03-25-2007, 03:30 AM
|
|
Developer & Designer, News Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,959
|
|
HP Removes Microsoft Outlook from iPAQ Getting Started CDs
HP has officially announced that Microsoft Outlook (the heart and soul of all Windows Mobile-based devices) will no longer be included in the Getting Started CDs of all HP iPAQs manufactured after March 2007, and to rub salt in the wound, no official announcement has been made regarding an accompanying price reduction. Excluding Outlook essentially kills the "out of the box" experience for consumers new to Windows Mobile. No one should have to purchase a new car and acquire the wheels separately from a tyre shop, and so no one should have to purchase a new iPAQ and be forced into acquiring Outlook separately from their local software store. HP simply cannot assume that Microsoft and PC manufacturers will satisfy the other half of the equation. There are still versions of Office 2007 (albeit one) that do not include Outlook, and there are still new PCs that do not ship with Office. Add in the millions of people who already have PCs without Outlook and you can start to see a gaping hole in HP's policy.
If you're a consumer, remember that there are plenty of fish in the sea. Shop wisely. HP isn't your only option.
|
| |
|
|
|
03-25-2007, 04:25 AM
|
|
5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,616
|
|
Also, some OEMs ship PCs with trial versions of Office installed. More than once, I've had to explain to individuals that the version of Office that they had been using without issue for 30/60/90/however many days after they received the computer but suddenly cannot anymore, had been using a trial version that they did not actually pay for.
__________________
iPhone 4! ☠☠☠ Mid-2010 15" MacBook Pro! ☠☠☠ Gateway LT2102h! ☠☠☠ Dell XPS M1210!
|
| |
|
|
|
03-25-2007, 04:39 AM
|
|
Thinker
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 367
|
|
What in the world is the rationale for this? I really can't fathom why they would do such an apparently foolish thing.
For years, the only version of Outlook I ever owned was the copy that came with my PPCs. Boy, I sure hope other vendors don't follow suit here.
__________________
XBox 360 S, 16GB iPhone 4S, iPod Classic 160 GB, Dell Inspiron Mini 1018; Macs: Mac Mini 2.4 GHz 6 GB RAM; Macbook 2.0 GHz 3 GB RAM; MacBook Air 11", 24" Cinema Display
|
| |
|
|
|
03-25-2007, 05:20 AM
|
|
Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 255
|
|
 Dumb, HP! Very, very dumb!!! Exactly what do they expect the customer to sync with ???
|
| |
|
|
|
03-25-2007, 05:50 AM
|
|
Intellectual
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 172
|
|
Either HP wants to start selling iPhones, which do not require Outlook to sync with.. or else they're trying to get rid of Windows Mobile devices from their inventory, since MS explicitly requires Outlook (not Outlook Express) to set up and sync contacts and appointments and all. Or else someone's a complete retard, who wants to save $20-30 per license and in doing so risk not selling a $300-500 device because nobody wants to buy it and THEN spend more money on Outlook so they can SYNC the PDA (which was part of the selling point of the PDA in the first place).
"Well, by not including Outlook, we should save some money per unit... even if we don't bring the price down."
"Great. So how do they connect the PDA to the computer?"
"Well, they install ActiveSync, which is supposed to handle it, and which IS included in the CD."
"... which is a great idea, except that ActiveSync requires a copy of Outlook to be on the system before it can be installed. Not Outlook Express."
"... maybe they'll forget about that requirement and just use the thing out of the box."
"So how do they add contacts?"
"Um... they tap them in. After reading them from their Outlook Express address book."
|
| |
|
|
|
03-25-2007, 06:06 AM
|
|
5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,616
|
|
Or they assume everyone has access to an Exchange account.
__________________
iPhone 4! ☠☠☠ Mid-2010 15" MacBook Pro! ☠☠☠ Gateway LT2102h! ☠☠☠ Dell XPS M1210!
|
| |
|
|
|
03-25-2007, 06:37 AM
|
|
Magi
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,341
|
|
Re: HP Removes Microsoft Outlook from iPAQ Getting Started CDs
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Darius Wey
If you're a consumer, remember that there are plenty of fish in the sea. Shop wisely. HP isn't your only option.
|
Who said this was an HP decision? There is the possibility that this is a MS decision. I'd be careful about trying to blacklist HP on something like this till you see where the rest of the OEMs go in the coming weeks and months.
