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The Edge TPU looks like a cool toy. But I would never base a product on anything that Google makes (either hardware or software). It's here today, and might not
by jwr 8y ago
The Edge TPU looks like a cool toy. But I would never base a product on anything that Google makes (either hardware or software). It's here today, and might not be here tomorrow, at Google's whim. I think the value of Edge TPU is mostly educational.
And before someone waters this down with "but every company has whims and every company can discontinue products" — in electronics, companies will guarantee 10-15 year lifetimes, especially for automotive-grade parts, with end-of-life buy notices well ahead of sunsetting.
- noir_lord 8y agoEven Raspberry Pi which started off as specifically educational does 5 year release cycles on their CM (Compute Modules) which is why companies like NEC use them in their solutions.
- jwr 8y agoYes — and I have actually designed a product that used an RPi Compute Module, checking their lifetime promises first.
- bb88 8y ago> ... in electronics, companies will guarantee 10-15 year lifetimes. That's true only on parts that are already in high demand, and this doesn't strike me as a high demand chip (at least not initially). And even then, you're not guaranteed any kind of availability on the part. (Maxim comes to mind). Or it's only available with a 6 month lead time and minimum part quantities on the order, etc. So this seems to be a problem of this particular space, and blaming Google for acting normal in this space seems silly.
- dbuder 8y agoGoogle makes Maxim look good, you can at least lean on Maxim and they won't spy on you to make a competing product.