Raspberry Pi (Trading) Ltd. finally announced

Eben Upton responded to my question "why were you terminated as a director of the Raspberry Pi Foundation?" here: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4148983&cid=44722739

I like the part about resigning in order to separate the control of the two entities,

"though I continue to run the Foundation on a day-to-day basis".  I think the whole point

of requiring charities to publicly declare their trustees is so that the public is clear about

who is running the charity on a day-to-day basis.

I wonder what title he may have used since resigning when signing RPF contracts, if any?

I think the point you missed is that there is not just one project, there are two.

There is not just one bandwagon, there are two.

There is not just one board of directors, there are two.

There is not just one charter, there are two.

There is not just one CEO, there are two.

There is not just one bank account, there are two

What does this change? The computers will still be produced, the workers have not been fired/sacked and the education charity still exists.  If you want to stop buying Raspberry Pis and donate to the charity directly, be my guest!  But I would suggest you stop accusing the Foundation of not being charitable (because your theories don’t stand up against anything) and move on.  If evidence (which does not exist) arises that the Trading branch is stealing money from the Foundation let me know.

The concern is the lack of announcement of significant changes to the status quo, particularly when

there has been such an extensive prior emphasis and reliance on "we're all volunteers" and "we're a charity"

and "we're all about education".

Refer to previous post.

I just hope the R-pi engineers and analysts Stay on the Course,,, pick your fights,,, but keep plowing away doing great stuff !!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey, I had to go through this crap at Dupont during the 80's and 90's.. Becareful.    The best thing is to just get together and come to agreements.   The back stabbing and sabotage  will literally kill your projects. 

Sincerely, Chuck Smith

What does this change?

Well, of course it changes a lot of things.   Prior to this announcment, whenever someone

would suggest an enhancement, they would be shouted down on the basis that the RPi is

all about education, and the proposed enhancement is not essential for education.

Now we know differently, that the RPi is about selling a lot of small inexpensive computers,

and the RPi Trading company is apparently not bound by the educational charter of the Foundation.

It also apparently makes a lot of difference in what legal restrictions are placed on the

use of funds, and accounting for spending.

But I would suggest you stop accusing the Foundation of not being charitable (because your theories don’t stand up against anything) and move on.

Who said anything about the Foundation not being charitable?

It's written in their charter.  The claim is that the RPi Trading company

apparently does not have the same charitable charter or educational goals

or Board of Directors or CEO as the Foundation, and has been operating for

over a year without explaining that, while leading their supporters, customers,

and the general public to believe otherwise.

coder27:  you should call me on this topic 

What's your problem then?

What's your problem then?

What problem are you referring to?

Cian Byrne wrote:

 

But I would suggest you stop accusing the Foundation of not being charitable (because your theories don’t stand up against anything) and move on.

coder27 never said any such thing about the Foundation, you're inventing it.  Please don't.  And it's not the topic.

This thread is specifically about the for-profit company Raspberry Pi (Trading) Ltd, as distinct  from the Foundation, and you seem not to be able to understand this factual and fundamental and legal distinction.

Since you are not interested in this distinction which is the subject of this thread, it seems clear that it is you  who needs to move on.  This thread is purely for those who recognize the distinction and wish to analyse it.

I have NO problem,,, I think coder27 is the best !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@coder27 and steve are having a go at the Foundation's work which I don't appreciate or think isappropriate.

@coder27 and steve are having a go at the Foundation's work which I don't appreciate or think isappropriate.

I'm having a go at the fact that despite being in production for around 18 months, and having very clearly stated aims of being to improve education, there is nothing from the Foundation to support any sort of curriculum in schools. Why spend time on improving Multimedia performance and suchlike, when your main stated aim is Education - what does that do to help?

My hat is off to all the people around the world that spend time to create tutorials, videos, websites et al dedicated to helping people learn with the pi, because everyone's time is precious and to give it up to help others is a great thing to do. They are filling a massive vacuum that should have been spearheaded by the Foundation, not lead from the back, which is what they are currently doing.

I'd have completely no problem with them if their line had been 'We've made a neat box that you can do tons of things with, including Mediaboxes and all other kinds of fun stuff' and sold it on that basis - made a ton of money and go off to live on a desert island, hard work deserves to be rewarded. What I object to is 'we are all about education', using that to get a shed load of publicity and free coverage (especially on the BBC, you can't buy that) and then segue into a limited for profit company on the back of that. Don't leverage a charitable status, and then turn your back on that side of things.

Things may be going swimmingly in the gilded towers of Cambridge, but they need to have a bit of a reality check for how educational aims are gonig in the real worls

I'm happy to be proved wrong, so please point me in the direction of some decent, well thought out Educational material created by the foundation and I'm happy to stand corrected. Can't be too hard, they've had 18 months or so to do something.

Or have you been completely assimilated into the Pi collective Cian ?

Why spend time on improving Multimedia performance and suchlike, when your main stated aim is Education - what does that do to help?

That was truly a mystery for the last 18 months or so.  But I think the answer is

pretty clear now.  The Trading company, not the Foundation per se, has apparently

been working on non-educational improvements such as Multimedia performance,

with the intent of selling lots of XBMC, digital signage, and other non-educational

applications, because the Trading company isn't bound in any way by the educational

charter of the Foundation.   Instead, they're apparently just trying to sell as many units

as possible.

The Foundation per se, on the other hand is apparently no longer in the business of

engineering, making or selling the RPi, or determining what improvements should be

made to it.  They no longer even need to defend the original claim that the RPi is an

ideal educational device.  Instead they can and I suspect probably will do govt lobbying

and development of educational materials that has a much broader scope than just the RPi.

I was going to write that RPIF isn't helping with preparing any educational material, and that their website isn't helping either (many people are creating their own blogs or websites - sometimes with no comments section so there is no visible review by anyone - and some of the material is great but other content is incorrect, and some is dangerous (and we've had to highlight it in the past), which makes it harder for people to identify the good material that some will have posted - and it could have been easily fixed by having a more open site.

But, you're right, it is not the RPIF, but the trading body, so none of the above necessarily applies any more to the same extent as before.

and that their website isn't helping either

It will be interesting to see what they do with the website.

It isn't clear now whether the website is for the Foundation or for

the Trading company, or both.