Can you elaborate a bit on the "long con" game reference?
It seems that BFL must have made a substantial investment
in producing a functiong ASiC and usable product.
From the very first days this startup started with a lie. They lied they have attracted VC!
I have never witnessed another "business" taking pre-orders ONE YEAR ahead, lying they have attracted venture capital, using customers money for R&D and treating their customers like investor to share the risk but without investor rights, refusing full bitcoin refunds, now they stopped all refunds, and lying all the time month after month that what they need is just two more weeks and everything will be okay! Have you?!
Sock puppet here. Except I'm unaffiliated and not getting paid. Buy that's besides the point.
BFL seems to be the only complany to date that put sizable numbers of Fpgas in miners hands. And even today, they are the only company that have shipped price competitive Asics in any large quantity. Asicminer has shipped thousands, yes , but at price points where people can't ever hope to earn back their investment. Even BFLs units that haven't shipped have more of a chance at one day paying for themselves than those USB block eruptors. As for Avalon? Limited availability, much high price per hash and signficant delays as well. It's endemic. But BFL has been the only company with a track record of getting hashing power into miners hands at a reasonable cost. Delayed? Yes. Obviously. But making progress without doubt. I got mine, and if they weren't shipping at all, their forums would be ablaze with people saying they hasn't gotten their order from dates that BFL claimed to have shipped already.