@new2amga:
Didn't mean to imply the literal interpretation that cold hard cash was needed or taken in advance to "fund", but preorders seemed to have been necessary for sure. Whether Joe/GVP worded it that way or not. More of a true commitment to purchase... would be prudent in these times for sure. Not knocking, just hypothesising that, besides getting SIMMS to work, could be part of the answer here.
And yes - Joe is indeed a great guy. I'd never confuse any practice of his with a dubious nature. Never had, nor ever heard of a problem with Softhut other than communication at times and lack of website updating.