We're having the same problem. Trying to find an experienced embedded boot loader developer is next to impossible. I'm currently swamped and anytime we find someone who's decent we're one of many companies making offers. Certain skill sets are damned near impossible to find, like someone who is good at understanding both software and hardware, people who can work on the Linux kernel, or the GCC toolchain, U-Boot, UEFI, etc. I could care less about IT people, but good software developers who understand low-level stuff are hard to find. A vast majority of those I interview seem incompetent when pressed with some C programming problems or when asked about CPU archecture, stuff they should know from a decent CS or CE degree. I have to work on everything just about everything, from CPU related stuff to SATA, USB, high-speed networking, NAND flash, eMMC/SD, etc.

I don't see what the big deal is. I'm currently working with early silicon on a cache coherent 48-core 64-bit MIPS chip with NUMA support and built-in 40Gbps Ethernet support. The chip also has a lot of extended instructions for encryption and hashing plus a lot of hardware engines for things like zip compression, RAID calculations, regular expression engines and networking support among other things. It also has built-in support for content addressable memory.

It also has a network on-chip where each core or group of cores can have its own network interface to other cores. This is useful for things like virtualization or when you want to run multiple Linux kernels and other applications side by side since we also support running binaries on bare metal without an OS underneath.

http://cavium.com/OCTEON-III_C...

The thing is that when you're doing research there will always be failures. If you don't have failures you're not trying very hard. That is why Silicon Valley is so successful. For every success story there are ten failures. The VCs know this. The loan guarantee program Solyndra was under was extremely successful, despite Solyndra and Fisker. Note that in many cases the loan processes started when there was an R in the Whitehouse. The problem is that there is a certain wing of the political spectrum that seems intent on keeping the status quo at all costs due to political donations from certain industries.

Solyndra made perfect sense when it was started. The cost of silicon was quite high and they had a method to reduce the amount needed for their panels. Then the Chinese started dumping solar and the price of silicon dropped to around 1/20 and there was no way Solyndra could compete.

The difference is that water vapor tends not to stay in the atmosphere very long and the amount is relatively constant due to precipitation. CO2, on the other hand, tends to accumulate in the atmosphere. The oceans absorb much of it but there's only so much that can be absorbed and the oceans are acidifying due to this. Water vapor also tends to form these white things called clouds which reflect a lot of sunlight back in to space.

In the case of Tesla they have showrooms. They give you a chance to see the car before you buy it and ask questions. The people who work there are not on commission. You can still test drive the car. When you're ready to actually buy the car you go on to their web site and order exactly what you want and they build to order. There's no incentive for the people working in the showroom to push features you don't want.

There is no added value by dealerships. My experience with them is they try and push you to buy a bunch of unnecessary crap.

My father bought a Fisker Karma. The dealership offered no protection from when the manufacturer went bankrupt. The warranty was suddenly null and void. Many Fisker dealerships just disappeared, leaving owners to completely fend for themselves for service and parts. For those that continued to support their customers, any pre-paid maintenance and warranty work now was out of pocket for the owner.

I own a Tesla model S. I have zero complaints about their service. It is better than anything I have seen from any dealership. They don't try and push any unneeded service. They include a loaner car and if a Tesla model S isn't available you can get a BMW, Mercedes or other luxury loaner car, all completely covered by Tesla. In fact, for the warranty they don't require that you have the yearly 12K service done.

When I got my car back from the yearly service, it was washed and vacuumed. They did not have any loaner cars available. I opted to just have them drop me off at work since it was just a few miles away. When they were finished they delivered my car right in front of where I work. My car is a fairly early VIN number.

Tesla also supports independent shops for a number of things. For example, if you need a tire fixed, they won't do it. You go to any tire shop to have that work done. Same thing for body work, though in this case you really want to go to a body shop that has been certified to have the appropriate training, especially since dealing with an aluminum body is different than sheet metal.

For general maintenance you really don't want to go to an independent mechanic for most stuff since they won't be trained. There are a lot of differences between a Tesla and a normal car. The drive train has nothing in common with other cars. Even if Tesla doesn't have a service center nearby, for $100 they will come to you, no matter where you are. If your car failed, they will usually even wave the $100 fee. Many things they can diagnose remotely over 3G or WI-FI so they know exactly what they need to do before they arrive.

For example, my car was one of the earlier VINs that received a defective 12V battery. Tesla contacted me about having it replaced before it failed from their remote monitoring They push out software updates and fixes over the air.

All of the problems I have had with my car were rattles and other issues that have all been addressed in manufacturing for newer cars, yet they will proactively go and upgrade my car to fix these problems or won't ask any questions and just make the changes if I bring it in. My car has a VIN in the low 5000s. Many of these issues require a lot of real-world experience to discover so I give them some leeway there. They have always come through and fixed every issue, no matter how minor it is. Also, they don't wait for mid-year or the next year to update their assembly line. They address the problems immediately. A common problem with the early cars was that the panoramic roof would creek during hot weather. They discovered a shim is required and immediately made the ECO change for manufacturing and went back and fixed all of the cars that experienced the problem. Even if customers don't experience the problem, when the car is brought in for service they proactively fix issues discovered in the early VINs.

No dealership that I'm aware of even comes close to this level of service. Dealerships are leaches left over from a bygone era. There is no reason why one shouldn't be able to just hop on a web site and select exactly how they want their car to be configured and have it made to order.

Also, unlike dealerships, there is no inventory of cars. Every car shipped has a buyer. Right now GM has a huge problem with their Cadillac ELR. They have completely flooded the pipeline such that at the current rate it will take two years for dealers to ship the current inventory of cars. That means a lot of money is wasted keeping these cars on the lot, plus all of the depreciation involved.

One big difference is that with Tesla you typically do not buy a car on the lot. You go to their web site and select exactly which features you want and they build it. If you don't want a certain option, you don't get it. You aren't limited to which choices are available on the lot.

If you don't want parking sensors and fog lights you wont' get them nor will you have to pay for them.

If you want a blue car with a black interior with the panoramic roof, that's exactly what you'll get.

Well, ever since they discovered being president while black isn't impeachable, they've been trying to make up a plausible sounding reason to don the hoods and crosses.

I guess you don't understand how the 501 application process works. When you apply, you are able to operate as if you've already been approved until you get directly denied. Those groups were not prevented from operating as 501's, they were just asked to prove they qualify for the 501 status they applied for, even though their application was in violation of the 501 status they were after.

They do a lot of stuff that a typical dealership won't do for that $600/year. You get a free loaner car and your car comes back washed and vacuumed (my Toyota dealership would only wash the car and there was no loaner). In my case I declined the loaner and they just dropped me off at work and when my car was ready they delivered it to where I work.