Convince me NOT to cancel my order.

[Don Park]

On 8/31/07, Sean Moss-Pultz <sean at openmoko.com> wrote:
> > admin at mmri.us...
> > My point is starting this topic was to bring attention to the fact that
> > probably 500 to 1000 potential developers were likely to get saddled with
> > GTA01 phones right before the GTA02s were released and that FIC staff were
> > not providing sufficient information about likely delivery dates.  We are
> I really wish we could give more accurate timing information. But please
> understand that what you're seeing is a product being built from
> scratch. We're not using reference designs. We're not using 3rd party
>[...]
> Product development is messy. There are literally hundreds of components
> in this device, all needing to be sourced with different lead times from
> different vendors. If SDRAM becomes scarce, we suffer. If a vendor has
> yield problems, so we do we.

Hi Sean.
 The opensource software development process is wonderful in its
transparency - I think thats where a lot of the frustration about the
hardware process is coming from. Your reply email gives no new
information about the GTA02. Supply chain delays can delay the
product, that makes sense, but surely there is information about what
is expected to happen? How about saying what the production plans are?
Ive read on this list both October 07 and January 08 as estimated
GTA02 completion dates. The readership is left to make their best
guess based on essentially rumors. Is it a separate electrical
engineering team that is designing the GTA01/02 inside FIC and that is
partly why the software devs are in the dark?

The GTA01 is in production and its the same story. There has been
mention of 'another batch' on Sep 20th, but again no announcements.
How about  stating 'X GTA01s are available for sale. Y GTA01s are in
production with an estimated completion date of Z' and 'On date D1 we
expect to stop making new GTA01s and start making GTA02s'. That would
be something to chew on, knowing full well that estimates change and
surprises happen.

Thanks,
Don