Who among us laymen know what reasoning there might be behind MS not wanting to have a continual supply of out dated versions of Outlook still being introduced into the environment, or what the plan is when it is no longer available on the CD. Perhaps they have decided they have given too many versions of Outlook away for free. Now that the platform is verging on mainstream with many millions of devices sold yearly they may feel that it is enough, and it's time for the consumer to pay up. They may also feel that the platform is strong enough that it doesn't need the added bonus any longer.
Just consider for a moment the fact that they are now flooding the market with millions of free copies every single year. I'm sure the folks in charge of Office sales can't be too happy with that. Microsoft do seem to have some alternate plan for Outlook. The version of Office "Student and Teacher" 2003 included Outlook. The new 2007 version excludes Outlook. They have packaged things in such away that you now have to buy the more expensive "Standard" version in order to get Outlook.....All this considered I think there is a larger force at play here than HP simply pulling the plug.
Dave
|
| |
|
|
|
03-25-2007, 06:51 AM
|
|
Pupil
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 26
|
|
Bad customer service can be tolerated. Bad repairs can be fixed and their carelessness can be understood (to an extent). But a brand new device with no sync functionality out of the box?
HP needs to wake up and do something right!
And unless I am mistaken, Outlook 2007 can't be brought on its own in Australia. For those of us that already have a copy of office 2007 this is completely unacceptable from HP!
Well this is the last straw! After several bad experiences with HP over the last few weeks I have decided that my next device will be from another company.
|
| |
|
|
|
03-25-2007, 07:02 AM
|
|
Executive Editor, Android Thoughts
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,233
|
|
While I can't agree with this practice (I think Outlook should be included to really show the power of the sync relationship between a Pocket PC and it's computer mate), I do have to admit that I've installed Outlook from a pocket-pc-provided disc only once in the past 4 years. That one time wasn't even for pocket pc sync purposes but because I needed Outlook on an additional machine and had run out of licenses.
I suspect that for many power users, Outlook is already on the machine, and those with Outlook already in some form may already be the majority of users (after all, who users Pocket PCs? Business folks who generally have access, maybe Students who usually already have Office thanks to Academic Pricing, etc...) So in the end, while I disagree in principle, I'd be really interested to know the true percentage of individuals who install Outlook from the Pocket PC's install disk. I'm betting it may be lower than we believe.
__________________
Dr. Jon Westfall, MCSE, MS-MVP
Executive Editor - Android Thoughts
News Editor - Windows Phone Thoughts
|
| |
|
|
|
03-25-2007, 07:14 AM
|
|
Pontificator
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,043
|
|
I manually entered (not 'tapped' but wrote, using Character Recogniser as it was called in 2000) my first 120 or so contacts into my first Casio. Didn't occur to me to install Outlook on the PC for quite a while. I only got a PC months after getting a PPC, when it was proving impossible (things have improved, somewhat) to install software to the Casio without one. Sometime about 6 months after getting my PPC I installed Outlook on my PC, and tried to synch Contacts... bad idea. They were gone, from the PPC and with no trace of them on the PC. Activesync or Outlook just deleted them. And since Casio Backup was poo, there was no way to get them back.
I learned from this painful experience, and have since built up over 700 contacts entries, many with extensive notes and multiple phone numbers and email addresses, and do not try to synch with Outlook any more. I've run most of the time without Outlook installed on the PC. Entering contact data manually on a PPC is very handy, not a headache at all. I guess PC-centric folks just jot things down on paper, huh? So long as Sprite Backup keeps protecting my databases, I see no reason to trust Microsoft's buggy synch software and way-too-complicated PIM software, especially since my PC spends most of its life turned off, in a closet. PIM data on a PC? Why? Unless one must do it that way for company reasons, a standalone use pattern with a PPC just makes more sense.
So in my opinion this move by HP is rather meaningless. I wouldn't buy any HP PPC (or whatever they're to be called now), but not because they are no longer including Outlook; no, it's just that they're not making any interesting PPCs.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Linear Mode
