Ask HN: How can we make the ubuntu edge campaign achieve its target?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6237075

by nikhildaga • 13 years ago

6 5 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

With only 66 hours left and 20+ million to be raised, can we somehow make the campaign achieve the target?

Metatron• 13 years ago

Nope. And why would you want to? Even if they deliver on time (which is highly unlikely) there will be comparable phones available. Other phone companies will have seen the campaign and will be aiming to produce competing handsets.

So all you're paying for is exclusivity, which is incredibly shallow.

Technology should be open and equally available to as many as possible. Not an elite hipster club.

EDIT: I just noticed the incredible irony of Canonical making an exclusive platform, wow. Monetise your product with a physical handset sure, great. We understand you need to earn a living off Ubuntu somehow. But don't completely reverse your company philosophy to do it.

fader• 13 years ago

Can you explain what your edit means? I can't for the life of me figure out how this is a reversal of Canonical's philosophy.

(As near as I can tell, you're either upset that they plan to manufacture a limited number of phones, which makes sense as they are not intending to get into the hardware business long-term and intend this to drive innovation, or because they're using an OS that so far is not on other phones, which is how you enter a market. Neither one seems like some calculated evil to me.)

mikl• 13 years ago

I think the best thing you can to support open source phones do is to get a Firefox OS device. Edge is a nice gimmick, but will likely be a dud, even if its funding goes through.

bnejad• 13 years ago

I don't think its going to happen, just too much money in too little time. I think if they really believed in their cause they would have created the phone and just started selling it. Relying on people to pay a large amount of money for a phone they can't have RIGHT NOW seems pretty much set to fail.

infinii• 13 years ago

I'm not a genius but I think the answer to your question is a simple, "contribute $21M".

Ask HN: How can we make the ubuntu edge campaign achieve its target?

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