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4021  Other / Off-topic / Re: And some more delays in BFL shipment plans / no shipment before 14th Jan 2013 on: December 12, 2012, 05:27:01 PM
On second thought, don't talk to me Inaba.

Talk to me when you actually have delivered 100 [ASIC] units of a product your company sells. Until that time shooo....I disown you as a legitimate vendor. Begone from my sight!

Edit: and uh, best of luck.

Wonderful PuertoLibre, does this mean you will leave this BFL thread and go to the actual ASIC vendor's thread? We will be deeply saddened by this loss.
It just means I no longer see BFL as a credible vendor of ASIC devices.

Nothing has changed other than telling Inaba to go and send his customers some lots to regain his [vendor] credibility.

The second wave of refunds are about to start (IMO). This is the dangerous side of refunds IMO.

Unless their VC invested into BFL for the sake of massive orders of hardware....well, there is only so much in terms of refunds that BFL can afford. [Speculation]

---------------------------

Think of it this way, you are in the reps position and represent your company. You pay the fab for a 65nm process node and all the perks including a few "bullet runs". (matrix bullet time, not real speedy bullets).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhxbYTMNMxo

The bill comes out to 1 or 2 million (theoretical speculation). Great, they start the job, they use some fab techniques to keep their costs down. When they are sure it works, they go full throttle.

Problem, the throttle doesn't work, the Fab is evasive, the time grows longer and longer each day. Then you have your first round of refunds. That money backing your company as profits and as repayment to the VC is shrinking.

Lets say you lose only 750,000 in the first round of refunds. Great, the loss is minimal. But you have to cover operating costs and dozens of other smaller expenses. Lets say you use VC money and not refundable customer money. (Think of it as two different pools)

Then, there is a screw up at the fab. The timeline shifts drastically with no end in sight. People lose confidence (rightly so IMO).

The second round of refunds come in. This time you lose 1.5 million.

-----------------------

You can only lose so much before you can't even pay back the VC. The VC won't come from BFL's own pockets but from their profits. Correct? Or am I mistaken?

People seem to think that panic should only start if 100% of the refunds go back into the hands of the customers.  That would implode BFL.

But is that really the case?

Keep in mind they are paying money to their employees and the fab and everyone else in the pipeline (parts/location/ etc).

How much of their current customer pool can they refund before their debts outweigh the intake?

-----------------------

The only way out of this vicious circle is that BFL may have (speculation) a contract with the VC to provide them repayment in hardware. Or money _and_ hardware.

If that is the case, the true hash rate is probably much higher than what the forum facing side realizes.

OR

It could just be that BFL ends up giving too many refunds and they decide to fold up long before they hit 100% returns.

If they spend 2.1 million on the fab and all other expenses.

If they take in 3.1 million from customer orders.

What happens when they have refunded up to 1.5 million? What do they do at that point? Continue to operate at a staggering loss? Even if they still retain 1.6, who wouldn't close up shop?

This is why I am starting to imagine they have a different deal set up with the VC. Otherwise the VC would get helluva nervous won't they?
4022  Bitcoin / Hardware / Re: [Announcement] Avalon ASIC Development Status [Batch #1] on: December 12, 2012, 05:06:34 PM
Update

There are several news:

1. The process of our rest layers are significantly faster, we are now in QC and expecting to have the wafer arrived at our packaging service next week. Then the slicing, packaging, and testing will start immediately.

2. The shares are under processing. Shareholders (determined per e-mail address) offering different addresses to GLBSE and to us will receive a confirmation mail asking which to use or whether changing to a newer one. And we also hope to identify the shareholders who claim both different e-mail addresses and different addresses as many as possible. The principle would basically be:
  1) If the shareholder has both claimed to GLBSE and to us, we will use the share number provided from GLBSE.
  2) If during analysis, the shareholder hasn't claimed to GLBSE but claimed to us, we will keep a separate list and see if it should be merged.
  3) If the shareholder hasn't claimed to us but claimed to GLBSE, we will of course use the GLBSE data.

Only important and relevant parts are:

1) When those chips are ready, is it guaranteed they actually work or will there be a random testing?

2) Will this happen before or after the shipping to ASICMINER team?

3) How many chips (%) to you think will be lemons?

Do not get too exited about the rest Smiley
1) There will be QC guaranteeing offering basic qualification, but the testing(functional, electronic, thermo) will be first done by us. After that, part of the testing (functional) will be done by the same company that does packaging for us.

