No future ROM updates on the X5?

[portus]

These's a discussion of a post on the http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?threadid=68594 regarding future ROM updates on the X5 from Dell. The user got a reply from Dell's "Technical Supervisor" that Dell will not post any future ROM updates to the X5 be it MS End User Updates (EUU) or ROM patches to fix minor/major issues. This has raised a huge concern over the value of the Axim X5 and future Pocket PC products from Dell.

Someone care to seek an official stance from Dell?

[fade2black]

I wouldn't count on this. I have talked to several "clueless" tech people at Dell over the past several years and this sounds like one of them. And who's to say the person reporting this is telling the truth? Sorry, but I'm not going to trust someone like that reporting second hand info. Dell has always supported their products...why wouldn't they support something like the Axim that is selling faster than they can stock it? That would be suicide for them.

Fade

[JakeRich]

Dell's history is that they provide more updates to the BIOS than most manufacturers and make them downloadable to boot! I suspect that Fade has it right. The one thing we have is some poster on brighthand claiming to have talked to a techie at Dell and gotten authoritative word on Dells plans for the Axim. Riiiiight! If you believe all that, I've got a bridge I can sell you cheap!

[pigface]

That is very hard to believe. Dell has always been tops with their support for their products. I think someone is having a windup!

[fade2black]

Probably someone at HP did this since their iPaq sales are dropping faster than the stock value of a dot com company.

Fade

[pigface]

Too true. I let a Palm user get a few moments on the Axim today. Needless to say he looked back at his Palm and let out a *SIGH*

[WRC]

There have been ROM upgrades? Got an URL?

[aximalator]

Most computer companies (and I believe Dell is no exception) contract out tech support. I had a friend that worked tech support for one of Dells competitors in a huge call center that also ran support for other computer companies in the same building. These companies are often paid by the number of calls they take, so it's to their advantage to get the caller off the line quick. My friend was encouraged to make sure the calls were no more than 15 minutes long, often if the 15 minute mark was getting close you could expect to have the tech tell you to run the restore CD that came with the computer and call back if there were further problems. They were also told that if the caller said "how do I..." it was no longer a tech support call, this was training and they should end the call. Turn over in these call centers is high, so you can expect that the person you are talking to is in no way an expert on the hardware he is supporting. Take anything a support tech tells you with a grain of salt.