Stop risible games, how long are we going to be supported?

Originally Posted by lorenzoens

So you are suggesting that you are better informed than the enTourage employees?

Unless you mean that they are lying

I see something that walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, swims like a duck so I identify it as a duck. It can call itself a hamster, but I'm not going to believe it. So, yes, I mean they are lying, deliberately or not. While they may not be shutting down, they're clearly not the company they used to be.

Originally Posted by gecko

It's not like it's I'm accusing them of anything offensive, you know.

Ok, two possible people from Philipines in the Customer Support. Does this mean enTourage suck and they are not trustworthy & liars?
See that the question I asked them is about how long will I have support with my new device, it's not about gossip. So a lie would be very bad here.

Originally Posted by borisb

they're clearly not the company they used to be.

Being a new customer, at present I wanna be assured I have 1 year support, that's what I asked for, and I assume they are not lying. If they are, I'll do my best to make them pay for this.

Also, maybe you trust your eyes too much, my friend. Some of you do so much talking with so few infos in your hands.

Originally Posted by lorenzoens

Ok, two possible people from Philipines in the Customer Support. Does this mean enTourage suck and they are not trustworthy & liars?
See that the question I asked them is about how long will I have support with my new device, it's not about gossip. So a lie would be very bad here.

As you may not have noticed, my observations aren't relevant to your question at all. It may be vaguely interesting to understand a little about how the company works, but that's it. Unless, there *are* Phillipine restaurants in Reston, VA, which would be highly interesting, in my opinion, but still not of much use to you.

At any rate, the 80 euros or whatever is it that you would have to pay to return your EE, can be viewed as what the economists call a "sunk cost," meaning that that's gone, no matter what you do. Therefore, the ultimate price of your EE is whatever you paid *minus* the 80 euros (since you have to pay the 80 euros, anyway). That's one thing. The other thing is that eNtOuRaGE has indicated to you that they will be supporting your machine. There's definitely something going on at the company, and their self-destructive secretiveness is very typical for business transactions (basically because businessmen think that the secrecy makes the whole thing more prestigious; it's a way of puffing up their egos). If you're going out of business, you want to harbor whatever resources you have in order to pay off your creditors; you don't spend a lot of time and money to release a beta version of the operating system and then quit. That doesn't make any sense.

I think you should definitely keep it.

Originally Posted by lorenzoens

Also, maybe you trust your eyes too much, my friend. Some of you do so much talking with so few infos in your hands.

Tell me then what the following mean:
- company has retracted every Press Release they ever published
- company has retracted every Community Blog entry they ever published
- company has retracted its Company Profile, including info on top management
- company no longer provides info on eDGes
- staff have been leaving the company in substantial numbers
- staff have suggested people buy an iPad instead

I don't think any of these are normal or the signs of a healthy, active company. No normal company does this sort of thing.

Originally Posted by gecko

you don't spend a lot of time and money to release a beta version of the operating system and then quit. That doesn't make any sense.

They've been working on the beta since last July, approximately, and increasingly fervently since about November when they released how hard it was going to be and with mounting pressure to release Froyo. So, it's not like they just started on the beta in Jan/Feb when the troubles started coming to public light. Also, evidence from LinkedIn suggests more than a few of their developers and testers left the company around January (I'm guessing 50%), so the costs would have gone down and progress slowed, but could have continued nonetheless.

Given the beta was almost done, why not polish it off a bit and at least send it out so that the customer base has something good in the end (not to mention it will help sell off the rest of the inventory)? I recall at least one person saying the iRex situation was basically the same (the company released a final version and then folded).

Originally Posted by borisb

Tell me then what the following mean:
- company has retracted every Press Release they ever published
- company has retracted every Community Blog entry they ever published
- company has retracted its Company Profile, including info on top management

Company is revising its website, we don't know why, but none of this is necessary if they're just shutting down. Why would they bother? It makes more sense that it's some kind of preparation for something in the future. Admittedly, it's clunky and unprofessional looking, but we already know that that's the way they've been handling this (whatever "this" is).

- company no longer provides info on eDGes

Company no longer provides eDgES. They're going out of production, maybe, either in prep for a new model or, perhaps, the company is being sold to someone that won't produce edGES at all but will support the current ones. (Why? In return for the value of the company, which is people and technology [patents, licensed technology, and the like]).

