OpenHandhelds.org

So in January, we received the depressing news that we won't be receiving our units until April. In April we get the "exciting" news that they won't be appearing until June. That's not exciting. "Exciting" is getting a phonecall from the post room that a parcel has arrived (incidentally, I have to change my pre-order address, because it's been so long, I've moved office). That's depressing.

This isn't a hobby anymore. You have a legal obligation to deliver. All my friends think I'm an idiot for pre-ordering. I'm starting to agree.

Do you really think the OpenPandora team are treating this like their hobby? They are trying their hardest to deliver the product as soon as they can. Also, why is this in the News section?

I moved it.

Anyway, what are they gonna do? It took longer, what do you want? The parts and a soldering iron so you can build it yourself?

Obviously I agree to an extent, the delays are extremely frustrating, but it's not like they made the choice to delay the device 7000 times

My point is, I work for a living too. I have deadlines, and a project manager who gets really nasty on my ass when I look like I'm going to miss one. We have cash coming in from customers, and we deliver products to them to keep that cash coming in. That's how a business works.

If you say "pre-order and get one in December", that's a statement of intent. I understand the bit about the bank account being closed for 2 months. That's not their fault, but it's been more than 2 months. I'm a programmer myself, and I used to make bad estimates.. "it'll be done by the end of the week". 2 weeks later, I'm still refactoring stuff. I've matured in that respect, but it's the job of my manager to be realistic about those estimates anyway, and he does a good job.

I was told December.

You were told the estimate is december. They did not make any promises.

Meeting a job deadline or finishing a coding project is nothing at all like building a new handheld computer from scratch. The team has admitted that in hindsight, they didn't realise how much would be involved in getting this thing to production. They've explained to us in detail the reasons for the delays many times, and there's nothing that could have been done to prevent them.

We all understand your frustration because we're all in the same boat. My friends think I'm an idiot too, but fuck 'em. I know I'm not.

This was a learning process for the OP team. You can't expect them to make accurate deadlines, when it's the first time dealing with all the problems that they've faced for the very first time.
In addition the difference here is that delays have been explained as opposed to the commercial fat cats, that keep problems behind doors... and there hasn't been any stupid delays like "Nintendo's delay of 1080 Snowboarding in Europe because they had just missed snowboarding season, so they delayed it for 10 months "

You aren't the first person to post this and you won't be the last. I'm just curious what you expect to get from a post like this? If you are really upset enough the OP group has said in the past that they'd refund your money.

If you would have been around at the time of Pandora's creation, you would realise delays like this were inevitable, and that in a way, pre-ordering was more like an investment to actually get the (first batch of) Pandora produced. Hey, it's not like OpenPandora are the first company to delay a release date.

They did not set December 2008 as a deadline, they set it as "a date that may change" - afaik they only said a date due to community pressure - and guess what, it did change. Yes, we all want a Pandora now, but it's not gunna happen, no matter how many forum posts you make. It will be ready when it's ready.

My friends think it's vaporware also. They're Linux geeks also but I was the only one of my friends that pre-ordered. But I will not give up, I hope it gets to my by the end of June though, I'm going on a trip and want to show it off.

I pre-order a lot and it seems almost everything gets delayed. I don't think you need to look for reasons or excuses because delay is just normal. They've come too far to just backout or stop now, so I'm not worried.

A-HA! So this is all your fault!

Another one of those posts.

Well, if you don't like it, get your refund. There's no point in your post. If your friends
are so geeky and smart, do what they say and stop being an individual thinking for yourself.

Stop moaning and stop making it harder for the strong-willed people who really want this
dream, this global meme, this awesome piece of tech to come alive.

*maniacal laughter, lightning*

the project requires a lot faith. if you don't have it, get a refund and move on.

This may help: http://www.bibletime.info/software_installation.html

If you work on a project and you realize you're not going to get it done with in the deadline that was originally set what do you do? Magically pull the poduct out of your ass at the last minute and save the day? If it's not done it's not done, simple as that. Sure if you signed a contract that it would be done by a certain day you'd be all to correct to be angry and even pull your money out of the project, but you didnt sign anything and no specific deadline was ever set. The only think mentioned were expected milestones and most of those were missed due to more than just their mistakes, other companies are involved to and they also bare someof the resonsibility.

If you still feel slighted pull you money out, ask for the refund. But it is comming, it is being built and it will eventually ship.

A2, thanks. I've never had an avatar before, but you inspired one. While I agree with everything you said, what frustrates me is that we can't get one update a week that tells us what is going on. What was accomplished this week, what is planned for next week and an updated todo list. That is not too much to ask regardless how long it takes.

Adblock Plus is also handy for blocking offensive avatars, which is what I'm going to do to yours. Your avatar will not help the Pandora to be released any faster.

But honestly, if you want weekly updates don't ask the board for them ask the Pandora team through an e-mail. Asking here is a crappy thing to do, it's like pointing out someones faults in a group of people instead of talking to them alone.

The Pandora was dealing with companies whose heads are up their assses.
The actual OP developer team is doing their best, but they aren't the ones making everything.

It's like you're having a problem with slow file access, and blaming it on your graphics card.

(Off-topic: Hey lulzfish, you got a nice avatar there, heh...)

Off-topic as well: Ha, I would not have noticed it if you wouldn't have said something gp2.eXe. Nice one lulzfish.