Dual firmware announcement

[emellaich]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

So what's the problem ? Those how are happy don't have a right to say they are happy ?

And well, i'm not surprised if people don't pay attention to your whining and flaming. As a prospective customer, i'll take into account post like "i don't like X or Y on that device" or "We've been waiting some times for an update". But posts from people venting their frustrations and ranting, will be dismissed. And that's pretty much all you've been doing.

:: Deep Breath ::

I think we have our wires crossed here, or at best we operate from different sets of expectations.

When I buy something I look for comments from current users -- both positive and negative. I find real user feedback more interesting than a number of professional reviews. I'll read both and decide which ones are more applicable to me.

In this regard, I view our role as one of sharing experiences both positive and negative. I never said, or meant to imply that anyone shouldn't share their positive experiences, and I apologize if I left that impression. In fact, my point is that both positive and negative experiences should be shared and I do think you should share your thoughts.

My comment about new users seeing an overly positive view was not intended to be a censure on your comments. It was meant to explain why I also offered negative comments. I feel that hiding any problems that I see would be a sin of omission. If future buyers see the positive and negative and decide to purchase, then its great! I just don't want to feel like I've let someone down because I haven't shared the full range of experiences.

And, I would point out that my comments/experiences are not always negative. For example, at one point a potential buyer was waiting for a reader (I think it was an Opus) to arrive at a specific retailer because they thought the purchase experience would be better. It appeared to me that they were going off of some of the customer service complaints that we see here. I pointed out that I had never heard of a problem with Bookeen and order processing. It seems to me that in every case, Bookeen handles orders reliably and quickly. If you have already decided that a Bookeen device is the one for you, then I don't believe there is any reason to forgo purchasing it direct.

I hope you will continue to offer your thoughts. I hope you also understand that I am not trying to demean you or denigrate your choices. I am trying to offer potential customers a balanced view.

[EowynCarter]

I am trying to offer potential customers a balanced view.

On that we agree.

Then again, that's the problem with people saying "I bought a cybook because i've read good thing on mobileread". Maybe it means that overall, customers are happy ? And don't forget, the un-happy ones are always more vocal.

I hope you will continue to offer your thoughts.

Only to the people who cares about it. I discovered the "ignore user" feature. Nice one.

[Krystian Galaj]

Originally Posted by rireed3

Let's find out for certain:

http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...tchlink:top:fr

http://cgi.ebay.com/Bookeen-Cybook-G...item439af19638

http://cgi.ebay.fr/Bookeen-Cybook-Ge...item4a9b916392

Richard

I'm not sure what you want to prove... two out of three addresses are on French ebay. Do you mean that Cybooks sell well in France, and nowhere else in the world?

Originally Posted by emellaich

I hope you will continue to offer your thoughts. I hope you also understand that I am not trying to demean you or denigrate your choices. I am trying to offer potential customers a balanced view.

That's my goal as well. One explanation to every unbalanced praise.

[rireed3]

I'm not sure what you want to prove... two out of three addresses are on French ebay. Do you mean that Cybooks sell well in France, and nowhere else in the world?

Prove nothing -- just get an indication how the market in Cybook Gen3 is going in relation to claims how it ought to be. One link is for a used Gen3 in Canada/US, one link for a used Gen3 in France, one link for commercial seller eXpansys (where I got mine) for new Gen3's (10 available since Friday).

If you find other auctions for Cybook Gen3 (this thread isn't really about Opus, which comes with the epub firmware), please feel free to add them -- I can't think of another way to test this market.

Richard

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by emellaich

:: Deep Breath ::

When I buy something I look for comments from current users -- both positive and negative. I find real user feedback more interesting than a number of professional reviews. I'll read both and decide which ones are more applicable to me.

I hope you will continue to offer your thoughts. I hope you also understand that I am not trying to demean you or denigrate your choices. I am trying to offer potential customers a balanced view.

I tend to read the negative as well as the positive because it helps me avoid post-purchase dissatisfaction. And yes, I find that "professional" reviews are often far less useful in my buying decisions.

I think that complaints - far from being useless rants and 'venting' - offer potential buyers a better picture of what to expect from a potential purchase and I wish I had had these negative user comments before I purchased my Cybooks.

(Yes, I'm pretty much in the "don't buy a Cybook/Opus" faction now. I'd have continued as a staunch supporter if they hadn't gone so far in the wrong direction. If I can help even ONE person avoid buying a Bookeen device, I consider my day complete - what a strange turn of events from when I used to work for NAEB, marketing Cybooks.)

