Chitech CT-PC89E - 8.9in ARM netbook with linux kernel, u-boot and new linux distro "MOS"

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

neil, these are excellent comments.  adam, i think you should forward
this message on to chitech, as-is, for them to think about.

On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 9:28 PM, Neil Brown <neil at neilzone.co.uk> wrote:
> d.) It does not seem, from what you say, as if there is much margin in
> the netbooks themselves,

 tiny.  they're selling for $102 in 20k volumes.

from evaluating the BOM they're likely to be making about $5 per
machine.  it could be more: these are pretty high-volume common
components they're using, so there will be plenty of room for them to
negotiate down supplier prices.

> and thus perhaps more from the services which

 i'm not sure if there are any.  mid-linux is... i don't believe it's
run by chitech (ok, that's speculation: i haven't been able to
establish if there's a link or not).

> In other words, not releasing the code, in addition to potential direct
> legal problems, is likely to stifle uptake of the product on licensing
> and technical grounds, both with resellers and end users, as well as
> creating a bad community feeling, and thus likely a degree of negative
> PR, which is generally undesirable when launching a product. Many of
> these problems could be solved, or at least lessened in terms of
> possible impact, by releasing the code, and encouraging contributions
> and fixes. Not releasing the code is likely to render them overtaken by
> the next entrant in the marketplace, thus undermining everything they
> have done so far.

 *jumping-up-and-down* i know i know!

 exactly, but i've been hand-waving and couldn't put it into words
good enough for adam to use, but you've managed it.  thank you, thank
you.

 adam, when you wake up, i think it's also worth mentioning that i've
been promoting the CT-PC89E on youtube; it's hit several internet news
sites; i've mentioned it to linuxdevices.com for them to write an
article, and many other places: ALL that ENDS - has already ceased -
BECAUSE they will not comply with the GPL license.

 thank you neil.

 l.