This is one of the biggest strawmen I've seen on HN, a platform famous for building them. There's a lot wrong with this but the simplest is this: Pine's stated strategy is to deliver hardware and let the community deliver software. And the community did deliver working software under the earlier community model Pine was pushing, and it's thanks to these efforts that "getting the hardware up and running quickly" is even possible. Now they're adopting a different model which completely undermines what worked about the last one.
Pine64 is making enthusiast products for hackers, not mass-market devices for non-hackers. Non-hackers have access to plenty of phones which just werk. Part of the promise of Pine's platform and the appeal to the target audience is the commitment to community.
Pine64 is making enthusiast products for hackers, not mass-market devices for non-hackers. Non-hackers have access to plenty of phones which just werk. Part of the promise of Pine's platform and the appeal to the target audience is the commitment to community.