IMP Launches As Another Open-Source Computer Attempt

[wizard69]

Launch open computer >>> Video full of macs.


LELLLLL

Actually Macs are fairly open machines. They do make a lot of decisions in favor of security for the user but the Mac is also a UNIX computer as such there are few limits on what you can do with the machine.
When I see posts like this all I see closed mindedness.

[wizard69]

You can't be serious!

Could be that i missed something, but how is this device open source?

The open source software might have something to do with it.

As far as i can tell, hardkernel does not do OSHW. And I, of all people, could be mistaken, but isn't the GPU driver they are using going to be a binary?

It is possible the GPU binary is a binary. That doesn't make the rest of the np machine any less open. Think about it if you go to the hardware store to buy a shovel and it is sitting in the same rack as racks, pics and axes, does that make it any less of a shovel.

Yet another attempt to cash in, and lie to stupid crowdfunders.

You might want to look into a mirror here, there have been many crowd funded programs lately that have been very successful. Not every crowd funded project is successful though so obviously people aren't funding things they don't beleive in.

No serious project claiming to be open source will now ever succeed, idiots like this have ruined the name.

Actually you are completely wrong here, crowd funding is all about getting a company off the ground. What a company starts with isn't as important as having a long term goal. You need to prime the engine before it will run smoothly. Using your logic Apple should never of started out with the Apple 1. Few of them where built but they did get the company started.

[wizard69]

…

Not exactly sure why making a case and installing a few apps on an otherwise already readily available and much cheaper system is worth a kickstarter and an extra $100, but if they find enough people to support it...

I see questions like this all the time and frankly it leaves me with the impression that far too many people don't understand business in this world. It makes about as much sense as comparing the price of an Apple computer's price to a fly by night PC builders price. One company wants to make a quick buck while the other wants to stay in business and grow.

In this case that housing they are shipping may only cost a few dollars in mass production. The problem isn't what it costs to spit out each case which is almost trivial in the overall discussion. Rather it is the cost to get each product out the door fully assembled and tested. For a start up those costs can be huge and demand is uncertain. Crowd funding provides a way to gage demand and somewhat address the funding issue. If demand is low, the expense of keeping your business going can easily eat up a good portion of that extra $100 you claim for each box sold.

You will often read about the owners of a startup having to do every job on the plant floor including cleaning the toilets. This happens not because they want too but because they have too. You need volume to hire people and that volume has to be sustained to keep those people around to assure time spent on traing isn't wasted. I certainly wouldn't knock the price without a better understanding of what they are trying to do and what exactly they are shipping.

[wizard69]

You have a very warped sense of reality here.

It's yet another in a long line of enlightened thinkers who have the following brainwave:

$cheap_hw + $free_software + $crowdfunding == $mucho_dineros

Or just maybe they are honestly trying to bring a cheap computer to market that is built on open source. If you want to feed the negativity in your bring that is your right but should you really be attacking a project that has a perspective that doesn't align with your warped sense of reality.

It ruins the field for the very few projects which do try to make an honest open source supporting project.

Bull crap! There is a vast array of projects out there that have demonstrated various levels of support for open source. You can't say that they are bad just because they don't align with your definition of 100% support for open source. I'm actually impressed that these people are providing a balanced description of what they are offering.

[wizard69]

And the project "leader" is Navot Volk, who, according to linkedin founded this imp company in April 2014. Here he is doing product research:

HI all,

I bought the Beaglebone Black. i want to transform it into a nice little desktop for my family.
What is the best setup (OS, desktop, browser) for a nice internet kiosk machine (mainly browser).

Thanks Navot.

*sigh* Why are people still falling for this open source hw crowdfunding bullshit?

Let's be honest a lot fewer than are falling for your bullshit. People get ideas everyday about starting business that on the surface looks like they aren't qualified for. However running a business, especially a start up isn't as much about technical knowledge as it is conglomeration of a bunch of skills that allows serving a need in the marketplace. If the product here serves a need the business may be successful but even then there are no assurances.

[k1l_]

The open source software might have something to do with it.

It is possible the GPU binary is a binary. That doesn't make the rest of the np machine any less open. Think about it if you go to the hardware store to buy a shovel and it is sitting in the same rack as racks, pics and axes, does that make it any less of a shovel.

You cant sell a cheap car advertisiing it as a Ferrari just because it did park near a real Ferrari....

Open Source Hardware is a strict term. If that term gets widened/missused, like it is here, people will not trust in that term anymore. Definition at http://www.oshwa.org/definition/