2) After the shipping.

3) They would consider a 2/3 yield rate a non-failed one. However in most circumstances the rates are much higher than this bottom line. Made-in-China of course are connected with the impression of lower quality, but calculating with a whole project should put the overall cost into consideration. TSMC has higher threshold for newcomer clients and is less affordable.

As far as I remember, friedcat considered building a proprietary ASICMINER platform for listing and trading shares. As listing on all the alternitve centralized exchanges with their ponzis comes with risk, I think a proprietary platform is the best solution. We don't even know the exact reasons why glbse went down! Do you really want to ride the same horse again?

A proprietary exchange sounds great.

I think it's going to be important to get shares listed and actively available to trade before anything is produced by the company.

Right now it's in a state of limbo and no shareholders have any proof of ownership at all. This will change once it's listed somewhere. I think it's important to fully establish share ownership prior to the production of any ASIC devices / mining activity.
Yes. And we are working towards it. First we need to sort the actual data out from what we have now. We have a close partner working on a new platform that is considerably safer than GLBSE due to its more secure structure. And of course existing platforms like btc.co are also sound options. It is also optional for each shareholder to join the platform or to lock the shares in with us.

Link: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=99497.msg1394701#msg1394701
4023  Other / Off-topic / Re: And some more delays in BFL shipment plans / no shipment before 14th Jan 2013 on: December 12, 2012, 04:34:13 PM
On second thought, don't talk to me Inaba.

Talk to me when you actually have delivered 100 [ASIC] units of a product your company sells. Until that time shooo....

Edit: and uh, best of luck.

Now you just bit yourself. They DID indeed deliver product before. Not to spec, not in time, but deliver they did.
Did you catch the ASIC part? I added it after I just noted I left it out.

(Look at your post, you even quoted it)

By the way, do you think this is foreshadowing the future ASIC devices?
4024  Other / Off-topic / Re: And some more delays in BFL shipment plans / no shipment before 14th Jan 2013 on: December 12, 2012, 04:33:26 PM
There are now 2.

bASIC and Avalon (and that project by Yojan).

(Deepbit and ASICMiner where are you?)
4025  Other / Off-topic / Re: And some more delays in BFL shipment plans / no shipment before 14th Jan 2013 on: December 12, 2012, 04:29:57 PM
On second thought, don't talk to me Inaba.

Talk to me when you actually have delivered 100 [ASIC] units of a product your company sells. Until that time shooo....I disown you as a legitimate vendor. Begone from my sight!

Edit: and uh, best of luck.
4026  Other / Off-topic / Re: And some more delays in BFL shipment plans / no shipment before 14th Jan 2013 on: December 12, 2012, 04:25:50 PM
Did he just overlook every time he trolled bASIC and Avalon on his company website?

Yes, he did....

Show me where I posted false information... good luck with that.

You stated that bASIC was fleecing their customers. Do you not recall?
4027  Other / Off-topic / Re: And some more delays in BFL shipment plans / no shipment before 14th Jan 2013 on: December 12, 2012, 04:23:17 PM
While  I agree that anonymity isn't a guaranteed right, and those that are proven to be scammers or child pornographers should be dox'd.  My only concern is of starting a trend of "jumping the gun".  While BFL has missed there projected dates, which could be for many reasons. I personally think it has just been a poorly managed project and this does not prove malicious intent.  

Fucking up is not cause for attacking people personally. If it were, then how many of us deserve the same fate?

Your assessment of BFL's actions is very charitable(calling them fuckups). For myself I fail to see how they could possibly believe they were going to ship finished products in 2012, yet as recently as last week Josh and others(Debbie) were still advising potential customers that they either still had a chance to ship in 2012 or that they had "scheduled shipments" in December of 2012 and January of 2013.

Given what we now know(which is only what BFL reps want us to know) I fail to see how this behavior can be labelled a "fuck up", but your millage may vary.  

I know that it is hard (as it was for me long ago) to see the distinction, unless you have fallen victim to prejudice (I refer to the literal meaning not it's connotation).   Once you've had someone try to ruin your life because they misunderstood, and assumed to know your intentions you become sensitive to it and try to keep it from happening to others.  
Words of wisdom. +1000
4028  Other / Off-topic / Re: And some more delays in BFL shipment plans / no shipment before 14th Jan 2013 on: December 12, 2012, 04:22:04 PM
Did he just overlook every time he trolled bASIC and Avalon on his company website?

