| I take the point, but two responses- 1) in practical terms, what you get is essentially an open, hackable platform. The CTO is a former KDE dev, you get root on the device, much of the product is being developed in the open- https://github.com/reMarkable And there are recipes for getting UI and background components running on the device. I have not done this, but do use the API in my own workflow to get content on the device. 2) Yes, they are building a product. A, say, religious commitment to open source, and/or open hardware, is a commitment to limit the range of decisions that may help the business to a much narrower set that adhere to the religion. Sometimes strict open source is good for business. Often it is not. As someone who in his younger years has bought quite a large number of "open hardware" products, the software for which was always only barely usable, the business model hypothetical, and therefore never went anywhere and now litter the graveyard- I am very happy for this team to be doing the right things for the business. It's a really good product, with a really bright future, and it also happens to be pretty open and hackable. Kind of best case, in my opinion. Cheers. |
The purchase that turned me into an open hardware evangelist was the Planck EZ mechanical keyboard: https://ergodox-ez.com/pages/planck
It's a joy to use. The layers feature of the open QMK firmware blew my mind and changed how I think about typing. The keyswitches take seconds to replace so it's extremely easy to repair/maintain, which is great for the planet. It's tiny and portable, which was perfect for my needs before the pandemic hit and I stopped going outside. And perhaps most importantly, the company seems pretty successful, they seem to be a competent business that is in it for the long haul.
I am also very impressed with my Pinebook Pro: https://www.pine64.org/pinebook-pro/ The year of the Linux desktop may never come, but this shockingly cost-effective open hardware laptop convinced me to quit Apple products after a decade of loyalty. For my needs, which are mostly browsing the web, editing code, and SSH-ing into servers, it's good enough for like 1/10 of the price. I'll grant you that Pine64 is more of a hobbyist project than a business, but it seems extremely successful on its own terms and seems sustainable despite selling stuff basically at-cost.
I've now ordered a System76 Thelio desktop, also open hardware (although closer to Apple prices, performance costs money I guess). https://system76.com/desktops
I don't say all of this to suggest that Remarkable is bad, it seems pretty good. I'm just saying that it can be better on open source software and hardware, without it hurting the business or the product. It might even help.