- staff have been leaving the company in substantial numbers

So perhaps they are being sold/acquired and will merge into existing support staff. Or maybe the staff got tired of looking for decent lunches in Reston, VA, where most people haven't been, but I have; it's a grim warren of brutalist office towers.

- staff have suggested people buy an iPad instead

Harder to explain, perhaps staff was infected by the AppleFanBoi Virus. It can be contagious, alas.

No normal company does this sort of thing.

Agreed.

I don't follow how the nationality or ethnicity of the tech support staff is relevant to or indicative of the company's viability. Even if everything were fine and dandy, they could still be outsourcing tech support. That wouldn't even be unusual.

I also think that someone who worked directly for enTourage and not a company hired by enTourage would have said, "WE are not shutting down," instead of "In (sic) behalf of management of enTourage systems..."

Boris's bulleted list is pretty damning, though admittedly not conclusive.

Originally Posted by NiaTrue

Boris's bulleted list is pretty damning, though admittedly not conclusive.

Agreed, and Gecko has reasonable responses to each, too. The evidence suggests something major is going on, but we don't know what exactly.

lol, perhaps their IT guy (or janitorial staff) is now in charge of PR (remember that their PR staff left in January and haven't been replaced from what we can tell), and hence the clumsiness in managing the publicity

I guess situation is not as much grim as it seems. I've just discovered this device on 03/29 and was lurking in the forum for quite some times not registered. Yesterday I tried to sign up to post and could not. I saw the website folding, people worry on forums. But also there is so much potential in device, so actually despite all that I grabbed an red PE on eBay for 250$ last night and cannot wait to play with it. And this morning I was able to create account on website and subscribe to forum! maybe just website overhaul is done unprofessional??? I am hoping for best, there is no comparison to EE or PE on market yet, those things seems almost perfect for what I need...

Originally Posted by gecko

Or maybe the staff got tired of looking for decent lunches in Reston, VA, where most people haven't been, but I have; it's a grim warren of brutalist office towers.

Wherever else you may have been, you've obviously never been in Reston, Virginia. I've lived here since 1979, and it is an oasis of green in an otherwise highly developed county. There is one multi-block section of town that has a handful of high-rises, but the rest of the community is full of parks, lakes, trails, and small strip malls. It is the farthest thing from a "grim warren" of towers. As for restaurants, Fairfax County is one of the most cosmopolitan areas around, and Reston is part of that diversity. You can find any type of food you want in this area, including Filipino.

The bigger question is why you even brought Reston into the discussion. The enTourage offices are in McLean, about 8 miles or so east of Reston. That area, generally called Tyson's Corner by the locals, is indeed a collection of towering office buildings. enTourage is located inside one such tower.

This whole situation has gotten ludicrous. I just asked my husband to go down to enTourage at lunch and see what he can discover in person. Probably nothing, but he's been there twice before and always found the staff pleasant. I'll post his findings later.

Originally Posted by larka2006

. . . I am hoping for best, there is no comparison to EE or PE on market yet, those things seems almost perfect for what I need...

I was using my eDGe in McDonalds yesterday and someone came up to me absolutely wow'd by it. I ran through the features and the person thought it was an awesome device. She couldn't see any value in an iPad or a Kindle when the edge existed and did more than both.

I warned her she might have to buy one from eBay.

We're here, now, because Entourage management and marketing just plain suck.

Originally Posted by Jennifer

I just asked my husband to go down to enTourage at lunch and see what he can discover in person. Probably nothing, but he's been there twice before and always found the staff pleasant. I'll post his findings later.

Awesome! More news is always appreciated

Originally Posted by kenjennings

I was using my eDGe in McDonalds yesterday and someone came up to me absolutely wow'd by it. I ran through the features and the person thought it was an awesome device. She couldn't see any value in an iPad or a Kindle when the edge existed and did more than both.

I warned her she might have to buy one from eBay.

We're here, now, because Entourage management and marketing just plain suck.

That's the really sad part: Except for a few isheep, people are routinely wowed by the eDGe when I'm out and about with it. They can't figure why people buy ipads when they could have an eDGe. I honestly can see why certain users would prefer the ipad (those wanting purely entertainment--TV, YouTube, movies), but for the life of me, I can't figure out why academics/teachers, doctors, architects, engineers would prefer the ipad over the eDGe for ease of use at work.

Originally Posted by NiaTrue

I don't follow how the nationality or ethnicity of the tech support staff is relevant to or indicative of the company's viability.

It's not, but it's highly relevant to what people are eating for lunch, which is always interesting.