06-28-2002, 03:40 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,060
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Just What Exactly Do The Vendors Owe You?
Some of the discussions we've been having in the Thoughts forums have gotten me thinking more and more about the kinds of expectations that Pocket PC users have for the companies that produce the goods and services we use. On more than one occasion, I've noted a strong sense of entitlement that some customers (and potential customers) have, especially when it comes to the latest and greatest devices and their features.
Here are a couple of examples of what I'm talking about:
� The backlight on my iPAQ started messing up, just like it has on many people's devices. It is fair for me to expect HPQ to fix or replace that unit until the backlight performs the way I was told it would perform and in a way that most reasonable people would expect it to perform. I'm entitled to that remediation.
� The news of how the upcoming XScale-based devices will probably not exhibit significant performance increases over current models was a huge disappointment to many of us. I was personally looking forward to getting a new speed demon Pocket PC. However, I hadn't plunked down any money for one yet, I hadn't significantly altered the way I live or do business in anticipation of the XScale devices and I am none the worse for wear because they will not provide the promised improvement.
Now *assuming* that there has been no X-Files-type conspiracy afoot to deliberately bilk us out of our hard-earned money, why do so many of us have that same sense of entitlement with the XScale devices that I have with the backlight issue? The device, software and chip manufacturers surely didn't set out to provide Pocket PCs that are a flop, and they will bear the brunt of their mistakes in the form of diminished or nonexistent sales. Yet, many readers still feel they are *owed* something, some remediation, as a result of this fiasco. They seem to take it quite personally.
Unless someone has suffered a loss or damage as a result of this mess, how can that person feel entitled to anything more than a bit of disappointment over a technology that never came to fruition?
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06-28-2002, 04:05 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 396
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Just disappointed
I'm not sure anyone feels they're *owed* anything by the manufacturers or the upcoming x-scale devices or that we've lost out. Personally, I'm just thinking "Well, if that's the best you can do I'll wait for CE.NET".
Then again, I know once they're in the shops I'll be parting with the cash :lol: and have no-one else to blame but myself.
Fred
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06-28-2002, 04:10 PM
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Editorial Contributor
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 5,411
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I think you have two vastly different items there. A backlight should light. If it doesn't it should be fixed. That is a failure in an advertised function.
Microsoft Reader (the 1st PPC one) should have read encrypted/secure .lit files. Not doing so was inexcusible. That was marketing hype that failed to mention a major limitation. As was the SD slot on iPAQs. Never declared to be an SDIO slot (though the distinction is not especially well defined); people made an assumption. (When it get down to it, many have put an SD memeory card in their HP MMC slot. Does that make it an SD slot? In this case I guess HP didn't want to promise it would work by calling it that.)
Again the assumption is that 400Mhz is twice as fast as 206Mhz. We should know better. I didn't see that radical a difference between a 400Mhz PC and an 800Mhz PC. At least not on day to day use. Same for 1Ghz to 2Ghz. Benchmarks? Sure. Writing in Word, surfing the web? Not real significant.
We just need to understand that marketing guys get big bucks for making us believe something without actually telling it to us  and they are good at it.
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06-28-2002, 04:37 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 41
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Sven
We just need to understand that marketing guys get big bucks for making us believe something without actually telling it to us and they are good at it. |
That is the real rub, I believe. All the hype we were fed about faster performance and drastically better battery life became what we expected. When it wasn't delivered, everyone became disappointed and many felt lied to or betrayed. When you hear that MS didn't want to strand 2M users of the PPC platform, we can accept it a little better... until you hear that Longhorn (the next Windows) most likely will not be compatible with anything currently running! :roll: Tell me which is worse, 2M PPC users or 97% of the computing world?
Anyways, I still have my E-125, and was really looking forward to the XScale devices. I was all primed. To say that I am terribly disappointed in how Toshiba has executed its XScale is an understatement.
Anyways, happy tapping,
Hans
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06-28-2002, 04:45 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 481
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Re: Just What Exactly Do The Vendors Owe You?
