I have no idea if the community "trusts" me at all, but I may be willing to do this, for the sake of the community as a whole. I've been fairly sceptical of BFL from the beginning. Came very close to buying some Singles back at their launch, but ended up going the other route. And now I'm fairly well aligned with "the other camp" (ie the other more open FPGA manufacturers). But if BFL is making a legitimate attempt at being open, I'm willing to help with that, to hopefully improve professionalism in this space as a whole. BFL is one of several players that is in a position to have a major impact on Bitcoin soon, and if they can be convinced to be a lot more open about things it will be good for everyone (I think).
Not saying I'll buy their product
I'm already fairly invested in alternative products right now, but I think that, combined with my decent exposure to most of the recent dedicating mining tech, along with real Electronics Engineering, and FPGA Development knowledge and experience, makes me "qualified" if you will, to judge....
I think that you Glasswalker would be a good choice BUT if I remember right... you are working for one of the BFL competitors. So your visit would be a conflicting of interests. Correct me if I'm wrong.
+1 vote for
yochdogI don't "work for" competition. I developed an opensource bitstream, with some incentive from Enterpoint (but mostly funded through a community bounty). I'm also open to porting that bitstream to other boards. It's fully open-source.
I did say in my post I'm currently "aligned" with their competition though. But I can be professional and impartial. It's hardly a conflict of interest. More open manufacturers in the ASIC space is good for bitcoin. Period. I may not trust BFL very much right now, but that's because some of their practices earlier on have been questionable to be honest (in my opinion of course). But this is an opportunity for them to set the record straight, and I am willing to help (if they are honest about being open). But as I said, I won't "hide" information.
Whoever ends up going, (if anyone) I would highly suggest someone already sceptical of BFL though. Proving yourself to an existing supporter means nothing. Proving yourself to a sceptic carries a LOT more weight.
In addition I would reccomend whoever ends up going open up to the community for a list of "proof" they would like to see. such as
- Questions to get answers to
- Specific technical details
- Things to photograph
and so on. The list can then be compiled, and reviewed by BFL. If they don't feel comfortable disclosing some of the points on the list, they can offer explanations why up front. That way the trip has defined expectations up front. If someone goes, with a list of things to find out, then gets stifled by an NDA of some kind or whatever, or can't find the answers to half of the questions the community wants, it's worth nothing to BFL, and it's a waste of the traveller's time. (and a waste of time for the community).