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I'm genuinely happy to be hearing that the PineBook is genuinely nice .. I'd switch to it from my MBPro in an instant, if I could. Maybe I will, soon. My intention was not to slag off Pines' efforts. Its just, once you see a generation raised on iThings and pocketRobots, trying to get them interested in the hacky nature of Pine, as a platform, is an interesting task. I think the point is that it has to excel over the iPhone/Android/laptop classes in some, significant, manner, or else it just gets sniffed at. This is an important thing to recognise in the quest for platform adoption. That isn't to say that PineDevices are not productive, more useful. They clearly are, and the fact of their quality competitiveness is refreshing. The PineTime watch is actually quite a cute thing to wear. I love being able to write python code on it, but its also comfortable hardware. But as a platform, it will need the right attitude regarding the open nature of things. This takes a responsibility not common in most adopters of technological tools these days - and with each generational release from the tethers of last years consumer toy, the task becomes harder... or lets just say, more interesting for some of the hackers who want to make great leaps in a new arena. Someone will write the killer PineDevice app, which won't work anywhere else .. |
If you see mainstream domination as the goal, e.g. to surpass Android or iOS, you'll probably be disappointed. I see it as giving those of us that care about privacy, security and openness a way to opt out of the Apple/Google almost-duopoly, just as Linux distributions do for the Apple/Microsoft one on the desktop.
For me, it only needs to be just about good enough to use as a daily driver, for now. I know I will be buying the shit out of one when these are available in July.