It was Sept 17th 2011 the "Due" was announced, I believe.
The development roadmap was for an inital private alpha period, followed by an open public beta release, to get in all the community improvements, fixes and feedback before the final production product release.
Which was going to be by the end of the year, IIRC. But I guess things sometimes get a bit delayed.
So: Here we all are. Still waiting for the public beta. Anytime now. Vladimir? Estragon? Where have you guys gone?
I had planned a lot of Arduino stuff for the past summer and didn't get to do any of those. Got busy, had other things to take care first. I can understand the Arduino team is not all full time developers. There are only a few of them.
liudr:
I can understand the Arduino team is not all full time developers. There are only a few of them.
This is true. There probably really aren't enough developers in the inner loop to keep project "Arduino" moving forward on two fronts. My feeling is that this was a "bridge too far" for the team, for whatever reason.
Two questions that seem reasonable to pose at this juncture:
a) Is it now a case of "if" rather than "when" for the Due? I mean, is there a statute of limitations regarding vapourware? How long before the timer on public announcements expires? (Anyone still waiting for the Osbourne II to materialise?) 
b) If the the "Due" were never to eventuate, would this necessarily be an entirely bad thing? My feeling is that if the "team" could focus their collective efforts, given their overall bandwidth limitations, on the 8-bit platforms, we might see some long overdue fixes and improvements there.
is there a statute of limitations regarding vapourware?
They're not doing worse than Atmel, yet, for some of Atmel's more famous miss-steps.
From the Real Programmer's joke sheet:
Users should not complain about the code they get. They are lucky to get anything at all. ]
IMO this is also true and then some about hardware.
pico:
liudr:
I can understand the Arduino team is not all full time developers. There are only a few of them.This is true. There probably really aren't enough developers in the inner loop to keep project "Arduino" moving forward on two fronts. My feeling is that this was a "bridge too far" for the team, for whatever reason.
Well I'm pretty sure they have or are learning new 'lessons learned' from this project. But I also think there could be positive outcomes about this 'delay'. Being a open source type company I don't think the Arduino 'company' feels or is concerned much about market pressures and market competition and probably have an attitude of lets try to make it as right as possible rather then as quick to market as possible. The delay is certainly not caused by any financial difficulties, nor are the having to bet the farm on this new product to insure there continued existence. They are in a good place and have no need to release other then the best possible product they are capable of.
Two questions that seem reasonable to pose at this juncture:
a) Is it now a case of "if" rather than "when" for the Due? I mean, is there a statute of limitations regarding vapourware? How long before the timer on public announcements expires? (Anyone still waiting for the Osbourne II to materialise?)
No 'if' about it, it will be released sooner or later in my opinion. But it is fun to joke about the 'overDue' and fun has always been part of the Arduino experience, starting with their funny shield pin spacing in their first rush to market experience.
b) If the the "Due" were never to eventuate, would this necessarily be an entirely bad thing? My feeling is that if the "team" could focus their collective efforts, given their overall bandwidth limitations, on the 8-bit platforms, we might see some long overdue fixes and improvements there.
I to also hope they never lose too much focus on what made them the huge success they are today, the simple 8 bit chip, open source software and hardware approach, and ease of use for all users regardless of their experience level.
Lefty
For some time I was thinking that it's too late what with all the amazing ARM boards being released. I don't think that any more as long as the Due is the same turnkey experience as existing Arduinos and that it doesn't get carried away with features.
I think this will be the case.
As for the 17th, a thread the other day suggested it might be released at the NYMF and that's on the 29/30th.
Rob
Graynomad:
As for the 17th, a thread the other day suggested it might be released at the NYMF and that's on the 29/30th.
Well, if by "released" you mean the full product release, then it's going to a rather short public beta period!
If, OTOH, you mean the public beta period will be announced, well good.
I haven't heard anything official to indicate the intention of skipping the public beta step. Mind you, I haven't heard anything official for quite a few months now (which makes me wonder if the problems behind the scenes may not be entirely technical.)
Have you heard anything from a "team" member since David C's "it's in the oven" communique back in late March?
retrolefty:
No 'if' about it, it will be released sooner or later in my opinion. But it is fun to joke about the 'overDue'
I think the joke has long evolved from merely "overDue" to possibly "bit off more than they could 'Due'".
retrolefty:
and fun has always been part of the Arduino experience, starting with their funny shield pin spacing in their first rush to market experience.
Yeah, that one really cracks me up, even to this very day.
And supposedly their "funny pin spacing" is going to continue on the 'Due', even though almost no existing shield will be compatible with it! HA ha ha haha ah haa (wipes tear, regains some semblence of composure...)