Yes, he did....
4029  Other / Off-topic / Re: And some more delays in BFL shipment plans / no shipment before 14th Jan 2013 on: December 12, 2012, 04:04:12 PM
Japan. (I say it with courageous certainty!)








Either that, or Thailand....
4030  Bitcoin / Hardware / Re: [Announcement] Avalon ASIC Development Status [Batch #1] on: December 12, 2012, 07:29:29 AM
I have orders with all 3 companies, so I'd like to think I'm not really biased against any of them, but with BFL's lates announcement, it's clear their engineering team is a joke (no, it's not entirely due to the chip plant). Unfortunately, my smallest order is with Avalon...due to timing and cost.

In addition to everything kaerf's mentioned I think it's worth bringing up that Avalon are superior strategists.  Anyone remember when BFL improved their numbers days after the competition bumped theirs?  BFL fell hook, line and sinker for the release date and stats games from their competition.  Avalon appears to have taken The Art of War to heart.

I would rather have had my pre-orders running at 30GH/s shipping in October than this.  I only hope that BFL hasn't held back on releasing something that could have run at a lower clock, in order to match the promised specs. Something working is better than something perfect, when time is of the essence.
Thats exactly what I think happened.

They kept trying to compete. Kept raising the bar, kept improving the design. Hell, they are still doing it right now.
4031  Other / Off-topic / Re: And some more delays in BFL shipment plans / no shipment before 14th Jan 2013 on: December 11, 2012, 09:47:32 PM
That must be why it is so cheap. Some legwork is required at a boutique fab?

Am I the only one here who's gob-smacked by the fact that none of the project leads for any of the BTC ASIC vendors seem to have been flying to Asia on a regular basis to meet with their agents and manufacturers?
I thought no one else had noticed this.

It sounds incredibly stupid [of them] to spend several million on a mask (or two, or three) and not even talk about how an actual BFL rep is spending a thousand or two to keep going back and forth between their fab and the states.

I am glad someone else noticed this!

It borders on the absurd. I think Tom was doing this, but I can't be sure.
4032  Other / Off-topic / Re: And some more delays in BFL shipment plans / no shipment before 14th Jan 2013 on: December 11, 2012, 08:21:30 PM
Note that this is effectively the minimum time. From what I've read TSMC and the other big players generally meet their schedules like clockwork but smaller boutique fabs tend to have more trouble giving a firm shipping date and sticking to it. I'm not actually sure why BFL felt using a smaller fab was something they should boast about...

It's been mentioned before, but doing business in Asia isn't just about the reliability of your manufacturers - your choice of professional agent is absolutely critical to timelines being met.  It's worrying that BFL is always having to chase down their agent for information rather than the agent keeping them updated.
That must be why it is so cheap. Some legwork is required at a boutique fab?
4033  Other / Off-topic / Re: And some more delays in BFL shipment plans / no shipment before 14th Jan 2013 on: December 11, 2012, 07:55:12 PM

you found that flippant.  The fact that she is joking about, "our families will have the burden of having us all at home to celebrate with them."? That's a common joke and she isn't referring to anything that has to do with us.  But she has respectfully offered a refund by stating,

Quote
" If we have extended our date beyond your ability to stick with us, we at Customer Service are ready to refund money for those who want to get out of the line."
In the tone I read it, it did sounds flippant.
4034  Other / Off-topic / Re: And some more delays in BFL shipment plans / no shipment before 14th Jan 2013 on: December 11, 2012, 07:54:03 PM
Holy molly, you guys do you homework. I don't even have any clue what these names belong to.
Kinda disturbing all the same names come up in this tight web of associations.

And Josh calls me a stalker?! I have never even tried but I can't hold a tiny candle next to you extensive research.

The only thing missing is for someone to stick a finger up their collective butt and check their temperature.....
4035  Other / Off-topic / Re: And some more delays in BFL shipment plans / no shipment before 14th Jan 2013 on: December 11, 2012, 06:00:58 PM
Has anyone ever actually met any of these people? I know exactly one BFL reps full name, the rest are all first names or convicted felons that seemingly have no official capacity with the company. I'll reserve my worry about Jody & her family's well being when I'm convinced there is a BFL_Jody.

Since BFL_Josh is in tight with Neal Fletcher and Neal Fletcher is a known puppetmaster over at bullshido...well color me skeptical.
I am not even going to touch that topic.

