Did Dell Screw Up 2003?

Pepsi_blue · 08-01-03, 08:49 PM

From seeing the threads and hearing about the patches, cd's, and the installers. It sounds like dell really effed up WM2003.

I still have 2002 and i dont know if ill be switching any time soon even though I was going to at the start. (good they they took it off the site so i didn't buy it, I don't want to buy this faulty OS)

Do you guys think dell screwed up pretty bad? And do you think their efforts for trying to fix the OS, make up for the mistakes they have made?

Astounded EEG · 08-01-03, 09:06 PM

Dell sure screwed up, but if you get the upgrade to work, WM2003 is pretty sweet IMO. Some people are complaining about it, but i'm down with it. for the most part, it isn't faulty.

i mean, come on, every new OS has its bugs, and it will take time for programs and drivers to be designed for it, though a crapload of programs still work.

horrendous communication/miscommunication/noncommunication aside, I think Dell has recovered itself respectably with the timeliness of the patch and fixing new axims. messing up on the installer was a pretty big screw up too, but they seem to have a handle on it and the patch should be back up by monday.

I'm not sure if dell has "made up" for its mistakes, but it's come somewhat close.

On the other hand I got the patch the first night and it worked like a charm, so I'm home free...

Snellgrove · 08-02-03, 03:08 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Astounded EEG
Dell sure screwed up, but if you get the upgrade to work, WM2003 is pretty sweet IMO. Some people are complaining about it, but i'm down with it. for the most part, it isn't faulty.

i mean, come on, every new OS has its bugs, and it will take time for programs and drivers to be designed for it, though a crapload of programs still work........

I am in agreement really, I think 2K3 is quite good, certainly havent found any faults with it yet, or anything.

couple of bugs maybe, like if you soft reset, the switcher bar goes AWOL, and u have to go into settings and all that, and bring it back. -quite annoying, but simple to fix really... i dont soft reset until I have to!!

i dont like the lack of the Battery meter that 2K2 had, at the top.. that was great, but the closest I can get to it, is clicking on the switcher bar and finding "Power Settings" oh well.

every program I have tried works on it, perfectly well.. even stuff built for other Processors and stuff (Im guessing this is common stuff though, but im still a PDA n00b

)

hmm, about Dell. sure they messed everyone around, but I think this was a game they couldn't win really, at all. an incompatibility with your hardware with the O/S is pretty much your worst nightmare, if your that kinda company...

shadearg · 08-02-03, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Snellgrove
... i dont like the lack of the Battery meter that 2K2 had, at the top.. that was great, but the closest I can get to it, is clicking on the switcher bar and finding "Power Settings" ...

Icbar offers exactly what you are looking for, and a lot of other nice features. Take some time to look through all the settings, you won't be disapointed.

coolhand · 08-02-03, 05:46 PM

both dell and microsoft have screwed up i think....next time in near a staples or futureshop, im checking out some other 2003 ppc..if it has no issues with sound then the axe is getting axed...

sracer · 08-02-03, 09:55 PM

WM2003 has quite a few problems that will be apparent to Axim owners now that the fix is getting out. There are some significant incompatibilities with applications and drivers.

takotchi · 08-03-03, 07:27 PM

Quote:

There are some significant incompatibilities with applications and drivers.

Ha. Tell me about it... (flings cheap LinkSys WiFi card across the room)

To answer the original question; YES, of course they screwed it up totally. Didn't work in the first place (inexcusable), slow to get a patch out, patch failed for many, pulled the patch right away because of about 5 people "hacking" it, delayed upgrade until middle of September (ordered 6/25/2003) even though people that ordered days after me have ship dates of August...

Astounded EEG · 08-03-03, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by takotchi
slow to get a patch out, patch failed for many, pulled the patch right away because of about 5 people "hacking" it, delayed upgrade until middle of September (ordered 6/25/2003) even though people that ordered days after me have ship dates of August...

I dont see how you can call 2-3 weeks slow to get out a patch.

the patch was crappy but once it's installed it's good. for me and a whole bunch of other people at least. dont forget that new axims were fixed a week and a half ago.

as for the delay til september, i don't believe it. I think ALL of the CDs already ordered will ship out by late August. i'm only basing this on the fact that Dell obviously has a working version of the WM2003 image already and just has to iron out the installer and get the CDs burned. probably all of our ship dates are meaningless for now--they've never been Dell's strong point, especially beyond a few days.

as for your linksys card, I understand your irritation but what does Dell have to do with it? Linksys hasn't released a WM2003 driver yet!

Howard2k · 08-03-03, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Snellgrove

couple of bugs maybe, like if you soft reset, the switcher bar goes AWOL, and u have to go into settings and all that, and bring it back. -quite annoying, but simple to fix really... i dont soft reset until I have to!!

Did you put it in your startup?

mikeo007 · 08-03-03, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by takotchi
...pulled the patch right away because of about 5 people "hacking" it...

Now you can't fault Dell for this. First of all, Microsoft would give them major heat for even a few pirated copies, and second of all, once an easy set of instructions were published, everyone would have been hacking this upgrade.

straittalk · 08-03-03, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Astounded EEG
I dont see how you can call 2-3 weeks slow to get out a patch.

Well, as the patch was meant for people like me who got a non-working A04 WM2003 Axim and the patch DID NOT work, 2-3 weeks is way too long.

And if you think I am a neophyte that didn't do it right, you are wrong. I have spent many, many hours trying all the "tricks" on several different systems and OS's. The piece of crap update with my AXIM is THE problem.

So, the only response from Dell is that it is fine! Not another word from Dell!

I can make a patch that doesn't work in less than 2 minutes.

Of course they screwed up - no brainer! The amazing thing is they are continuing to do so. "Depends on what the meaning of 'is' is..."

BTW, after significant research, I ordered my Axim before I knew that they were going to put 2003 on it. Unilaterally, DELL decided put 2003 on it, delayed it for a couple of weeks (I paid for next day shipping), and screwed it up without a word to me.

I don't even want to get into the fact that more than 10 hours of my time on the phone with Dell has accomplished absolutely nothing, but just created more screw ups.

Face it - they exude unbelievable incompetence in this matter!

ST

thezed · 08-04-03, 06:48 AM

Their A05 patch is still stuffed... Fair enough to expect some incompatibility issues with old PPC2002 apps, but when you can't even get Media Player to run a 128 kbps movie file (the Windows media Encoder pocket PC profile has a standard rate in excess of 200 kbps) without it pausing every 10 seconds for a 5 second break is not what I would consider "working well". I have noticed improvements when listing folders with large amounts of files in them since getting the A05 patch, but there is still something inherintly wrong with the I/O (when reading from standard memory, built-in memory, or CF card. (and as I have said in other threads, the same file plays as smooth as a baby's bum on my friends Ax with A02 installed on it! both are X5's)

*mumble mumble*

>:/