Aimed vaguely at a reply I can't find right now:
I know the difficulty is increasing but if they run it for a day and you run it for the rest of its/your life, is it such a biggie? Maybe your break-even gets pushed back a day or two because of that. It's gonna get pushed way further out when all the rest get delivered.
And regarding the various manufacturers collaborating on deliver times, how do you know they haven't?
FD: I have 20 chips on the way. If I get one block reward before the next halving I'll be happy. Maybe it'll find another one one day if I'm still running it and the stars align. If I do I'll probably need it!
It is a biggie to be honest - because they did not pay for them at the end of the day and technically it could be considered theft as it is your property. I have never know any company ever that test their customers products in a live situation - Do Cisco run the switches you have paid for in their Data Centres generating revenue for themselves before handing them over to you under the guise of testing? No of course they do not because they are a respectable organisation.
Unless every test is identical using the same data sets - it can not really be classed as quality controlled test can it? How would you know when you look at the results if there were discrepancies between devices if they had all used different input data - all the output data would be different and no one would be the wiser.
Anyone that has ever undertaken any software testing will tell you this.
They are just blatantly using your fully paid for device to make themselves a quick bit of cash on the side.
So not only have you provided them an interest free loan at no risk to themselves to develop the device they are then delaying shipping under the pretence of testing - when mining especially now with the rapid increases in difficulty is extremely time sensitive and every hour you do not have it - is money you can never make due to the limited number of blocks.
The software can be tested on the test network on one machine once the unit tests and integration tests (such as they may be in this case) are done. Software Developer here
I would imagine that more likely reasons for the burn-in of some or all is to test for heat issues. I see no reason to prefer the test network in this case so why no generate coins? If Yifu wanted to mine so badly he could leave a few in a corner for a month rather than mess about rotating them. I mean, if there's one thing he probably doesn't need any more of it's Bitcoins.
There may be other forces at play as well. There's no standing still in the ASIC space and Yifu will now have a better idea of the details of his next generation chip. If securing that ambition may need funds and those funds can be made from burning in machines then that would be in the interest of the community in the long-term.
CISCO wouldn't have any reason to do something similar and don't even let you read their documentation, never mind support a group-buy of their prize components and release full specs for anyone to build their own. Does Barracuda install backdoors in your security gear? Does Sony distribute rootkits? Reputation takes time and Avalon are only just shipping their first full-scale product.
So I'm happy to cut them some slack for now, especially until I see an order of magnitude jump in hash-rate. I'm sorry you're so angry about it, if you've got a lot on the line it must be stressful.
I am also a software developer with over 15 years commercial experience in financial trading systems and I have never seen a QA test run made with different sets of data - ever.
You can not just test the firmware / software on one device - the entire point of the test is to ensure the software has been correctly deployed to each machine. When software is deployed to a cluster do you only test one node or do you test them all - how would you know all files copied correctly and the configuration is correct?
"Cisco would not have reason to do anything similar" - If Cisco has no reason to do it nor do Avalon, Cisco fully test each device before it leaves to the customer - how else do you gain a reputation as good as theirs? There is more documentation on any Cisco device than there will ever be on any Avalon device as Cisco have an entire department that is dedicated to this.
The burn in excuse is not going to cut it there are numerous ways this could be achieved without creating such an uproar on this forum - It was a very bad decision on their part.
"Reputation takes time" and a great way to get a bad reputation is using your customers equipment to make money.
If he does not need any more BTC why do all this damage by testing on the live network which would then add to the difficulty increase further reducing the amount of money his customers can make. Given there are only a set number of Bitcoins you can NEVER make up that loss.
Honestly it is so unprofessional the mind boggles. The lack of public relations inside Avalon is not encouraging in any shape or form.
I have a feeling you guys are on the younger side early 20's maybe hence the reason you are happy to turn a blind eye, I have been around the block a few times and can categorically tell you it is not acceptable.
I am not angry I am just highlighting unacceptable business practises.