Crowdfunding an Ubuntu smartphone

[Ben Wong]

On Fri, Aug 23, 2013 at 1:21 PM, arne anka <openmoko at ginguppin.de> wrote:

> i am still undecided if i should admire or pity the thread starter, if he
> honestly believed that this community would be able to succeed where ubuntu
> failed -- and on top of that to jump from todays GTA04 to the device as
> imagined by ubuntu ...

Go with "admire". :)

I'm not saying we'd succeed, I'm just suggesting that we could do with
"failing" the way Ubuntu did. By putting out a bold idea, Ubuntu moved
the idea of an open source phone forward from the standard "it's gotta
be Android" mentality, spurred themselves to innovate, and proved
there was a demand for something else.

Of course, what that something "else" is is different for everybody,
but we don't have to please everyone. Our community's niche is not in
being the most whizbang or the cheapest or the prettiest. I believe
the folks in this community have the ability to offer the only
free-as-in-freedom phone/computer and that's worth something. Not to
everybody, but to some percent.

Ubuntu's "failure" included over 5000 orders for units at $700 each.

Could we have 5% as much fail as Ubuntu? Yes. But we'd need to get the
word out and I'm just suggesting now might be a good time, while
people are still wondering what to do with that extra $700 PayPal just
refunded to them. :)

—Ben