10-15-2003, 01:00 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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End Of The Line For Mazingo
http://www.mazingo.net/pc/index.php
"Mazingo would like to thank everyone who has been involved with developing and using the Mazingo service. Regrettably, the service can no longer be offered due to the cost of content versus the revenue derived."
I tried using Mazingo several times over the years, most recently this past summer. The concept was a good one but the implementation was frustrating and after a one month subscription, I gave up. From popup dialogs on the desktop, a 6MB installation that forced itself in RAM on your device and synchronizations that should have been simple taking 30 minutes over WiFi connections, there were just too many design issues to make it usable for the average person.
Sorry to see it go. I kept hoping it would succeed and had planned on giving it another go after some more months of development time. I guess that won't happen now. :?
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10-15-2003, 01:13 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 190
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I tried it a couple of times as well. I didn't think the service was worth my money. It was too slow and occupied too much space on my PPC. Besides, I find Avantgo good enough for me.
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10-15-2003, 01:18 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 44
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Agreed. The concept was good, but the implimentation was seriously flawed. Once found a 600MB Cache file on my C:\ created by mazingo....., that was the begining of the end for me.
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10-15-2003, 01:57 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 48
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As wireless connectivity increases this type of service will become unnecessary anyway. Why read old info cached during sync (and waste memory on it) when you can view fresh info anytime by connecting to the web?
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10-15-2003, 01:58 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 338
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Well it's refreshing to see the "survival of the fittest" concept apply to the PDA world too!
Mazingo was a "wannabe" that never really went anywhere. It's a product of what bad publicity can do for you. After I read about the problems I just skipped the opportunity to even try it. I'm sure others wish they had done the same.
I'm glad to see this distraction leave the PocketPC camp.
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10-15-2003, 02:12 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,819
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Can AvantGo be far behind? At least the free version...
Its a shell of what it used to be. Many good providers have left (ESPN, CNN).
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10-15-2003, 02:13 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 24
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I dropped Mazingo a year ago because of above reasons.
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10-15-2003, 02:25 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 52
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I'm surprised it took this long; content has been dropping off for a while. Several flaws obviously in implementation but I still see a need for this type of service. I agree with the previous post that as wireless becomes more commonplace the need for this cached information will go away but what about until that happens? I don't know about you but I'm not finding an access point on every street corner and as much as I'd like to I can't always hang out at the book store or the coffee shop. AvantGo is heading the same direction, content is starting to drop. This is a service I'd pay for; I paid for Mazingo - as flawed as it was.
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10-15-2003, 02:43 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 481
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I used Mazingo heavily for about six months, as they were developing and debugging it. There was always the hope of things getting fixed in the next rev that kept me going. But once the pay service started, they stopped developing the free product and after about three months of hoping for more fixes, I gave up on it. Never really missed it at all. What it really accomplished, though, was it gave me a real appreciation for AvantGo, and how flawless that (usually) is.
A bit childish, I know, but I have to say this ("I told you so!"): Before launching the pay service, they sent out a survey seeking input on the type of content people would pay for, and fishing for a price point. In the comment area at the end I said, if you strip too much out of the free product and start charging too soon, you will never reach critical mass, because once you start charging, you will stop drawing in new (potentially future paying) customers.
I really lost interest when they started pushing the adult content so hard (always a sign of desperation).
As for Sync and Go, there is/was a lot of potential there (Microsoft could stand to loose money on it for a long time if it boosted another part of the business). But tying it exclusively (and needlessly) to WinXP was the killer there, at least for me.
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10-15-2003, 02:44 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 121
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Later
Good idea.... sorry to see them go. I tried it for a while and it was ok.
I much prefer ISilo with ISiloX Pay $17 for ISilo once and download as much as you want... plus you can go Full Screen.
heyday
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Linear Mode
