MOTM

Okay all,  I know that some of you may consider this heresy, but
please read the whole thought and think about it before you flame me.

Paul might consider doing something similar to what Roger at
Synthesizers.com did when users pressed for the Moog 960 sequencer. 
When he finally thought there was enough demand, he setup a pre-order
with a down payment.  If he got enough comitted orders, the design
would be completed, the sequencers built, the pre-ordering customers
would complete payment and receive their units first.  If there were
not enough orders, Roger would refund the deposits and that would be
it.  As it turned out, there were enough serious customers, and the
Q960 is a done deal (I know because I have one).  One gotchs, once you
put up your deposit, you would forfit it if you backed out.  (There
were one or two people that 'sold' their deposits to others in the
community, and everyone was fine with that.)  Roger setup the
pre-order and took orders for about 6 weeks (as I recall), after that
there were no orders accepted till the units went into production and
the pre-order deliveries started.  The pre-ordering was in
December/January/February 2004-2005, and deliveries started in August
2005, so be prepard for a realistic delay for the design and
implementation.

I know that Paul does not like to take money in advance, but sometimes
it is the only way to be sure that someone is serious.  It is very
easy to say "sure, I'll take one", but a whole nother thing to put
your money on the line.  Given comitted orders, I suspect that Paul
would find it easier to complete a design and deliver it since he then
knows that he has a 'minimum order quantity' to fill that should cover
the development costs.

All right then, having said my piece, let the flame war begin!

By the way, a Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

Larry T.