Some other people (which also received refunds) apparently had such doubts.
Have a look: https://puri.sm/posts/supplying-the-demand/
We intended on the second revision of Aspen (black case) getting into the hands of backers, but due to the results of quality control tests against RAM clocking at full-speed (consuming power and generating heat), we made the decision to move those backers to Birch and deliver the rest of Aspen to developers and staff. This issue will be corrected and tested prior to the shipping of the Birch batch.
Concerning the number of devices per batch: No, there aren’t any official numbers but you can guess them based on some polls here in the forum.
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Thanks for the Link.
Well, obviously not more than “developers and staff”. So I still think they had prototype rounds during Aspen. One for sure. If they really intended to send such prototypes to customers, we will never know, as the prototypes were “surprise” unusable/presentably.
Look. All I want to point out is that I said long ago, they will not make the Q3 target [1]. I was told (by the community) that this can’t be true, as they are pitching Q3 so heavily, so close to it’s end [2]. I said, they don’t even yet have shown prototypes [3]. And I was told to believe, they don’t want to show them for some marketing reason [4]. I did not believe it a second and, I think I was right [5].
Aspen were their first prototypes and they failed. They showed them off with Lunduke & TheLinuxGamer but did not send them. We are now 2/3rd in Q4 with still nothing sent.
Yet they advertised preorders with Q3 target close to the end of Q3 and let us in the dark faaaaaar to long. We trusted them with quite a lot of money for quite a lot of time. Is it so far fetched to expect a bit more respect? Especially with the pitch they chose, being different, being ethical? I guess so.
Before I am personally attacked even more, I will tune out. It does not seem there are many left in this forum that are not fully aware of the situation anyway, given the reactions I get. So I hope you will get a working device that fulfills your expectations. I sure will envy you as hell, if you do 
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I don’t perceive it as relating to respect.
I believe that the right question is: Is it so far fetched to expect teething problems and delays when building something from scratch that you have never built before?
Answer: You should expect both, and I did when I backed two years ago. So I am not stressing or feeling disrespected.
Would I like a fully working device in my hands right now? Of course.
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Since this came so quickly…
I never was angry about delays. I expected them. I am angry about them leaving us in the dark so long about the delays they absolutely knew much much earlier about.
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How could I possibly have hurt feelings if I don’t really count? Why not ask one of the men here to jump through hoops for you ?
Sorry for that! Was not intentional! Ofcourse you were included in that statements spirit.
I completely understand your position and why you’re put off.
(And I think you said it quite nicely)
I agree this was not a good move and I was amongst the first to criticize some of the marketing style and communication two years ago.
However, my motivation in criticizing such things was always to get them more customers - or prevent others from being put off.
I myself just ignored the more awkward self-appraisal marketing bits and endured the lack of information, expected delays, as could easily be learned from the laptop history.
The point is, I never backed this because I think marketing or communication are always top notch. I backed this because I want this phone.
It needs to exist.
That outweighs a lot of imperfection and delays.
A lot.
I also don’t perceive it as giving my money to make somebody rich by shady means.
The money goes exactly where it should go: into the development of that thing I want to have and that I think needs to exist.
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exactly this !
@cyslider see the latest update on the linux-kernel 5.4 contribution article on the blog and any other untill now. this is contribution on a low-level but they have contributed on the higher-levels as well. it is so refreshing to see ! 
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Thank you for your understanding @Caliga.
I totally understand and respect your view. As I said, there are total legit reasons to still back this project.
But for me personally this was not enough to invest this kind of money. It was the image of the company behind this project that did put me over the line. And this got a serious scratch 
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This is a classic example of the Avoid the Issue logical fallacy. This is answering a completely different question, not related to the problems that @cyslider has raised about Purism’s conduct.
How Purism has conducted itself regarding the Librem 5 has been less than transparent and honest. As evidenced by their continual promotion of the Q3 2019 shipping date, that anyone would have understood as the phone being 100% ready for use and everyone would start to get their phones in the Q3 of 2019.
The reality has turned out to be very different, where >90% of orders will be delivered in Q2 2020. Something that Purism must have known a long time before the promised Q3 2019 date.
Even now on their main page, they have a “Buy now” button for the Librem 5 … this is for a phone that is not going to be widely available for another 4-5 months. Purism should replace the button with a “Pre order” button instead.
I backed the Librem 5 in October 2017, expected delays and an imperfect phone, but I was willing to sacrifice those inconveniences for freedom. However, there is a clear discrepancy between Purism promoting itself as a socially responsible company and what it actually does. Purism’s chequered history regarding their laptops is a case in point.
Sadly, many people on the forum have become blind supporters of Purism and the Librem 5. Either flaming those who raise legitimate questions or criticisms about Purisms behaviour. Or they dismiss the problems by saying they don’t care what Purism does as long as they eventually get a phone.
Asking questions about the capabilities of the phone or why it’s been delivered so late without satisfactory explanation from Purism is reasonable. It is not undermining the company or going to delay the delivery of the phone as some seem to believe here.
Do we need a freedom respecting phone, absolutely, we needed one 20 years ago… I guess this is why emotions run high here, people are desperate to escape the spy bricks of Google and Apple (among others).
We should expect and demand better from Purisms executive who have been making the decisions so far. If we don’t raise issues, then don’t expect things to improve.
In the meantime, I, like many backers, will wait and hope…
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I’m currently reading through September backlog from my rss feed (which I’ve finally recovered) and all of this is just burning through various new feeds, the pompous announcement of the shipment, sincere joy of the tech journalists and community, and then cold shower when they realized ‘the shipment is a lie’. Yes it will be hard to wash this stain from the history.
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History should not be “washed” but rather remembered as it was so that others may learn from the mistakes of the past.
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By history i meant reputation, and there were similar mistakes made before but not that anyone wants to learn
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My only issue with this entire post was this. The company has a supplier which overcharges and that affects the ability of the company to expand and grow.
Don’t you think you are exaggerating a bit too much? It isn’t our task to evaluate which companies should conduct transactions with purism. The price was set long time ago, and the selected supplier does not seem to have anything todo with the delays.
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EDIT: The content removed is not accurate according to my current information, sorry for the stir up
If the device changes that price that was “set” changes. JS like if they add a heat pipe that costs them $$$
Y’all flagged my post but it’s the truth and is corroborated by phoronix. I’m just saying there’s corruption. Congrats, you hid the truth.
Nice dude. Good adhom. not cool. I’m concerned that FOSS is gonna be destroyed because of a man who fires employees who have valid criticisms. And I don’t wanna destroy purism. I want Weaver to step down.
There’s a saying:
Finding a man in the army is like shooting fish in a barrel. Finding an asshole in the army is like shooting fish in a glass.
Doesn’t exactly fit here, but the moral is pretty much the same. Todd had a duty of care to select the right supplier relationship based on a lot more than just price (also makes sense that he would be friendly with existing, proven, suppliers as they’ve been selling computers for years)
Contradiction right here. Also, fits niceley with what I said in my “adhom”.
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