Dual firmware announcement

[T_Frain_K]

Originally Posted by Over

The firmware wasn't released because the programmer didn't backup his work and forgot the password for his windows login. He's tried to recover the password by brute force, leaving the hacking software run for months, trying millions of different words. And it's still running.

I guess a few months ago Bookeen figured they will never recover the lost password, so he had to start programming again... Again.

Actually, it is that easy to crack a windows password, it´s a shame. Not that I had ever done it...

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by T_Frain_K

Actually, it is that easy to crack a windows password, it´s a shame. Not that I had ever done it...

And you don't even need that, you can simply boot from a live CD and read the data...

[Seventh Son]

Originally Posted by Jellby

And you don't even need that, you can simply boot from a live CD and read the data...

Unless it's all encrypted

[roncri]

I can't even believe that Bookeen would be that stupid.

Unless they only have one programmer for the entire code base the software has to be synced somewhere with the code from the other developers. That synced code should be backed up as part of a routine process. Even start-ups don't rely on individual programmers to handle their own backups.

Having said that, I do believe strongly in individual developers backing up their own code since it's much faster to recover from your own individual backup than requesting it from the IT department. I strongly recommend it to any developers I manage.

Originally Posted by Over

The firmware wasn't released because the programmer didn't backup his work and forgot the password for his windows login. He's tried to recover the password by brute force, leaving the hacking software run for months, trying millions of different words. And it's still running.

I guess a few months ago Bookeen figured they will never recover the lost password, so he had to start programming again... Again.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by roncri

Unless they only have one programmer for the entire code base the software has to be synced somewhere with the code from the other developers. That synced code should be backed up as part of a routine process. Even start-ups don't rely on individual programmers to handle their own backups.

Having said that, I do believe strongly in individual developers backing up their own code since it's much faster to recover from your own individual backup than requesting it from the IT department. I strongly recommend it to any developers I manage.

That is the job of a version control system like subversion. Your personal backup is what you check in in the version control system.

[cmbs]

Originally Posted by Deneb

Sorry Eowyn, I have to desagree with you and agree with Derek and Pieter. I don't know why you always try to protect Bookeen but this time, they really, really went "off line".
I'm french, I bought a cybook because it seemed nice and it was a french company()...I doubt very much I will buy another reader from bookeen ever again!

They do have a lousy customer relation maybe the worst I have seen! It's sad because the device is very fine, really, once I choose what book I want to read, it's perfect...but I have to choose between 96 pages of 5 books witch don't even show the title full! And how depressing it is to read two books at the same time if they are far away in the alphabet!! I have to use my old small SD cards (from 32Ko to 256 Mo) because it crashes when I use the advertised 2Go...

Other little company do come to this forum and actually answer their customers (Check the Astak forum)...If Bookeen hasn't realised how customer review is important, then, too bad for them. I think they loose a lot of potential customers here, the global feeling on bookeen is negatif and frustrated and mobilread is the first forum you find when you begin a research on ebook reader... If they are happy with their sales, ok, but I doubt it. In the growing competition, it's seems suicidal.

As to how difficult programing is, first, we don't care as consumer, it's their job not mine, especially when they promised it "soon" (how stupid that was...).
And second, other devices already have the folder support (whitch is the most commun feature hoped for) or whatever is supposed to be in that update. Other programers don't seem to find it so hard...They could have made small updates often instead of one big (we're still waiting for), They could communicate here, there is a lot of things they could have done, instead, I feel ignored and frustrated. They are not logical from my customer point of view, I don't understand how they think...

I don't even get mad because they don't deliver the update promised a year ago (while they use it on the opus), delay happens, no, what's so infuriating is their lack of explanation why it's late. They have a blog and It's never updated! It make them either arrogant or incompetent...

Bookeen has had enough time to get a clue about their terrible customer service, they haven't improved it, and that shows it's not important enough to them to fix. And this is not the first time they promised an update and didn't deliver in a reasonable time frame. It's a habit with them. I guess as long as they're making sales, there's no point. I like to think that sooner or later this is going to be a problem for them, because it's been a problem for so many of us.

Unfortunately, I often hear things about other readers that makes me appreciate my Cybook. I think Bookeen has the best ideas, but their reader has a lot of annoying problems and their customer service is almost non-existent. For example, I recently heard that BeBook's mobi reading software doesn't resize images. All real mobi software resizes images, as far as I know. It's only OTHER software that doesn't. I am glad Cybook resizes images in mobi to fit the screen.

