Chris Leckness

Once again, I may not be getting the whole scoop, but I was told by Dell (not a tech support or Customer Care Rep), that the update will not be available online. This info is 3-4 days old, so it may have changed. The patch is going to be on CD only.

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Chris Leckness, Microsoft MVP Windows Mobile

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humba

Chris: this is very interesting, and if that's the way Dell is going to handle the situation, has some serious implications for the future. There will undoubtedly new ROMs in the future as Microsoft continues to improve and bugfix WM2k3. There is already an issue with the database entries that are generated when you perform a soft reset, that can lead to startup delays and problems synchronizing after a while. Microsoft has already fixed the problem and released a patch to the hardware manufacturers. So, if they are unable / unwilling to distribute any more ROMs over the Internet, but prefer to send out CDs or have the devices shipped back to them to perform the upgrade themselves, it will increase support costs incredibly. I presume that a majority of the people performing any Axim upgrade, do so without needing assistance from Dell customer support. But if they no longer can download and install it themselves, that is going to change. And should Dell decide to charge for a ROM upgrade (same operating system of course) in the future I could imagine one or two customers being a bit upset to have to pay to get a bugfix.
I don't know of it's technically possible and so far I have only seen complete ROM upgrades for all the devices I have that can be upgraded, but I suppose Dell is looking closely into the possibility of patching parts of the OS in ROM rather than replacing the entire OS in ROM as it has been done until now.

ajabbari

Well, though all of this may be true, its also possible that this won't really be a long term strategy but rather an interim policy for the time being so that customers get their fixes ASAP. For releases further down the road I wouldn't be surprised if Dell is working on a more secure installer/distribution method.

cageyjames

Quote:

Originally posted by ajabbari For releases further down the road I wouldn't be surprised if Dell is working on a more secure installer/distribution method.

I would think you are correct. HP is able to distribute them without fear so I'm sure Dell can. The CD's are just to get something out for all those who are having issues with 2003.

humba

james: any idea how HP does it? afaik their shipping date is still September.

Jameo131

Does anyone know for sure, when this rom update will be available... i have emailed and rung Dell quite a few times but no one answered the phone and i haven't had a reply to my emails.

ajabbari

Calling Dell tech support will probably not give you accurate information as to when the patch will be out (unless you are talking to someone fairly high up in the food chain).

I think that the only thing that you can be sure of at this point is that the patches will probably be out by the second week of September, at the latest, since that is when the WM2003 upgrades are due to be shipped. What I'm thinking is that Dell may pretty much just ship some of the upgrade CDs to all Axim customers who ended up with WM2003 version A04 for free. I think that that is proabably the worst case scenario you'd be looking in terms of a date.

fresno

The week in which i was promised the update has passed so i am calling Dell to return my Axim.

I am keeping my PPC 2002 Axim as it works flawlessly.

Giving a company the benefit of the doubt is all well and good;
but I do not feel it is right to make me pay for a product shipped from the manufacturer with these defects.(Especially since this was
a replacement for 2 week old PPC2002 with missing internal storage).


I am not bitter about this nor I am concerned why this happened.
My only concern is that I have a product that can not do what i intended it to do - due to the manufacturer.

If this were a car there would have been a recall.

cageyjames

Quote:

Originally posted by fresno If this were a car there would have been a recall.

True, but this is a computer. If we expected the industry to give recalls, my Toshiba laptop would be called a lemon. :D