Raspberry Pi's IPO—are they selling out? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrhE6MnGi1A
@geerlingguy they already sold out :P
I see this move as inevitable. The for-profit arm (no pun intended) has always been, well, for profit. Even the mods seem more aggressive against anything bad said about them. I got into a fight saying the pre-order was a paywall. Still waiting for my Pi 5 from Canakit by the way. So much for Ebon's promises that there is no shortage.
@geerlingguy By definition? Yes absolutely. Any company that IPO's cannot claim any moral or philanthropic ideals. They are beholden to public investors and have a responsibility to generate profit for them first and foremost. It's different if you only have a handful of "sponsor" investors, you can still work towards moral and philanthropic ideals, but when they IPO they will no longer be any different from any other public corporation. Because they can't be.
@geerlingguy they're not working for their customers anymore, just investors. :(
@geerlingguy I'll take a wait and see posture. It was a pretty good run up until Covid, but the shenanigans since leave me concerned.
I've got a Pi 5 and I like it. But I'm not overly fond of Raspbian and I wonder if Debian will ever run well on this device. I can't get Raspbian/bookworm running well on a 4B.
I'm curious about the replacements that sprung up due to the Covid shortages. Are there any that stand head and shoulders above the rest? Something the community could get behind?
@HankB Nothing head and shoulders, but of all the boards I've tested, I liked Libre Computer's boards the most.
Close second (and a surprise to me) was Banana Pi BPI-CM4 with the A311D chip.
@geerlingguy Raspbian/bookworm runs a little better on the Pi 4B as of the most recent kernel update. My 5B USB/NVME install can now boot and mostly work on a 4B. I did have to R&I the Logitech dongle to get the mouse working. Networking did not come up and I could not tell why.
I don;t ordinarily need/want to boot the same install on both 5 and 4B but I'm benchmarking disk performance in anticipation of receiving an NVME adapter for the 5 and prefer to keep everything as similar as possible.
@geerlingguy Said update includes two kernels and one runs on the 5 and the other runs on the 4B.
@geerlingguy the video was insightful. Do I think they will succeed as a for profit company? Yes, for a time. Do I have feelings of abandonment as an enthusiast? Very much so. Hopefully I am wrong but it seems like classic Enshittification.
@geerlingguy They sold out. IPO means they are beholden to shareholders who only demand endless increase in profit. There is really no alternative for a public company. They've already shown their cards by prioritizing industrial customers during the chip shortage. Their original charitable goals are an afterthought. They've been corrupted by the $$$. I like the Pi 5, but I can't say I love the company behind it anymore. Their original goals were noble, but not anymore.
@geerlingguy - it would be kinda cool to buy shares, then make a stock ticker for it with a raspberry pi
@geerlingguy I'm waiting for RPEL (Raspberry Pi Enterprise Linux)... 
@geerlingguy I thought this was really well said. You hit all the important points in a nice concise manner.
@geerlingguy ugh. Once the shareholders become the legal obligation, it’s all downhill.
Now instead of paying #RaspberryPi for receiving nothing in months, you can buy its share to receive nothing indefinitely 
@geerlingguy Over time I've cared less about the Raspberry Pi specifically.
What they did was get SOC computers out there which has been great for maker/tinkerers/inventors.
It's no longer 2012, the market has moved on. Expectations have changed. Competitors have entered the market.
All of which is good for choice.
It does mean RPF which is the mission side has less of a following than before with most people just wanting supply of boards and software updates.
@geerlingguy What's interesting to me about Raspberry Pi recently is just how present they seem to be in manufactured products. They started as a dirt cheap hobbyist gadget but I think the reliable software support and mass availability made them really appealing as a low-cost brain of a product. The hard disk destruction cart recently featured on LTT comes to mind as an example, and their microcontrollers have become very desirable on mechanical keyboards.
@geerlingguy I imagine this is their mindset approaching the IPO, same as when they decided to prioritize commercial interests over hobbyists during the pandemic supply shortage. They've found a bigger market and just moved on from people like us. Its sad to see, but honestly as someone with a number of Pis lying around I pretty much agree with your thoughts in the x86 mini pc video. I bought one about a year ago as a home server and really haven't missed the Pi's limitations in comparison.
@dianthus RP2040 especially is everywhere