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Brad Adrian
... disappointment over a technology that never came to fruition?
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The technology is there, and it is an improvement. It will produce good results when things (OS and apps) are optimized for it.
As for the "unrealized expectations", I don't think manufacturers were leading this nearly so much as the computer press. And just try to hold the press responsible for anything; it won't stick, so don't bother.
As for "double" the speed, 400 / 206 = less than 2 to start with, so at best people should have thought "less than double" from that change. And as 'Sven' points out, on every other computer system, other system elements limit the overall performance increase to less than the raw clock speed increase. Actually, for old ("legacy") OS and apps to work at all on vastly changed hardware is something we need to be thankful for.
I get excited about new things too, but if my excitement causes me to think irrationally, I can't really blame someone else for the conclusions I might draw.
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06-28-2002, 04:50 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 122
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I agree that the X-Scale disappointment doesn't give users the right to claim damages for unfulfilled expectations.
My issue is with my iPAQ 3835. It doesn't work the way Compaq said it would. If Compaq makes a claim that the device should do something and it doesn't, that means it is defective. Compaq still hasn't fixed the majority of issues with the various iPAQs.
Now, if Toshiba had claimed that the e740 would run applications twice as fast as previous PPCs, then users would have a legitimate gripe. They didn't.
However, Compaq has made lots of claims about what the iPAQ is supposed to do and they have yet to deliver on their claims. This is not marketing leading us astray... this is selling a defective product and then not supporting it.
__________________
If it can't be done with XS, then it shouldn't be done at all!!!
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06-28-2002, 04:52 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,768
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expectations vs reality
The expectation from the hype is that these new devices would perform better. This came from all those involved (PDA builder, MS, Intel, etc). The fact that the reality did not live up to the hype is not surprising, but that there was so much hype before there was any real product and no one to calm down the rhetoric with reality. There was plenty of time for someone to readjust the expectation.... knowing and not saying squares guilt on all the parties in the know.
If there was hype about a new car with technology that reduced its fuel consumption three-fold and everyone talked about it (designer, car manufacturer, etc) only to have after the car ships, the realization that something extra was required (new fuel additive for example) then the public would be upset at the misleading hype. This is no different. The public was believed that these devices would be faster for multimedia (games, movies, etc) and we find that they are actually slower!
If I pre-ordered a device, I would feel that I was owed something post-fact. Now that the truth is known, then new buyers are not owed anything because real performance is now known.
-Jonathan
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06-28-2002, 05:15 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 713
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Expectations
I think part of the reason everyone was so upset about the e740/XScale issue is that not only is it no faster than its predecessors, its battery life is said to be pitiful. Pocket PCs have always suffered from less than stellar battery life and the XScale was expected to vastly improve that, too. It seems that, for now anyway, there is no compelling reason for the XScale to exist. That may, of course, change next week - but for now it seems a big waste.
Maybe we are just getting tired of each new generation of PPCs being a dissapointment in some way (battery life, dust, speed, display, etc.). The initial excitement over the "next big thing" fails to carry over into the actual deployment of the new devices. Part of this is probably due to the realization that even if the new device measures up in most ways, something better will soon come along and make you wish you'd waited a little longer to plunk down that fistful of cash.
Even now we are waiting for CE.NET - anyone care to bet whether it will make even the most current "Gee-Whiz" devices "obsolete" because they don't have enough Flash ROM to hold the new OS?
As PPC users do we expect too much? Probably. But if we didn't then we'd all be Palm users, wouldn't we? :wink:
BwanaJim
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06-28-2002, 06:13 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,060
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Re: expectations vs reality
Quote:
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Originally Posted by JonnoB
If I pre-ordered a device, I would feel that I was owed something post-fact.
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Even if your payment was never processed, i.e., you lost no money or interest on your money?
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06-28-2002, 06:15 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,768
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Re: expectations vs reality
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Brad Adrian
Even if your payment was never processed, i.e., you lost no money or interest on your money?
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Yes, I would feel owed then as well.
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