Hello Andreas, and everyone else,

Andreas writes:
> Thats no problem, i can be very patient. I think what the community
> want is just a date, when the device is "planned" to be shipped.

Many years ago, I had a running joke with a co-worker. Every time someone said "just" we would role our eyes at each other and repeat the sentence, emphasizing the word "just".

As others here have explained, we are involving the community in the process of designing, manufacturing, and distributing in a way that is simply not done. We are experimenting and learning as we go along. There are no models for this sort of project, no experts to turn to to ask "how is this done".

It seems so simple, but in fact it is extremely complicated.

If you look at the history of this mailing list, you will see that Sean, Harald, and others started off being very generous with their information, and then having to spend a tremendous amount of energy calming angry readers when deadlines were missed. As you continue to study the history of this mailing list, you will notice an increasing level of frustration in all parties.

This is one reason I was brought in. Having come from the community, I hopefully represent the community well, but now in the company, I hopefully can balance being in both worlds.

My goal is not to get as frustrated as Sean or Harald or the others who have gone before me. Perhaps since I'm in the middle, I'm supposed to get half as frustrated :-)

In fact this is very complicated. Since everyone in OpenMoko knows that I am the channel to the community, I suspect there is a certain reluctance to being completely open with me. Believe me, I have as hard a time getting updates from OpenMoko people as you have getting it from me. (Again, since I'm in the middle, perhaps this is exactly as it should be.) On the other hand, the community knows that I know more than they do, and don't understand why I can't share all this information.

So to answer your question, Andreas: We can not give the community the date for when the device is planned to ship, because we do not have such a date.

What we have is a plan that gets increasingly vague as it moves into the future.

What I know for sure:

We, and Harald in particular, are quite happy with GTA02v3.

GTA02v4 has been made and should be showing up on Harald's desk any day now. True, I said this a couple of days ago, and I have not yet received any confirmation that the device has shown up on his desk, so I must presume it has not yet.

Once GTA02v4 shows up on Harald's desk, there will follow a period of very careful inspection and testing. Only when there is a high level of confidence will we move forward.

How long will this take? We don't know. It depends on what we find.

For example, remember that the drivers aren't all finished. This means that the testing will sometimes be delayed pending drivers, and other times will be tested with test software that (we hope) is very similar to the drivers, but whether it is sufficiently similar we won't know until the driver is finished. So someone might need to make the decision of whether to approve of the subsystem under test after having been verified by the test software, or whether to wait for the driver itself. Obviously such a decision depends on how confident they are in the test software, and how much longer the "real" driver is expected to take, and how risky it is to find a flaw in this subsystem after say 1000 units have been sent out to customers.

Quite a big responsibility. If I were in their shoes, I would be very tempted to wait for the driver. Even though the community is anxious to get the hardware, even if the software isn't finished.

As others have said so eloquently, we are doing our best. We are far from perfect, but we are trying.

My personal goal is to continue improving both the quantity and quality of information that I bring from the company to you.

Regards,
Michael


andutt wrote:
Hi Steven

Thats no problem, i can be very patient. I think what the community want is just a date, when the device is "planned" to be shipped.

/Andreas U

On 10/24/07, *Steven *** <[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> wrote:

    Note that that is an estimated timeline created by a community
    member.  Don't take those dates as gospel and then get upset if
    they're missed.

    We all want the GTA02 ASAP.  But we also want the hardware to be in
    perfect working order.  If it's rushed, there's a much larger chance
    of issues being found after it's been delivered.  We don't want
    that.  So, let's all just be a little patient here.

    -Steven

    On 10/24/07, *Andreas Utterberg* < [EMAIL PROTECTED]
    <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> wrote:

        Thanx...

        Thats the post i have been waiting on

        /Andreas


        On 10/24/07, *Mark* < [EMAIL PROTECTED]
        <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> wrote:

            Since no one else has seen fit to make an appropriate post, I'm
            pasting this from the one place on the site that has some
            information:

            Estimated time line
                * Sep 20 - GTA02v3 design finalized.
                * Sep 25 - GTA02v3 serious flaw found, GTA02v4 needed.
                * Oct 15 - GTA02v4 design finalized.
                * Oct 30 - GTA02v4 design produced, and shipped to
            qualified developers.
                * Nov 20 - GTA02v4 design verified through testing by
            developers.
                * Dec 10 - GTA02v4 produced in moderate volume
                * Dec 20 - GTA02v4 goes on sale
                * Dec 25 - GTA02v4 arrives. See Santa's Sleigh Package
            Service.


            However, I suggest everyone take this with a grain of salt
            and not
            expect anything until well after the New Year.

            Wolfmane

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-- Andreas Utterberg
        Thundera AB
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