[nexthash]

You come up on your niche, and then when you have access to the broader market, you pivot to the group that will help you grow market power [1]. Similar dynamics exist in a lot of different ecosystems, and Pine seems to be responding to the challenges that have come with becoming big. It's sad that they won't be supporting OS hackers anymore, but they have to pivot if they want to bring onboard more customers (which seems to be the goal behind this decision).

[1] https://www.cgpgrey.com/blog/rules-for-rulers

[CivBase]

Can you really consider the "mass market" to be a key to power for Pine64 with their current lineup of products, though? The OS hackers seem to be Pine64's only key to power right now. And does supporting them really consume extra resources that could otherwise be better allocated?

[zozbot234]

> Can you really consider the "mass market" to be a key to power for Pine64

Not as long as they ship Manjaro as the default OS for their hardware. Rolling-release distributions are not fit for mass-market use.

[nexthash]

My guess is that OS hackers could be considered as one niche, while hackers and builders who prefer not going through a custom Linux install/config for their project (i.e., a weather station or a mobile smart home dashboard) could be a larger one. Definitely not "mass market" or replacing Android levels, but at the same time a significantly larger portion of revenue for Pine64. The switch to Manjaro would provide them with a key backer that allows them to unlock this market. People have been discussing the software quality of Manjaro, so maybe it has a good foundation or connections?

Also: I've seen some hidden costs of supporting custom OS installs being discussed, i.e. procuring extra chips to allow open boot. This may have factored into Pine64's decision.