There’s no denying the fact that, despite not reaching its target, the Edge accrued a ton of press coverage, introducing Ubuntu to a lot of people who had never heard of it before. In this regard, it’s hard to call the Edge campaign a failure. According to Canonical, the massive interest in the Edge has allowed the company to negotiate better prices with component suppliers for future Ubuntu-powered devices. The Edge, though, is dead: In all likelihood, these devices will be low- and mid-range devices that run Ubuntu Touch (the version of Ubuntu tailored for smartphones and tablets), and won’t have the ability to switch into desktop mode when docked.

The problem with Indiegogo, Kickstarter, and similar crowdfunding sites is that they tend to bring devices to market before they’re ready. Even Shuttleworth himself implies as much: Speaking to the BBC, he said that if the funding had succeeded, “we would have been bringing the future forward a year or two at least.” While the concept of a desktop-replacement smartphone is exciting enough to drum up almost $13 million in funding, the simple matter of the fact is that it isn’t ready for prime time. In a couple of years, $13 million will probably be more than enough to set up a production line in China; but today, it just isn’t feasible. With enough interest, it’s possible for some crowdfunded projects to come to fruition ahead of their time — such as the Pebble smartwatch and Ouya game console — but their paths to market are still usually fraught with strife.