I'm certainly not defending Josh.
Respectfully, unlike many BFL customers, you don't seem to be particularly offended by the multiple month wait. BFL customers are starting to resign themselves to a march shipping date as we speak. (on the BFL forums)
I think that his estimations are irresponsible and upset his customers. I think that he is dealing with companies that typically have a 3-4 month timeframe on projects and not a 1-2 week timeframe on projects like this. I think that BFL as a whole did not do enough research into every single process of manufacturing, in regards to timeframes.
I believe that is a false sentiment.
I believe (and actually hope) they actually did do due diligence before taking on vast sums of cash.
Though, lets take your premise and assume they didn't. This [if your hypothesis is correct] just goes to show how they aren't doing their part to keep the project going well.
One of the points that Josh used to bash the Avalon team on was the fact that they didn't have [supposedly] the amount of collective experience that the BFL engineering team had.
Yet you see them struggling with things that they shouldn't be struggling in. They don't appear to be well informed in my opinion.
Team Avalon started the wafers contract on 11/26/2012 and by January 14th 2013 had already finalized shipping preparations. They were on the ball and got things rolling.
Of course, this is a somewhat unfair comparison because they were using less layers [29] in their 110nm process node. So they had to wait less to achieve a result.
BFL uses a 65nm process (which requires more time...assuming they have more layers...that is) but seems to fumble at each stage. Even after the fab, they continue to fumble through each step.
The only eventuality the Avalon Team did not properly investigate was customs. Add to this the fact that CNY was around the corner and unfortunately "Shit Happens".
Despite this month of delay...BFL is still fumbling to this day, even unto March 2013.
As other have said in the shoutbox, what does this mean for the second wafer set coming down the pike? Will that also be delayed by 1 to 2 weeks as the first was?
I'm not trolling here, and I would like an honest answer. You seem like a fairly intelligent person and you know how to frame intelligent arguments, but I'm not sure why you're keeping up the constant crusade against Josh and BFL.
Is there a specific reason?
Yes, Josh likes to post trash talk against the Avalon Team.
Example:
https://forums.butterflylabs.com/bfl-forum-miscellaneous/923-avalon-unit-delivered-bfl-hq.html
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At the very least, I post actual things of interest. Most of what happens in the shoutbox never gets written into the "official" updates posts. That includes various specific details. Unfortunately, I don't have a log of that to prove it.
I understand if you skimmed the latest shoutbox log and do not notice the references being made to prior conversations within the shoutbox.
You have to get on at specific times to see the various back and forth. If not, you'll miss it and you won't get it through the regular updates.
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Needless to say, what the majority end up reading is not necessarily all the fine details of the situation. To find out what is happening you should log in to the shoutbox and keep abreast of the situation.
The official updates are just a nice "summary" with certain key details left out. It makes the rep rage in anger when one does that.
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In either case, I do not see what any BFL customer would be offended by if you post details in front of them. Perhaps people don't want to know more about these situations?
Edit: By the way, the hardcore supporters are now often tongue lashing BFL in the shoutbox quite openly. I wonder what it was that they saw that made them feel that way. Their disenfranchised sentiment is now often leaking into the open BFL forum.
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