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#31 |
Wizard
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Karma: 529619
Join Date: May 2007
Device: iRex iLiad, DR800SG
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#32 |
fruminous edugeek
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Karma: 551260
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Northeast US
Device: iPad, eBw 1150
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I agree-- but most of the other e ink products come with a fairly fixed set of features. I think iRex is one of the worst for putting products on the market with claims to offer more functionality "soon." I attribute a lot of that to the fact that they never wanted to be in the direct customer market in the first place-- they wanted B2B sales in which some other company would develop software and handle customer support.
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#33 | |
Gizmologist
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Karma: 929550
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN
Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3
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#34 | |
Wizard
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Karma: 529619
Join Date: May 2007
Device: iRex iLiad, DR800SG
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It all goes back to the notion of buying a device because of what it can do out of the box, not because of what you think it should be able to do, or what the company promises that it can do in the future. If you bought an iLiad because it already did what you needed, then the fact that it isn't a fixed set of features is a bonus. All of the promises of future capability haven't panned out, but a lot of them have. You don't really get any of that with most of the other devices. People tend to forget just how much iRex has improved the iLiad since the initial release, compared to what other companies have done with their devices. They only get a bad rap because they haven't lived up to everything they've said they'd do. Would the general opinion of them be different if they never made promises, but still came out with the same improvements/updates that they have? |
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#35 |
fruminous edugeek
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Karma: 551260
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Northeast US
Device: iPad, eBw 1150
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The basic rule of customer service: set appropriate expectations, and then meet or exceed them.
iRex is pretty bad at setting appropriate customer expectations. Sure, the customers here and elsewhere had some very high expectations for iRex, but iRex encouraged those high expectations with promises they couldn't keep (for whatever reasons). I bought my iLiad after FBReader had been ported, and virtually all of the time that I'm using it, I'm using community-developed software. I'm ok with that. By the time I bought mine, I knew about the power management problems, and that they would not be fixed. It took iRex a long time to admit that, and even after they admitted it, there were some pretty misleading statements on their marketing web pages about battery life. Talk about poor management of customer expectations! And this trend continues. By continuously promising something like the multi-format viewer, iRex has in fact discouraged some community developers from working to solve the problems with the current set of viewers. That's what really annoys me. It's bad enough that iRex has failed to support the iLiad to the extent that they promised, but they've made it much harder than necessary for anyone else to pick up the slack. If they're going to abandon any further development for the iLiad, as seems very likely, I hope they'll at least consider releasing source on the Content Lister so the community developers can fix it. Meanwhile, the DS1000 is another "not there yet" product, in my opinion. Maybe iRex will deliver this time. Maybe they'll take the business world by storm and a couple of years from now they'll have almost completely replaced the use of desktop printers in businesses. But I, for one, am going to wait until they've got the product to a state where I think it would be usable as-is before buying, or recommending that anyone else buy. |
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#36 |
Addict
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Karma: 92
Join Date: Sep 2007
Device: DR1000S, Nook ST (rooted), Kobo Aura one (ksm)
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You've stated that very correct and presicely, nekokami. Although I have great gadged lust - by the given history it is sage having patience.
Gogolo |
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#37 |
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 11844413
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Tampa, FL USA
Device: Kindle Touch
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#38 |
Gizmologist
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Karma: 929550
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN
Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3
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#39 |
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 11844413
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Tampa, FL USA
Device: Kindle Touch
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I am glad it is Steve Sinofsky's motto too.
In case you don't know who he is. He is the new head of Windows group at Microsoft. The previous guy, Jim Alchin, while I'm sure a great guy and good at his job made a major mistake with Vista. Well before it came out they were promising a whole list of features and performance that it just turned out could not be delivered. This is one of the main reasons Vista isn't liked so much. It is a perception. Steve Sinofsky is keeping the new Windows 7 info very close to his vest. He is making sure that if they say Windows 7 will be or do something that it does that and more. Actually, I think he even said that his goal was to Under promise and over deliver. So, I'm sure this mistake applies to iRex. When will companies, espesially those that involve software ever learn? BOb |
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#40 | |||
Wizard
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Karma: 529619
Join Date: May 2007
Device: iRex iLiad, DR800SG
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I think many people are finding that they've learned that lesson the hard way. Personally, I bought mine a year and a half ago with software version 2.9.5 (?), and was happy with it then. 2.10, 2.11 and 2.12 were just bonuses as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, I'm disappointed that development isn't going to continue, but I don't feel ripped off about it. Moral of the story: Don't rely on undeveloped features to justify the purchase cost. |
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#41 | |
Fulfilled but not by iRex
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Karma: 286846
Join Date: May 2006
Location: London
Device: Far too many
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Would our opinions be different if they hadn't:
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#42 | |
Connoisseur
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Karma: 14
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Australia
Device: iPad Pro 12"; Kindle Paperwhite
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That also indicates that they consider the DR a successor to the iLiad - if they were complementary then they would continue development on both so as to serve the different markets that each is meant for. |
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#43 | ||
Wizard
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Karma: 529619
Join Date: May 2007
Device: iRex iLiad, DR800SG
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#44 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 11844413
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Tampa, FL USA
Device: Kindle Touch
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BOb |
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#45 |
fruminous edugeek
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Northeast US
Device: iPad, eBw 1150
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At this point, I think iRex is better off giving the source to the community, which is what they seem to plan on doing. That's fine. It would be great if they could also cut the price of the iLiad and sell it as-is, since they don't seem to want to support it anyway, but I suppose the nominal amount of each unit price that they set aside for support wouldn't make much difference anyway.
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