Well, it depends. I know this is a disappointing answer, but really, it depends on strategy and focus of the company. A warning sign for me would be if CEO Eben Upton is succeeded by some former sales or financials director. Then the share price will become king and nerds will have to take a step back.
Then there will be a lot of talk about governance, professionalism and leadership, and you can be sure of much more product development for industry. The quirky and friendly products for consumers, education and makers will become slicker and slyer, more expensive and less long-lasting.
The Pi Zero W is promised to still be manufactured in 2030, while introduced in 2015. That's 15 years (!), and production might not even stop there with enough demand -and I'm quite sure there will be. As soon as new products get a tighter obsolescence statement, I anticipate product quality getting compromised in favor of faster turnover, so this is another warning sign for me.
The fact that the Pi 5 as a desktop is already more expensive than some mini PC's doesn't disturb me yet though. There is the compensation in better quality and community support, and even in it's own, very solid operating system. Not incorporating NVME in the RPI 500, and thereby not giving in to the continuous demand for more performance and better connectors from enthusiasts and makers proves common sense about market and margin is still directing product design.
But, I must admit that for my own home-lab I considered buying some RPI 5's or some refurbished mini business PC's, and I decided for the latter. You get more performance for less money, although using more watts with x86 Intel instead of Arm. But I am not a typical consumer. When a typical consumer wants a performant, no thrills and easy to use desktop, RPI can provide that for less cost than a laptop of equal quality. The same for education, with the minimal wattage a big plus.
I do think there is still a big community goodwill despite some complaining of high prices and missed design opportunities like the NVME connector on RPI 500. It will not diminish as long as nerds want to do good and the share price doesn't rule.
Then there will be a lot of talk about governance, professionalism and leadership, and you can be sure of much more product development for industry. The quirky and friendly products for consumers, education and makers will become slicker and slyer, more expensive and less long-lasting.
The Pi Zero W is promised to still be manufactured in 2030, while introduced in 2015. That's 15 years (!), and production might not even stop there with enough demand -and I'm quite sure there will be. As soon as new products get a tighter obsolescence statement, I anticipate product quality getting compromised in favor of faster turnover, so this is another warning sign for me.
The fact that the Pi 5 as a desktop is already more expensive than some mini PC's doesn't disturb me yet though. There is the compensation in better quality and community support, and even in it's own, very solid operating system. Not incorporating NVME in the RPI 500, and thereby not giving in to the continuous demand for more performance and better connectors from enthusiasts and makers proves common sense about market and margin is still directing product design.
But, I must admit that for my own home-lab I considered buying some RPI 5's or some refurbished mini business PC's, and I decided for the latter. You get more performance for less money, although using more watts with x86 Intel instead of Arm. But I am not a typical consumer. When a typical consumer wants a performant, no thrills and easy to use desktop, RPI can provide that for less cost than a laptop of equal quality. The same for education, with the minimal wattage a big plus.
I do think there is still a big community goodwill despite some complaining of high prices and missed design opportunities like the NVME connector on RPI 500. It will not diminish as long as nerds want to do good and the share price doesn't rule.
Statistics: Posted by HanDonotob — Fri May 16, 2025 7:22 pm