I cannot say I am surprised.
They are acting or behaving in much the same way as BFL has been for a long time.
The reaction with BFL was much the same. Tom needs to get his info straight and get on the ball quick. Telling your customers that if they can't stand the heat they should get a refund (ala BFL) is not a good business strategy.
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I expect that when Jan 13 through the 17 comes around, that Tom will be equal to Josh. Having no answers other than yet another delay. I do have full confidence that BFL will ship in Feb. I have strong reservations that Tom might ever ship.
You might ask me why I take that position. It is because of what happened in November 25th.
[Speculation]
---There was a conflict with his Family of some kind. (I speculated privately/internally it was probably him putting his house or something valuable as collateral for more money to continue the project.)
---His business with the designer of the boards fell through, either because of the contracted showing their incompetence or because they probably told him that they would not be able to deliver on time.
---He may have been hung out to dry by his Dev team and then had to run out and get someone to replace them. (which is what happened)
Then, seemingly, everyone stopped asking what the trouble was exactly. So there were never any answers I actually saw coming out of that situation.
If any of the above is even somewhat remotely true, then Tom is more likely to implode than BFL. I have to say I like Tom quite a bit, but his BFL impersonation does not suit him well. He should go back to how he was before.
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The only thoughts crossing my mind are that BFL tried to do too much on their first run, and the consequences followed.
Tom went the easier route and simply depended too much on the wrong design company. They may have been the weakest link in his chain.
Avalon seems to be cruising below the surface of events and is seemingly only bothered by the fact that they don't know how many chips they will utilize in one rig and whether people will mind the higher watt usage.
ASICMiner seems to be interested in mining on their own. They are the great catalyst for refunds in late January. (Says my crystal ball)
I do not feel that ASICMiner will ever fail. They are in it for themselves. The only outcry from the community is when they add to the rising difficulty.
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Personally, if Avalon ships in January, they will be the only solution that produced an ASIC device for the common man (ahead of time). The odd thing being that 2/3 of orders have gone to the players who either have locked up peoples money and aren't (yet) delivering on the promises.