What concerns me is that I get the impression that Jody and Josh are not even in the same building most of the time. They talk as if they haven't seen each other in the workplace [in the same day].

Whats up with that?

Why is Jody talking about it like it's the first shes heard of it? Isn't she GM (General Manager) and don't they see each other all of the time? Or is she a stay at home CS type of thing? (Serious question)

why does she act like she just heard the latest word from the blog or a post?
4036  Other / Off-topic / Re: And some more delays in BFL shipment plans / no shipment before 14th Jan 2013 on: December 11, 2012, 05:52:50 PM

Shhh...they're trying not to be discouraged. It's very important that they maintain their enthusiasm while other people's money is lost.

Please don't forget that when they screw this up, Jody is out of a job.... and that is something I wish on no one
A sobering thought. I would not wish that on her either.

Though, don't think she is all that different than Inaba. Possibly a few shades better....cause Inaba is plain "Awesome". Roll Eyes

That aside, I did tell the BFL rep he would need a prayer to make it passed the next delay. Apparently, now people are questioning the health of the company. And these are bigger players (10k plus).

https://forums.butterflylabs.com/bfl-forum-miscellaneous/521-ringfenced-pre-order-funds-financial-health-bfl.html

If I were them, I would keep a good eye on the aucions and trade forums on bitcointalk.org to take a sample of what is going down. There are people selling off rigs in droves. (bASIC as well).

And you know how I feel about selling off rigs. The way it was done was questionable. IMO
4037  Bitcoin / Hardware / Re: [Announcement] Avalon ASIC Development Status [Batch #1] on: December 11, 2012, 05:40:16 PM
Posted recently on the BFL forums:

Quote from: Fjordbit;7871
> When pressed for a reason why, I have been told that because this is a very dense, hand routed design they are afraid of making a mistake and have required extra checking and sign offs which has slowed down the whole process considerably. They don't want to be on the hook financially for having to redo the whole order. It sounds reasonable to me and I have no reason to doubt this

It sounds reasonable to me, but I implore you to not allow these guys to just coast until the next deadline. You need to

1) get a full project plan, including all of the checking and sign offs that need to occur
2) follow up on the status of those items in that project plan

On November 26th, you said "While I can't give a hard date and say "absolutely" this is the date, it looks like the week of the 11th, but that's the "fuzzy" date I have at the moment and I'm waiting on confirmation on a not-fuzzy date from the foundry right now." This appears to be an 11th hour change to that early commitment and you need to be a lot more aggressive with them now on meeting the deadline. Even though that was fuzzy, they still are missing that date by a wide margin. As such you really do not have any reason to trust there new date.

I am telling you now that the future of your entire company probably rests on making this date. While upgrade customers are a little locked in at this time, if Avalon ships, then you can expect a large number of cancellations to follow.

@ Avalon, how that update going? Isn't it your time to shine?
4038  Other / Off-topic / Re: And some more delays in BFL shipment plans / no shipment before 14th Jan 2013 on: December 11, 2012, 05:26:16 PM
Wow, surprisingly flippant:

https://forums.butterflylabs.com/blogs/bfl_jody/55-so-we-get-have-holiday.html#comment389
4039  Other / Off-topic / Re: And some more delays in BFL shipment plans / no shipment before 14th Jan 2013 on: December 11, 2012, 05:12:54 PM
Shall I dig up the posts where I said the very same thing to BFL's COO and he suggested BFL could still ship in December of 2012? ...he also suggested, I was a stupid, idiotic liar, and a waste of human flesh, but that's not really relevant. Smiley

How about the email from a BFL CS rep posted to bitcointalk suggesting that BFL expects to ship late December or early January?

They're liars bud, they're not nearly ready to ship finished ASIC products and they know it.
I recall. I recall he said the same to me.
4040  Bitcoin / Hardware / Re: bASIC graphic renders and diagram on: December 11, 2012, 12:35:12 PM
[Speculation, opinionated commentary below]

To alliterative their potential mental damage. I believe the rep decided to pull some random object from the shelf and asked everyone to guess what it belongs to.

Some played along for a page or two trying to guess what the plastic looking object looked like to them. Sort of like an inkblot test but with their minds and emotions. But then the apparent madness set in as their human reasoning started to react (to the delay of course).

You have to wonder how the rep treats his customers....it's almost like they are a hampster or lab rat when he did that. I thought they would have balked at it at first, but then they played along for about a page.

Strange isn't it?
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