Long time listener, first time caller. Great points in this thread, IMO. On Sun, 2022-01-02 at 22:01 +0100, H. Nikolaus Schaller wrote:
> This raises an interesting question: can a loosely organised open > source > community ever fulfill these user's expectaions? Or does it need a > commercial > effort following a plan, an agenda, doing scrum etc. having enough > resources > and not waiting for volunteers? This does not exclude to make the > results > open source (like Google does with Android), but it needs big > funds... I think bespoke devices—developed by communities of volunteers—getting to market and meeting consumer expectation is highly unlikely. When a specific device gets a crtical mass of users, it does seem possible. Retro handheld devices have exploded over the past year or so; for example, those built around the RK3326 have received a lot of attention from developers, with multiple distros tweaking software to produce polished products. It does appear that PinePhone line has the potential to get such critical mass. Also, compute modules (e.g. RPi CM4) appear to be getting traction; I see potential for amateurs to build devices and software around standardized modular platforms, which receive the engineering budget and rigour necessary to produce modern mobile hardware. They won't be as good as today's flagships, but they could become good enough. I'll take a good-enough open device over a fancy closed device any day of the week.
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