The number one thing I wish they would do is stabilize the software. It's always freezing up, not saving my place or bookmarks, not recognizing the sd card, corrupting the ebooks or it's own files. I wish the thing would just work smoothly, first and foremost. Secondly, it'd be reeeely nice to be able to read pdfs instead of often having to reformat ebooks before I can read them. They haven't improved these things either, which shows Bookeen doesn't think they're important enough to fix.

Anyway, Deneb, about your 96 pages of 5 books each - you can set it to display 20 books each. But my bigger question is why do you have that many books on your card? All you're doing is making grief for yourself, having to shuffle through it all. I don't put more than two pages worth, at 20 books per page, that's 40 books. No way I'll need anywhere close to that many before I have to at least recharge the reader, if not reformat and all that crap because it's messed itself up again. Plus, the more books, the longer the turning-on time. Just seems totally unnecessary, and in fact, causing yourself grief for no good reason.

So. Does anyone think they'll post the new update before Christmas? When they do, will it mess up more things than it fixes?

[T_Frain_K]

Originally Posted by Jellby

And you don't even need that, you can simply boot from a live CD and read the data...

As I said:

[cmbs]

Non-drm'd epub is not affiliated with adobe or any other company. I can't imagine why it can't be put on the same reader as a drm'd mobi. We can read non-drm txt, html, pdb, and even pdf - which IS affiliated with adobe. Has Amazon banned non-drm epub from being read with drm'd mobi?

Maybe we need a non-drm version of the software, displaying ALL non-drm ebook files, and none with drm. I don't buy drm books anymore anyway. It's just the dictionary, but I now have a free one.

Does anyone think it's going to be convenient to switch back and forth between two versions of software (assuming this option ever becomes a reality)?

[EowynCarter]

Non-drm'd epub is not affiliated with adobe or any other company. I can't imagine why it can't be put on the same reader as a drm'd mobi.

It would requires more dev time from bookeen. (And well, they already have some problem with making it work without.. )

Maybe later, who know, but i don't see that happening. I'll rather have bookeen fixing/improving the actually useful stuff. That is, ePub and pdf rendering, add dictionary support for ePub maybe (i don't need need it, but it seams quite a few people do) bookmarks for ePub... Than adding a possibility to read non drm mobi.

[Snuffi]

Originally Posted by cmbs

Non-drm'd epub is not affiliated with adobe or any other company. I can't imagine why it can't be put on the same reader as a drm'd mobi. We can read non-drm txt, html, pdb, and even pdf - which IS affiliated with adobe. Has Amazon banned non-drm epub from being read with drm'd mobi?

Maybe we need a non-drm version of the software, displaying ALL non-drm ebook files, and none with drm. I don't buy drm books anymore anyway. It's just the dictionary, but I now have a free one.

Does anyone think it's going to be convenient to switch back and forth between two versions of software (assuming this option ever becomes a reality)?

If they use the Adobe SDK it can be used to handle both drm-ed and non-drm-ed ePub books. In that case the restrictions placed upon the use of the SDK would prevent you to use mobi-SDK and vice versa. If you use Adobe SDK for drm-ed ePub and a *different* software for non-drm-ed that would require additional time and effort from the developers plus the non-drm-ed ePub reader software might behave differently and have different limitations/bugs than the Adobe software which would most likely confuse customers and lead to increased load on customer service (why is this ePub notworking/looking so weird while everything is fine when I use the other FW?)

[Truttebol]

Checked the site again today. (I do that everyday, am I naive?) Still nothing. Send them a mail last week asking what "soon" means in Bookeens but obviously total silence is the reply....

Next ebook reader I will buy will definitely NOT be a bookeen device....

[EowynCarter]

Registering just to post that is a bit lame...

Next ebook reader I will buy will definitely NOT be a bookeen device....

By the time you want / need to get a new one, lots of thing might have change anyway.

[Godzil]

I think it's will be on a tuesday since monday seems to does not exist at bookeen

[EowynCarter]

Sometimes in the near future (I hope).

[pdurrant]

So - it'll be out tomorrow.

Originally Posted by Godzil

I think it's will be on a tuesday since monday seems to does not exist at bookeen

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Sometimes in the near future (I hope).