called in reservations years in advance they've had to reschedule them many times because of a supply shortages. This is understandable since you can't sell what you don't have. All of a sudden it looks like they'll have all the ingredients they need and for a bit they are so busy they decide they need to hire more people. To pay for the new staff they will allow anyone with the proper tip to be seated immediately. This still seems ok since they'll be serving in such quantity that surely all the original customers will be fed. Soon after... The ingredients start running low again but bribes to the maitre'd are always good so they decide to allow anyone with cash to cut in line regardless of how long the original customers will wait. As a consequence they've stopped rescheduling reservations and tell everyone the kitchen is so busy we will get to you when we can but lately just ignore them. Some begin to wonder "how can they be as busy as they once were when the supplies are low again? At least that's the last we heard." Others with hungry bellies are forced to watch and wonder when they too may eat. Since the supplies are low and it's impossible to know how many big tippers there may be, not even a mathematician could predict when all the original reservations will be met.


The point is without a schedule or real updates, it's impossible to tell whether anyone will be served next month, next year, or infinitely into the future. You can't predict based on unknowns. I have customers and I know whenever I'm late with a project I sure as heck keep them informed of exactly what's going on and have the reasons and solutions outlined in detail. They are almost always understanding but if I were ever late with an update I also know who I'd be expecting a call from.


Disclaimer: I know everyone is working there buts off and I think they deserve all the money they can get but there's something about this situation that leaves me uneasy as well. Something about changing the rules mid play...
 
I vote anyone who continues that tortured restraunt analogy becomes emergency rations.


Excel-saga-menchi.jpg



Who's with me?


Reality:


You're not buying food, you're buying hardware. The hardware vendor's cost estimates got thrown out of whack thanks to unforseen complications outside of their control with their vendors, and thus has offered to help people get theirs faster with the currency of the realm to help keep things solvent instead of simply increasing the price on everybody. The hardware vendor by all accounts has also kept working consistently with an amazing level of dedication given the overall situation.


Asking for a new CircuitCo report given they report to OPL and their status is representative of overall progress, is one thing. Trying to start a whacked out debate that'll suck up the relevant people's time which could otherwise be doing something productive, is quite another.
 
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Screw the food analogy. We've paid for hardware. If the hardware vendor's cost estimates got thrown out of whack they can either 1) give a refund 2) meet their commitments 3) go bankrupt.


Now, we can certainly understand the situation. OPT can't afford to give everybody refunds, and they can't afford to meet their commitments. In the interests of preventing insolvency we can work together as a community and settle on a fourth option that is agreeable to all. Most of us are are happy to do just that.


However a degree of transparency is required on OPT's side to show they are working in good faith. They could easily exploit the trust we have placed in them by generating as much profit from new sales as possible and simply treating pre-orders as an interest-free loan. Do I have to remind you that pre-orders are carrying a lot of risk to keep this all going?


TL:DNR Nobody is demanding an audit. All we are asking for is an update. And when you are living out of the community's pocket, "too hard" is not an excuse.
 
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Here are some solid numbers for you, so ED can keep on doing usefull things (like building and sending Pandoras or earning money with his real job to stay alive) instead of translating and posting it on places of your convenience:


http://forum.gp2x.de/viewtopic.php?p=159754#p159754


In total ED delivered around 380 of (his) 700 Batch1 units so far.


In addition to that, he delivered 40 Premium Pandoras, of which 25 were upgrades of existing orders.


He has 30 Pandoras sitting there, ready to be send.


About 30 more PCBs where the nubs need to be replaced, you can check him doing so via the webcam: http://buechse.openpandora.de/edcam/


He is expecting more PCBs from Craig soon.


That's ED's(!) current status, Thursday, May 26 2011, 05:27 MESZ
 
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I'm also heartened by this news. I think we all really want this all to be an unpleasant memory - one that is eclipsed by the total awesomeness of the device & the community that goes with it.


But the one-way flow of information is extremely discouraging.


ED & craigix - you must understand we are putting a lot on faith here. I'm not saying you have to do it every week... but just update the frigging status!
 
Finally bit the bullet and went Premium.


As I can see the team needs all the extra money it can get


Hope the Premium orders speeds up delivery for everybody.


Got my Google payment request today.


Thank everybody for all the good advice and apologies if I got a bit excited.


Please welcome me back to the fold.


Got some extra cash what better way to spend it.


"Sony" keep up the good vibes
 
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I will repeat my suggestion:


weekly OPT should update the situation:


New units shipped last week (excl. RMAs): xxxxx


Total shipped to customers (excl. RMAs): xxxxx


Orders to fulfill: xxxxx

See (while I would like that too), I do believe that may be putting an unnecessary burden to put on the team.


All I want to see is some respect paid to the people who's patience is making this all possible. At the moment, I'm just not feeling it.
 
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My status pretty much mirrors Eds. We're closing in on the final 1000 units very quickly.

That's good to hear. Maybe in a month or so mine will be in sight. Is the flow of boards regular and of similar sizes now?

These days I just don't like to comment! But we ship units every single day.
Shame! Because these are the figures we're all crying out for.


I hate to say it but your silence on the subject is disconcerting.


What we all want to know is how many are you are shipping to the queue (each day/week). Your rather vague wording could mean that you are busy fulfilling premiums and only premiums.


What we'd love to know is the ratio between Premiums and those from the queue, but I give up asking for this.


getting worked up again. Not saying anything more.
 
What we'd love to know is the ratio between Premiums and those from the queue, but I give up asking for this.
Just do the math yourself then. ED delivered ~420 units, of which 40 were premium.


40/420


To be precise, only 15 of those were not from preorders, so one might even say the real ratio is


15/420


~3.5%


as Craig said:

My status pretty much mirrors Eds.
so his ratio will be about the same.


I guess that will have to do, although I bet some are already starting to feel unhappy because the numbers are not exact to the last unit, the numbers are already several hours old, and neither ED nor Craig did or posted the calculation personally. <_<
 
Just did, I guess ED posted it while I was writing the numbers (again) ;)
 
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My status pretty much mirrors Eds. We're closing in on the final 1000 units very quickly.

That's good to hear. Maybe in a month or so mine will be in sight. Is the flow of boards regular and of similar sizes now?

These days I just don't like to comment! But we ship units every single day.

Thanks. After your reply, ED posted up a bit of a longer post on the official website, I was just wondering if everything was ticking along fine. Which it seems to be doing so :)


I actually think it's a bit of a relief not to have an approximate number anymore, means I can chill out and just look at new software releases.
 
My status pretty much mirrors Eds. We're closing in on the final 1000 units very quickly.

I've roadied for musicians, and have friends who've travelled and toured around; nothing beats the last mile.. you can only play 10 songs so many times in a row :)


How many thousands f pandoras have you worked on personally? Them are some tired fingers ;)


jeff
 
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