And I, for one, will never add a MR poster to my 'ignore' list simply because I don't like what they're saying.

Derek

[KLausPetersen]

...

I have a dream that one day software development and marketing are working hand in hand.

I have a dream that one day there are regularly Information letters from developers about the status of firmware development.

I have a dream that one day firmware updates are offered to everybody and not only for new devices or a selected few customers.

I have a dream that one day a certain company stopped ignoring their customers.

...

And then I woke up and it was monday again ...

[pieter]

I've been wondering if we've been wrong about this little miscommunication all along.
I mean we've been expecting Monday to be the day that Bookeen delivers what they promised. Monday = Bookeen's Firmware release. And in our experience this has been shown not to be the case. But instead of doubting Bookeen and the Firmware, I suggest we take a look at Monday.
Sure today feels like a monday. We had a hard time getting out of bed and felt that usual sting as we half-awake realised that we had 5 days to go.
Sure it quaks like a monday. "Hi! how was your weekend?!" as you hold on with both hands to your big mug of coffee.
Sure it walks like a monday. That walk-as-slow-as-you-can-you-got-a-whole-week-ahead-of-you walk.
But... And this is the thesis I am putting forward for discussion this week... Maybe it ISN'T monday! Maybe poor Bookeen actually have the firmware ready, and are waiting for a REAL monday (instead of one of those fake ones that we seem to have a lot lately) when they can release the firmware.

In short... ask yourself: is it really a monday if the firmware isn't released? I think we have not yet fully grasped the depth of the word "soon" in it's deepest, (frenchest?), metaphysical existential meaning.
So instead of doubting Bookeen and The Firmware (capital letters seem appropriate now that it has taken on a mythical character) let's doubt ourselves this week. Did we really understand the post on Bookeen's blog? Can a prophecy really be taken that literal, as we have been doing?
Lets get some semantic-experts involved as well as, and, i think this is especially important, we need some french language experts to look at the prophecy in it's original language, ie french.
Have we misunderstood the prophecy?
Is time as we know it, really the time to which the prophecy refers?

[Truttebol]

Originally Posted by pieter

I've been wondering if we've been wrong about this little miscommunication all along.
I mean we've been expecting Monday to be the day that Bookeen delivers what they promised.

It's not monday in France, it's lundi today. Maybe that's the problem?

(Are we still allowed to make fun here? )

[Olympus]

Lacking a CyBook for developing a FirmWare replacement by OpenInkpot - perhaps we should all donate $5 - or send in an obsolete CyBook Gen 3 - so we DO get what we need:
ePub support AND folder support AND (to me important) pagenumber support

This way we dont have to throw out the still operational hardware - just because we want some software updates - and pay much more for new hardware

http://openinkpot.org/

[Godzil]

You won't have ePub + DRM nor Mobi + DRM with OpenInkpot

[KernelPanic]

Originally Posted by Olympus

Lacking a CyBook for developing a FirmWare replacement by OpenInkpot

I thought about donating one for them, but after reading some of the infomation on their site it looks like they are lacking developers rather than hardware.

[Krystian Galaj]

Yes, Openinkpot developers have Cybooks, but before they can work with them on high level, low-level drivers need to be written, sometimes possibly reverse-engineered to get Linux to boot on a Cybook at all. And OpenInkpot doesn't currently have developers with knowledge in this area.

[Olympus]

Originally Posted by Godzil

You won't have ePub + DRM nor Mobi + DRM with OpenInkpot

I get neither from Cybook too - at least I get a software upgrade that enables me to use both formats without reflashing the "Firmware"

[Olympus]

Originally Posted by Krystian Galaj

Yes, Openinkpot developers have Cybooks, but before they can work with them on high level, low-level drivers need to be written, sometimes possibly reverse-engineered to get Linux to boot on a Cybook at all. And OpenInkpot doesn't currently have developers with knowledge in this area.

I am getting confused - at http://users.openinkpot.org/~ondra/cybook-pre/ an preliminary version of openinkpot is available for downloading.
Too bad I get too confused by the linux-envirionment to grasp what to do to help programming

[rireed3]

Not on Olympus' subject, but I have posted a rebuttal to Bookeen on EBookReaders Forum. Bookeen had given a video interview to EBookReaders at the Frankfurt book fair last week, where they stated "in a few weeks" for Gen3 to get Adobe DRM.

Here's my link:

http://www.ebookreaderforum.com/foru...ic.php?f=6&t=5

Richard