On Mon, 2007-02-12 at 09:48 -0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Sean, > > I'd like to add my voice in support of your decision to delay the hardware. > I've been in situations like this, and I appreciate the difficulty of making > this decision. From my experience, I believe you've made the right choice, and > I fully support you and your team. > > I look forward with great anticipation to the source opening in a few days. > This, after all, is where all the open excitement is really going to take > place. Judging from all the creativity and intelligence we've seen expressed > on this list in the past few months, I'm looking forward to some amazing > software from this group. > > Keep up the great work! > > Michael
Yes, I completely agree as well...multilateral community support is a good thing :) See, open communities are supportive :) Hugs all around :) Jon > On Sun, 11 Feb 2007, Chuck Williams wrote: > > > Sean, > > > > This is a great decision. I'm sure the community will be supportive and > > the end product will benefit from the early openness. I'm looking > > forward to getting early access to the hardware and software and hope to > > contribute something to the software effort. > > > > Chuck > > > > > > Sean Moss-Pultz wrote on 02/11/2007 11:18 PM: > >> Dear Community, > >> > >> We, the OpenMoko Team, have promised exciting news about our project > >> today. We have some information that we think you will like very much, > >> but also have some news we like less. Let us first address the > >> unpleasant part, before turning to the more cheerful part of this > >> announcement. > >> > >> After we announced OpenMoko last November, we were flooded with emails. > >> Most were absolutely encouraging, thanking us for undertaking this > >> project. And out of the many thousands of emails, only two requests came > >> again and again: "Where's bluetooth?" And, "Why doesn't it have WiFi?" > >> > >> (We really do read _everything_ you write.) > >> > >> Originally, bluetooth was in our product spec, however, this was left > >> out of our schematics in an early stage. At the time we were really > >> hurting for resources internally, so we did not push. Making changes to > >> a product while in the R&D stages can be quite painful. But after all > >> the incredible demand, post-November, we felt it had to be done. > >> > >> We had a string of bad luck that really hurt our productivity. Each > >> hardware revision takes at least one month of time. Each month without > >> stable hardware means serious delays for software. > >> > >> One time we received the wrong memory from our vendors and we failed to > >> catch this before production. Another time some key components ran out > >> of supply. And as if all that wasn't bad enough, our baseband leader's > >> mom died leaving a gaping wound in both his heart and our hardware > >> team. > >> > >> But we moved on. Little by little our hardware started to come together. > >> Around the middle of January we thought we finally found a stable > >> revision. At this point, our software was seriously behind schedule, but > >> as Alan Cox once said, "Free Software is always late." > >> > >> January's announcement bought us more time to fix some hardware issues > >> still plaguing us. We also modified the position of the bluetooth module > >> to make way for a JTAG port (we're trying our best to be hacker > >> friendly). This required our vendor to design a special FPC to connect > >> the module to our board. Something on the order of 3 weeks would be > >> required to complete this "simple" task. > >> > >> One thousand little Murphy's seems to be what we have running around > >> teasing this project. Less than a 7% yield rate is all that we got out > >> of this new cable; not even enough to meet our Phase 0 demand. Needless > >> to say, it was an incredibly depressing day for all of us. > >> > >> "Tormented" is really the only word that we can think of now to describe > >> how we are feeling as a team, forced with making this decision: Do we > >> delay again, wait for the hardware and software to be ready, or do we > >> just open up now as promised without reaching our key milestone? > >> > >> Each of us, in different ways, have struggled with this decision for > >> the past five days. We're all extremely demanding of ourselves when it > >> comes to the quality of our work. Nearly every minute of our waking > >> lives have been spent on this project. So to be at this state, now, is > >> really hard on us. > >> > >> Mickey Lauer, one of our core developers sent an email, only a few hours > >> ago, that put things back into perspective for us. He said, > >> > >> "A lot of people will be disappointed by the state of the > >> software, but -- I may be a dreamer -- I prefer rough and truly > >> open solutions (where I have the chance to help shaping the > >> future) over cool, but already finished and closed solutions > >> (where all I can do is take the platform as it is or NOT.)" > >> > >> As planned, we are going to open this project up at this point. Within > >> three days of this announcement you will all have access to our source > >> code, Wiki, and Bugzilla. > >> > >> Hopefully you can understand why we're at this less-than-ideal state. > >> But more importantly, we hope you understand that opening our code now, > >> and letting you join us in making this dream of an open phone platform > >> come true, is more important for us than mere appearances. > >> > >> Regarding our Neo1973 hardware, we will send out the first batch of > >> phase 0 phones out around the end of this month. Sorry for not being > >> able to give an absolute date. Next week is Chinese New Year (we're in > >> Asia remember) and _everyone_ stops working for a full week. Having our > >> newly designed FPC built before is really wishful thinking. > >> > >> All interested developers can purchase Neos starting late March. Please > >> understand that phase 0 is a system of "checks and balances," so it > >> simply cannot be rushed. We want to get the framework right, the first > >> time around. Hopefully you all can live with the slight delays in our > >> schedule. We're all super excited to be cranking again and eagerly await > >> sending you hardware so you can join us in the party ;-) > >> > >> Finally, we will offer Neos to end users sometime in September of this > >> year. People everywhere will finally begin to understand the real power > >> of an open phone with a strong community behind it. Within this > >> relationship between humans and Neos, a new kind of device will emerge. > >> "Freed Phones", will have the potential to forever change the way people > >> think of technology. This is the challenge that drives us. And it awaits > >> each an every one of you, along with our full support. > >> > >> > >> Now, "Free Your Phone." > >> > >> Sincerely, > >> > >> The OpenMoko Team > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> OpenMoko community mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> https://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community > >> > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > OpenMoko community mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community > > > > _______________________________________________ > OpenMoko community mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community -- Jon Phillips San Francisco, CA USA PH 510.499.0894 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.rejon.org MSN, AIM, Yahoo Chat: kidproto Jabber Chat: [EMAIL PROTECTED] IRC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ OpenMoko community mailing list [email protected] https://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
