$100 for something vastly inferior to a Raspberry Pi, Beaglebone, etc. that cost 1/2 to 1/3 of that. What am I missing here?
RPi/Arduino in contrast only have wired or no networking, thus eliminating a huge part of the upfront costs (e.g. in Europe you then only need a CE certificate, which you can either issue without testing and be liable if your module doesn't meet the standards, or you get an ESD/EMR test for a couple thousand bucks).
I ran into something similar with BT4.0 modules - had to convince the client that a $3 module, while cheap up front, couldn't be sold without spending $$$ on certification. Eventually they went with a $7 one.
Ironically it uses the Squirrel language to program it, which I think was a mistake - I found it very unproductive.
If you want something similar that can be programmed bare-metal, check out the spark core: https://www.spark.io/
Javascript marketing aside,it would be interesting to know if one can reproduce all Tessel capabilites with a Pi + extensions.
I dont think the "but it runs nodejs modules!" matter that much,if you're going to write for embedded devices,you need to go low level and seek optimizations like crazy.The stuff has like 32MB of ram,you cant do much in javascript+nodejs with that.AFAIK it doesnt even run a javascript engine,but translate the code to LUA.
You can, I've had a Node-on-Pi based home automation system running for a few months now. It looks like Tessel's main advantage is the plug & play nature of their modules.
It's less complicated than it might sound, I've got some (unorganized, undocumented) code up at https://github.com/spro/drsproboto if you want to take a peek.
Its funny when a micro-controller is more expensive than a micro-computer... :(
Disregarding the actual device price, the other issue here is the expensive module pricing. Let's face it, if you're buying this because you want to do things the simple way then you're going to be buying modules. Ambient light + MicroSD card? That'll be $50 please. Too many electronics outfits shaft consumers like this and too many electronics hobbyists put up with it.
I ran a quote for an assembly house, and for 100 boards it would cost around $200 or $2 a board - so now it's $4. Standard markup is 3 times the build cost or about $12-15. Yet it costs $25. That doesn't include international shipping, by the way.
Economy of scale certainly works when you're making 100.
Even Seeed Studio do assembly nowadays, and you don't even need to carry the stock as the components are in their Open Part Library.
Higher level abstractions in computing are of obvious value. Many more people know Javascript than know HDL, an assembly variant or even C. It's pretty obvious why this would be helpful. If you know a little bit of Javascript you can get out of the browser and have physical stuff happen. Pretty neat hack if you ask me.
So what is one to do once they have designed a system using this platform? Do you want to turn it into a product? Great! Go redesign the entire thing from the ground up because what you made is a toy.
It can't be manufactured at a reasonable cost. The code will have to be completely rewritten. The hardware has to be completely re-specced. What a waste of time.
There are plenty of micro platforms our there these days that require relatively little knowledge of hardware,yet at least resemble something you may actually see in the real world. Use those.
That said, I could see myself being proven wrong here,which is fine. It would only take some enthusiastic person who already knows JavaScript and has some revolutionary idea to-do do so.
My opinion is that you don't need to sit on mountains of abstraction at all times. No abstraction I'd perfect and we already have enough people in this industry who don't really understand what the hell they're doing. Learning something new isn't a bad thing.
People are not going to buy a Tessel to build a production-grade hardware project. It is for hobbyists.
If anything, you would think that you'd be overjoyed. People would hypothetically try to create products with these "child's toys" and give people like you a more robust job market and salary prospects. Or they wouldn't and it doesn't affect you at all.
I agree with the facts and premise he presents. A Tessel is a toy. It is not going to teach you C, Assembly, or any of the realities of hardware development.
I disagree with the premise that this is a bad thing. I disagree with the premise that people are buying Tessels with the intent to create production grade products. This is literally a toy for people who want to screw around with hardware. This is not a bad thing.
Would you give people shit for buying some Lego Mindstorms to do the same thing instead of a Tessel?
Probably, they don't want to turn it into a product. Probably, they just want to use it themselves. In this case it makes total sense to improve speed of development despite increasing unit cost.
Do you honestly think that there is anyone out there who bought a Tessel instead of an Arduino/Raspberry/etc.? Every single person I know who ordered a Tessel is someone who wasn't interested in hardware originally AT ALL. The premise of the Tessel got them interested in playing around with hardware.
Edit: I answered this seriously because I assumed OP was a serious comment. After re-reading, I'm not certain, so I apologize if it wasn't.