I tend to agree with you that pragmatism wins the day where the Rpi is concerned. However, the lack of open hardware for the Rpi means that it is not possible

I tend to agree with you that pragmatism wins the day where the Rpi is concerned. However, the lack of open hardware for the Rpi means that it is not possible to replicate one at all. You basically can't make a Rpi-compatible board to suit your own needs. It isn't the fault of the Rpi fundation, it's the sorry lack of openness in electronics hardware that is to blame. Chip manufacturers license lots of IP from each other and I doubt we'll ever see a truly open microprocessor/controller that would have all its features accessible without restriction. We can hope that one day a RISC V implementation could be open, but then the GPU, controllers, etc would also need to be unencumbered. Of course, it would be possible for chip manufacturers to allow this licensing -maybe to the detriment of the cost of the chip- but it would need to really be profitable for them to go through the 'hassle'. After all, the die doesn't need to be open, we only need open access to all the functionalities of the chip.