12-11-2002, 05:54 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Viewsonic's PDA in the Midst of a Memory Debate
Wait...what's this? There's an issue with the amount of available memory on the V35? No way! Oh wait, that's right, we already told you about this. :roll: PDABuzz was the site that originally broke this story, and we gave it some clarity. Why wouldn't PCWorld mention either site? As much as I doubt the integrity of The Register some days, at least they linked to our story rather then pretend that they "discovered" the story. Shame on you PCWorld, and shame on you Martyn Williams! :wink:
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12-11-2002, 06:06 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 64
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Shame indeed. Not to mention the way they put their brand of "light" on the subject.
I find it odd that this is almost destroying the buzz about an otherwise fine PDA.
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12-11-2002, 06:22 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,768
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shame...
Quote:
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Originally Posted by alan williams
I find it odd that this is almost destroying the buzz about an otherwise fine PDA.
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It is a fine PDA, but you can't hold ViewSonic blameless. They deserve the public censure for being so quiet about it. They must know that buyers will compare features such as memory size... and they led others to believe the 64mb is the same as other Pocket PC devices.
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12-11-2002, 06:28 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 623
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Re: shame...
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Originally Posted by JonnoB
Quote:
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Originally Posted by alan williams
I find it odd that this is almost destroying the buzz about an otherwise fine PDA.
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It is a fine PDA, but you can't hold ViewSonic blameless. They deserve the public censure for being so quiet about it. They must know that buyers will compare features such as memory size... and they led others to believe the 64mb is the same as other Pocket PC devices. |
I agree. As always honesty is proving to be the best policy. It also isn't like the first time this has happened in the PDA world. Palm and HP have both had similar issues, as noted in the register article. You would think one company could learn from the mistakes of others, but I guess not.
__________________
~SpencerOwner-Editor of TabletPCBuzz.comMicrosoft MVP - Tablet PC
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12-11-2002, 06:38 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,466
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This issue goes FAR beyond Viewsonic. There are lies...damn lies...and hardware specs. Why isn't the press reporting on Palm or Sony? Oh that's right...Palm would never resort to this fraudulent marketing tactic. I mean, if they say Tungsten has 16mb of RAM...then I should find 16mb of RAM when I examine the amount of available storage. WHAT'S THIS?!?! Only 14mb?!? You mean Palm lied to us? How can this be?
Even Sony is getting into the act. The NX series only has 11mb of user accessible space left.
This act borders on consumer fraud. It's time we put a stop to this once and for all.
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12-11-2002, 06:44 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 64
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I'm not saying that ViewSonic is blameless in all of this, but at the same time...
WHen was the last time you saw a Dell add for a desktop, "80gig HD, 78.78gig available"?
Foo is right, there are more to point fingers at than just VS, but what I am saying is that the v35 is still a fine little unit. I just hope it gets a fair shake after this "memory issue" is behind us.
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12-11-2002, 07:12 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 725
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Awww, lets not be too hard on PCWorld...
I will agree that not quoting a source is pretty sad, but at the same time, they are "newsmedia" (at least in their own head) and it's their job to (A) sensationalize the mundane to make it entertaining and (B) micro-analyze things that people are REALLY interested in to find the hidded "FRAUD" in it.
Not the best way of doing things, but welcome to American Journalism...
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12-11-2002, 07:18 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by alan williams
WHen was the last time you saw a Dell add for a desktop, "80gig HD, 78.78gig available"?
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Every day. They footnote that 1GB = 1,000MB (not 1,024) and your formatted capacity may be less. Don't think Dell does this anymore, but I know Compaq does and many HD manufactureres. I think they are starting to put the real capacity on the sites.
They don't say though that 1GB-2GB are "unavailble" because that is where WinXP, the MFT, Swapfile and hibernation file (if you have one) go.
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12-11-2002, 07:30 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 27
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by ThomasC22
Awww, lets not be too hard on PCWorld...
I will agree that not quoting a source is pretty sad, but at the same time, they are "newsmedia" (at least in their own head) and it's their job to (A) sensationalize the mundane to make it entertaining and (B) micro-analyze things that people are REALLY interested in to find the hidded "FRAUD" in it.
Not the best way of doing things, but welcome to American Journalism...
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yes, seriously..........if all you read was PC WORLD then you would think that DELL was the only pc manufacturer. funny how DELL is one of their biggest advertisers too.
those rags are just that.
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12-11-2002, 07:32 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ed Hansberry
Every day.
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Not only that, this is far from a new tactic.
Historical note: the old Seagate ST506 (that is, MFM, RLL, ESDI) drives' product code used to be STXYYZ, where the X was the form factor (2 meant 5.25" half-height), YY was the capacity, and Z was the interface (I think MFM was nothing, RLL was an R, ESDI an E, and SCSI a N). Most of their modern product codes still resemble this old system.
In any case, the capacity (YY) was the unformatted capacity of the drive, which was theoretically bigger. Their 20MB (yes, megabyte) drive was called ST225. Their 30MB was ST238R (and gosh almighty that was the worst damn drive known to man). The 80MB was ST4096 (40 being 5.25", full height). And so on. Anyone else here played with these beasts (and I use the term literally)?
Manufacturers have always been "padding" their numbers.
--bdj
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