Actually, my expectations will not be hard to exceed. So I suppose that's a good thing.
Long ago I was also the one who was waiting for the Cortex-M3 but now Sorry DUE bye bye , I have shifted to NXP LPC 1768 Cortex-M3 Superman! uC
pico:
a) Is it now a case of "if" rather than "when" for the Due? I mean, is there a statute of limitations regarding vapourware? How long before the timer on public announcements expires? (Anyone still waiting for the Osbourne II to materialise?)
Well given the Due is only a year from initial vaporware, it is still a piker on the Duke-nukem scale.
pico:
b) If the the "Due" were never to eventuate, would this necessarily be an entirely bad thing? My feeling is that if the "team" could focus their collective efforts, given their overall bandwidth limitations, on the 8-bit platforms, we might see some long overdue fixes and improvements there.
For me, I just ordered Teensy 3.0's and I have a Rasberry-PI, so it whether Due ships or not is not a burning issue.
I have shifted to NXP LPC 1768 Cortex-M3
I also have moved to LPCs (Just the 1227 for now though) but I love the look of the SAM3 they are supposed to be using and may switch back if they produce a good dev environment.
funny shield pin spacing
I've argued that this sort of mistake is just not on many times, that's what prototypes are for....sorry, I told myself I wouldn't do that again 
Rob
Graynomad:
I have shifted to NXP LPC 1768 Cortex-M3
I also have moved to LPCs (Just the 1227 for now though) but I love the look of the SAM3 they are supposed to be using and may switch back if they produce a good dev environment.
funny shield pin spacing
I've argued that this sort of mistake is just not on many times, that's what prototypes are for....sorry, I told myself I wouldn't do that again
Rob
I've argued that this sort of mistake is just not on many times,
Not sure I understand what you are saying here. Care to rephrase?
Lefty
My argument was/is that stuff ups are inevitable but that they should never get to the market, that's why you build prototypes, at least 1 generation but maybe even 2 or 3 depending on the complexity of the device.
The only way I can see this error getting through is if someone decided to go for broke and order 100 or worse still 1000 boards straight up.
I have never got an answer as to whether this was the case or not.
Rob
retrolefty:
I've argued that this sort of mistake is just not on many times,Not sure I understand what you are saying here. Care to rephrase?
We need to start an Aussie -> English dictionary, or we're never going to get anywhere.
"Just not on" = "Simply unacceptable"
"Stuff up" = "Egregious error"
"Go for broke" = "Go for it"
"Flat out like a lizard on a rock" = "Really busy"
pico:
retrolefty:
I've argued that this sort of mistake is just not on many times,Not sure I understand what you are saying here. Care to rephrase?
We need to start an Aussie -> English dictionary, or we're never going to get anywhere.
"Just not on" = "Simply unacceptable" OK, I don't get it, but will except it.
"Stuff up" = "Egregious error" I like FUBAR, but I could live with this one.
"Go for broke" = "Go for it" Hardly a difference there mate.
"Flat out like a lizard on a rock" = "Really busy" Doesn't translate, sorry.
That does help a little, thanks! 
But about that last phrase, how is a lizard sunning itself on a rock equal to being really busy? Maybe your lizards are more active then our variety?
Lefty
It's a colourful extension of "flat out", as in "we were working flat out" == "we were were working as hard as we could".
If you've ever seen a lizard sunning itself on rock, you'll appreciate it's hard to get more "flat out" than a lizard sunning itself on a rock! (Maximise surface area to absorb greatest amount of solar energy per unit time -- who says lizards don't have engineering sensibilities!)
Edit: Actually, I think FUBAR is a bit strong as a translation of "stuff up" -- a "stuff up" can denote a common garden-variety mistake, whereas FUBAR describes something a bit more exceptional. It's the "beyond all recognition" element that makes the difference, I think.
But translation becomes art when trying to find the "mot juste".
MichaelMeissner:
For me, I just ordered Teensy 3.0's and I have a Rasberry-PI, so it whether Due ships or not is not a burning issue.
Yeah, I got an RPI (and want to get another now they've released ver 2) -- lots of fun to be had there.
And Paul's Teensy 3.0 looks awesome. Got get a few -- just because.
I found it interesting to reflect that Paul -- essentially a one man band (albeit obviously a very talented one) -- has managed to get his Teensy 3.0 out before Arduino could get their Due out. It looks like the design and engineering challenges were more challenging with the Teensy 3.0, too. All of which makes me wonder if the showstopper behind the scenes, whatever that might be, isn't a purely technical one.
"Flat out like a lizard drinking" makes more sense, if you've ever seen a lizard drink anyways.
