Have I lost the plot on all of what Rasp pi is supposed to be about?

I'm not entirely sure what the original poster means, but it seems to be a rant against compliance, and that is a very severe mistake.  The primary goal of Rpi is to give inexperienced youngsters a very cheap computer for learning and experimenting.  It's not aimed at electronics engineers nor radio amateurs who know what they're doing and can deal with non-compliance problems.

I find it hard to believe that it's encouraging electrically non-certified equipment being given to kids and non-techs.  Perhaps someone needs to think about the potential dangers a little bit more.

Industrial compliance standards exist for a very good reason, not just to delay time-to-market.  The first 10k batch is not going to developers only but to all-comers, because the Foundation advertised it repeatedly as a very capable media computer that runs XBMC and OpenELEC very nicely, so the interest is very broad.  They even suggested that kids could use Rpi at home so that they don't mess up Dad's PC.

No surprise then that a large proportion of the first batch will be going into normal domestic situations.  This makes it inarguable that the position that RS, Farnell, and the BIS have all taken is the correct one.  It's the same as applies to Arduino boards, which are all fully certified.

Here is the relevant paragraph giving details of the BIS ruling, taken from Element 14's FAQ:

• HOT OFF THE PRESS UPDATE FROM EBEN UPTON OF RASPBERRY PI EARLIER TODAY
• “We have spoken with BIS this morning, and have been told that, given the volumes involved and the demographic mix of likely users, the development board exemption is not applicable to us; as a result, even the first uncased developer units of Raspberry Pi will require a CE mark prior to distribution in the EU...... ....we are working with RS Components and element14/Premier Farnell to bring Raspberry Pi into a compliant state as soon as is humanly possible.”

Note the important words "the demographic mix of likely users".  Given this fact, no other possibility was viable, nor sensible.

Morgaine.

I'm not entirely sure what the original poster means, but it seems to be a rant against compliance, and that is a very severe mistake.  The primary goal of Rpi is to give inexperienced youngsters a very cheap computer for learning and experimenting.  It's not aimed at electronics engineers nor radio amateurs who know what they're doing and can deal with non-compliance problems.

I find it hard to believe that it's encouraging electrically non-certified equipment being given to kids and non-techs.  Perhaps someone needs to think about the potential dangers a little bit more.

Industrial compliance standards exist for a very good reason, not just to delay time-to-market.  The first 10k batch is not going to developers only but to all-comers, because the Foundation advertised it repeatedly as a very capable media computer that runs XBMC and OpenELEC very nicely, so the interest is very broad.  They even suggested that kids could use Rpi at home so that they don't mess up Dad's PC.

No surprise then that a large proportion of the first batch will be going into normal domestic situations.  This makes it inarguable that the position that RS, Farnell, and the BIS have all taken is the correct one.  It's the same as applies to Arduino boards, which are all fully certified.

Here is the relevant paragraph giving details of the BIS ruling, taken from Element 14's FAQ:

• HOT OFF THE PRESS UPDATE FROM EBEN UPTON OF RASPBERRY PI EARLIER TODAY
• “We have spoken with BIS this morning, and have been told that, given the volumes involved and the demographic mix of likely users, the development board exemption is not applicable to us; as a result, even the first uncased developer units of Raspberry Pi will require a CE mark prior to distribution in the EU...... ....we are working with RS Components and element14/Premier Farnell to bring Raspberry Pi into a compliant state as soon as is humanly possible.”

Note the important words "the demographic mix of likely users".  Given this fact, no other possibility was viable, nor sensible.

Morgaine.