512MB deliberate deception?

They are just inexperienced with production and PR.  Everything from the sudden switch the night of the launch to having outsourced the fulfillment to the two suppliers to the continued shortages and variation amongst suppliers.  I noticed there has also been a shift on the Gertboard and the 512MB version issues and the seeming inability to ever ship a Model A board, to the USB and overclocking issues.  That's a lot of failure to execute and communicate.

I've done a bit of math on what it takes to have an RPi fully operational for a school, and you aren't far away from the price of the new ARM Chromebooks.  And if initial capital is a problem, Google also has monthly leased options.  The question really is what you want to do with these things.  If you just want programming, the RPi has a lot of drawbacks because of what it doesn't come with (case, SD, mouse, keyboard, screen, WiFi, power).  They always say this stuff is just lying around, but it really isn't lying around at that scale for schools (like it might be at your house for one or two RPis).  And the stuff usually lying around is VGA monitors, PS/2 keyboards and mice.

I figure if you have to spend around $60 total on a case, SD, mouse, keyboard, WiFi, power, then $35 for the RPi (still no $25 model), and $100 for an HDMI monitor - you're right at $195 - so you're in Nexus 7 territory (the same price point as the OLPC from 3 years ago - I have one of the originals, they are ARM-based now, but there is no domestic purchase program any more) - $50 more and you're at the new ARM Chromebook.

If you are going to deal with the GPIO, then the RPi is attractive.  But remember, the BBC, Spectrum, Commodore 64 - none of these were widely used for GPIO applications for early computer education.

None of this discussion is welcome on the official board, because it is concern trolling or not considered constructive criticism.

But it remains that we have yet to see much coherent progress on the educational goals front of the RPF except getting the device in hands out there and well-publicized.  For that, they do deserve some kudos.  But to achieve the real goals of having more people be exposed and potentially be more prepared for University...

@Cade: it is interesting to muse on the hardware cost and imo the cost per pupil of any hardware is not that big a deal compared with the costs of say, putting together a meaningful curriculum and providing support (physical and intellectual) for it, training a country's worth of teachers to effectively put over an technically demanding discipline and all the other stuff...

The Pi's gpio is enticing, but meaningful hardware interfacing can already be done with e.g. Arduino without any reinvention of the wheel, so I agree that the Pi isn't a "must have" on that front either. The UK taxpayer is already paying handsomely for classrooms full of grown-up PCs and I absolutely do not buy the "we can't let kids use them for anything more advanced than spreadsheets, 'cos they'll break them" argument. Phooey! The exact same (and lazy) argument applies to  classrooms full of Pi anyway - they'll all end up networked to remote storage at least. Imagine the logistics of handling / synchronising all those SD cards otherwise!

Anyway, the 512M thing was a pleasant surprise, even if it demonstrates that any Foundation announcements / confirmations / denials etc. are best taken with a pinch of salt.

Exactly.  Until the RPF starts working on educational software or curriculum or actual promotions into education which aren't teacher-originated, I'm holding my judgement on success in their underlying mission. The RPF has goals in the educational realm, and as a non-profit, that mission typically has to come first.

All this talk of Osborne effects and _business_ terminology, seems rather at odds with that.  As far as I understand it, the idea that the RPF had _anything_ to lose by pre-announcing is silly.  They get a portion of proceeds of sales.  It seems to me it would be the manufacturers who would be left holding the bag, since the RPF would just start getting proceeds of sales of the already available 512MB model.  Suppliers who shouldn't have much in inventory anyway, since they are hard to get hold of right now.

This also differs from the Osborne effect - those of us who were around then - they pre-announced a totally new product which wasn't available and wasn't even coming into the pipeline.  Then they ran out of cash flow before the new product could go into production, because people stopped buying them to wait.  Given that the RPF is not funding production of these devices and the new model has very minimal changes, the comparison with Osborning is a bit far off the mark.

I'm not saying that they are a "con-profit" (we have a lot of experience with those in New Orleans, many of which are in the educational technology milieu, and they typically specialize in secretively taking in public and private funds and producing little or nothing of what they claim they will be producing, all while effectively subsidizing someone's personal business or real-estate ventures).  But I am saying that the goals of this charity (and supporting things like media centers and Android which don't have good clear connection to the original goals) seem to be getting rather broad and nebulous.  I'm not saying that it's not worthwhile to contribute generally to low-cost, general purpose computing devices which are relatively open.  But at that point, a lot of companies (BeagleBoard, Adafruit, APC etc) in this space who already have an educational/hobbyist focus (as opposed to the Android MK802 market) could simply rebrand themselves as that kind of charity with little difference to what the RPF has currently produced.  The RPF has done a good job in engaging the public and arousing interest in this whole area, and that is a good thing.

Cade Roux wrote:

 

As far as I understand it, the idea that the RPF had _anything_ to lose by pre-announcing is silly.  They get a portion of proceeds of sales.  It seems to me it would be the manufacturers who would be left holding the bag, since the RPF would just start getting proceeds of sales of the already available 512MB model.  Suppliers who shouldn't have much in inventory anyway, since they are hard to get hold of right now.

That's an insightful line of reasoning.

Since neither RPF nor the manufacturing partners have anything to lose from advance announcements for the reasons you have given, and nor do customers on the waiting list because they always get the latest version since there are no old stocks to fill their orders, what is the reason for RPF's secrecy?  I see none.

Morgaine.

Cade Roux wrote:

 

As far as I understand it, the idea that the RPF had _anything_ to lose by pre-announcing is silly.  They get a portion of proceeds of sales.  It seems to me it would be the manufacturers who would be left holding the bag, since the RPF would just start getting proceeds of sales of the already available 512MB model.  Suppliers who shouldn't have much in inventory anyway, since they are hard to get hold of right now.

That's an insightful line of reasoning.

Since neither RPF nor the manufacturing partners have anything to lose from advance announcements for the reasons you have given, and nor do customers on the waiting list because they always get the latest version since there are no old stocks to fill their orders, what is the reason for RPF's secrecy?  I see none.

Morgaine.