Re: [libreplanet-discuss] talos

[Adam Van Ymeren]

On Thu, Jan 12, 2017 at 11:20 AM, Daniel Pocock <daniel@pocock.pro> wrote:
>
>
> On 12/01/17 15:22, Adam Van Ymeren wrote:
>> On Thu, Jan 12, 2017 at 7:31 AM, Fabián Rodríguez
>> <magicfab@member.fsf.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> On 12/01/17 03:12 AM, Catonano wrote:
>>>> Today, january 12, only 454 pledges have been made to the Talos proect
>>>> crowdunding campaign page.
>>>>
>>>> https://www.crowdsupply.com/raptor-computing-systems/talos-secure-workstation
>>>>
>>>> This is not just a missed target. This is something more, as if there
>>>> was a reection of the proect.
>>>>
>>>> The freedom sensble community is small, yes, but not this small.
>>>>
>>>> What's going on ?
>>>>
>>>
>>> I'll share my impressions since you asked:
>>>
>>> * Give $10 or $250 - no options in-between
>>> * No T-shirts, no stickers
>>> * 6 months shared SSH-access for 250$?
>>> * Absurd amount of information to digest in every update (even for me)
>>>
>>> Setting up a smaller goal, usable rewards and easier-to-digest updates
>>> would have helped a lot. Now this only looks like another failed
>>> out-of-touch-with-reality project.
>>>
>>> As it is, I didn't even contribute $10 as I had the distinct impression
>>> the project would fail. How can I ever advocate this?
>>
>> You were convinced they would fail if they got funding? Or convinced
>> they would fail to get their desired funding?
>>
>>>
>>> I have given / donated generously to many Free software projects and
>>> organizations (including the FSF) and have often convinced others to do
>>> so (even refering new people to join
>>> http://www.fsf.org/associate/referrers/referrerlist ) but honestly Talos
>>> was outside of anything I could refer, in any way.
>>
>> I really wanted Talos to succeed, but I think the core issue is the
>> pieces were just too expensive  $3700 just for a mainboard not
>> including the CPU.
>>
>
> They probably need to try and offer similar pricing to other high-end
> workstations such as HP Z series.
>
>
>
>> They raised over twice as the EOMA68 project which was also freedom
>> respecting. (https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop).
>>
>> $3.7 million was just too big of a target.
>>
>
>
> Not necessarily - to raise significant sums like that, projects may need
> to plan some pitches to larger institutions and not simply rely on
> anonymous private donors to spontaneously materialize.

I guess that's true.  I wonder if part of the problem is the market
for high performance workstations like the HP Z you mentioned doesn't
really overlap with the highly privacy conscious, freedom/privacy
concerned crowd.

>
> Regards,
>
> Daniel
>