what to with 02 when upgrading to 04? was: Re: How to bring forward the community?

Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller hns at goldelico.com
Mon Mar 5 11:33:51 CET 2012


Hi Fernando,

Am 05.03.2012 um 11:01 schrieb Fernando Martins:

> On 03/05/2012 10:36 AM, Al Johnson wrote:
>> 
>> There are a few places you can 'order' a donation, but I don't know how well
>> known they are.
>> http://www.handheld-linux.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04&referer=GTA04-Early-Adopter
>> http://www.handheld-linux.com/wiki.php?page=Openmoko%3ACommunity
>> 
> The problem is that such a blind donations link is to vague and non-transparent. It's not an exciting rallying point for a community.

Yes this is a problem. These donations help to cover general cost e.g. of running servers, development and have been used to reduce the price a little. But future donations should not change the price of the group tour.

But as far as I see the intention is that there are some community members who want to specifically donate. We already have some orders where someone did do a full reservation with open shipment address and there was some private mail discussions of providing more kernel developers with a device.

So please specify here what you would do in return, if you would receive such a "free" unit. Then, the donators (who are following this list) can contact you directly.

> Nikolaus, would there be a way to define a more concrete donation goal, eg., buying a specific batch of parts, that would help goldelico achieve the group order?

Yes, that is a good idea and can be technically done.

The problem is that it is difficult to exactly track this. Let's assume someone donates 200 EUR, this would mean that we can reduce the group tour price by 200/350 EUR, i.e. 57 ct. This is quite difficult to calculate and translate into a real refund to everyone.

And I think reducing the price for new incoming orders (each donation reduces the 499 EUR by some cents) only would't be fair to those who already have ordered. Although it would be the easiest to implement scheme.

Or we buy a handful UMTS modules from the 200 EUR. But who gets those boards?

We could also think about reducing by each donation the number of units we need. This would only benefit the distributors and others since get a compensation for lower quantities.

Or should we do it that way, that every donated 25 EUR automatically converts a 499 EUR group tour seat into a 474 EUR one, and each 50 EUR donation changes a 499 EUR to a 449 EUR seat? This makes it a lottery if someone is fast enough to get such a "new" 449 seat.

Basically it needs some funds where you (donators) can put in money and you (others) can take it to get a GTA04 effectively at a reduced price. And perhaps a trustee to manage the funds.

IMHO the key aspect of a solution is: how do we find a fair scheme that price reductions by donations reach those who really need them (and not some free-riders)?

Nikolaus

PS: maybe another aspect should also be pointed out: we have a volume rebate in our calculation. I.e. if someone finds 4 others and orders 5 units in combination, there is 5% rebate and for 10 units it is 10% rebate.





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