Hello and Welcome

Yi Zhang yi at qi-hardware.com
Sat Jul 25 14:15:11 EDT 2009


Hi all,

Already a week since Qi Hardware was brought in front of you, and yet  
another busy week for me. Seeing more and more of you take part in  
Qi,  I don't want to wait even longer to say hello to everybody.

I am Yi Zhang, base in Shanghai, China. After ten years of developing  
proprietary application software, in mid 2007, I joined Openmoko. I  
was assigned to a complete new project (now known as Project B).  
Everything started from scratch, hardware, software, industrial  
design, mechanical design, etc.. I acted as PM, worked with  
engineers, had the first experience of contacting vendors, had first- 
hand experience of seeing how things were being built, learned  
endless new terms which were so foreign to me before, such as  
schematics, layout, GERBER out, BOM, lead time, SMT, CNC, etc., etc..  
Except for all of these, seeing what were going on with other  
projects at Openmoko, the openness of everything has widely opened my  
eyes. I got a full dose of shock how powerful openness can be, how  
strong the community force can drive products/projects forward.

Now that I had to leave Openmoko, but the open spirit has followed me  
and only stronger, and I know it will flourish at Qi Hardware. With  
all the software development experience I had, and all the new  
knowledge I gained at Openmoko, my role at Qi goes even wider. I  
coordinate with Chinese suppliers, OEMs, manufactures, certification  
labs, customs, and shipping companies, etc.. I act as a bridge  
between engineering and marketing. I make sure the voice from each  
party being heard by the other parties. I am, therefore, a bridge  
too, for you to reach out. My email address is yi at qi-hardware.com. I  
look forward to hearing from you.

Qi hands you an open device, and you decide what it will be - freedom  
redefined. Let's get it all started.

Thank you and welcome!

Yi




More information about the discussion mailing list


interactive