Firmware Update Delayed...

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by cmbs

Or a complete lack of concern for the customer's experience.

Well I'm sure you've read all they have said on the blog - seemingly not an-untypical statement ( from firms ) that make promises and don't deliver - but I am sure they have a perfectly good explanation as to why the blog is not being used in the manner to which they intended .

[cmbs]

Yeah. They're busy selling and selling and selling. Get your money, and done with you.

[GeoffC]

They be selling - they must be doing something right !?

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by cmbs

Yeah. They're busy selling and selling and selling. Get your money, and done with you.

It's probably a lack of resources and time. Also, lack of "news". I guess they could post on the blog every day...

"The next firmware update is not ready but we are working on it and will release it as soon as it has meet our quality standards."

BOb

[cmbs]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

It's probably a lack of resources and time. Also, lack of "news". I guess they could post on the blog every day...

"The next firmware update is not ready but we are working on it and will release it as soon as it has meet our quality standards."

BOb

What they're doing, Bob, is giving dates for the update to be released to individuals who write to them. Then they neglect to have the update released by the date they gave.

What they should be doing is posting on the blog so all their customers get an update, not a few; and when they post they should be accurate. If it won't be ready til August it's better to say so than to keep giving us false dates. They are making themselves out to be liars, and they are making us expect something they keep not delivering which leads to disappointment. Far better to just tell the truth, tell it to everyone, and be known as honest and reliable.

[cmbs]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

They be selling - they must be doing something right !?

They are. They have an impressive website built to sell. What's lacking is any kind of help after you get the product.

They also have an impressive set of features. Problem with that is some don't work as they should and updates haven't been provided to correct that situation.

They're also in a field with few competitors, which is why people are willing to pay high prices for bad customer service and a product that should not have as many issues as it does. The fact (so I hear) that the competitors are just as bad with customer service and product flaws also helps them get away with it.

Smart. They're making a bundle of money too. More orders than they can fill, at $350 each. But I think if they intend to be in business for the long haul, something's going to have to change.

[cftall]

I like everyone else am waiting for the update. But as far as all these issues everyone is talking about I dont understand. I bought one of the first that was available. The fact that I read at least 4 or 5 novels a week and have never had a problem with my reader makes me either very lucky or maybe just one of the herd willing to settle for less ( not ). Sure I want my buttons to work, but being a suspender man, with a 2500 book library I work around these issues. Sure I would like folder support, but I STILL LOVE MY CYBOOK.It will happen when it happens. Charlie (crackers ) Tall

[Utahcowboy]

My Cybook also works great, but I also feel the anxiousness of getting the firmware update. I also don't understand why it is taking so long. Like all other companies the sales department is separate from the development department. They run independently of each other and resolve their own issues. If this isn't the case with bookeen then they have some serious corporate organizational issues. The fact that they keep promising a date and then not meeting it makes me suspect that they are not having their own company working on it and they are outsourcing the project. So this makes them completely dependent on the outside party who, depending on the amount of money bookeen is paying them to finish the project, could just not give a darn and it is sitting on their "we will get to it when we feel like it" pile of projects. Meanwhile, bookeen is selling so many of their product that they are happy as clams, and as long as sales don't drop, they will see no reason in paying the outsourced company more to get the project done in a more timely manner.

In other words, don't expect an update any time soon, it just won't come. Maybe if we all forget about it and re check in about a year we might find some small update available, but by then we will probably nolonger care. My advice to Harry is to stop asking when an update is coming and then posting it on this forum, it just gets us all anxious and riled up for absolutely nothing.

[Ortep]

Originally Posted by Utahcowboy

My Cybook also works great, but I also feel the anxiousness of getting the firmware update.

I totally aggree. Mine is running without any problems. But I'm also curious.

The fact that they keep promising a date and then not meeting it makes me suspect that they are not having their own company working on it and they are outsourcing the project.

So you are suggesting that Microsoft is not making there own software? Because they often postpone releases more than a year. And the first 'update' or SP can also be after a year. Even when there was a date set. Bookeen never publically advertised a date for the new release. The only made the mistake to write in an email to a customer that it was almost finished.

The main problem in software development is that you can make a nice program or update in a very short time. It will work for 80% of your customers. It will not work for 80% of the 20% and it will brick/crash the rest.

Most of the time goes into the testing, testing and even more testing. If only 0.1% of the users will get in serious trouble the outrage will be extreme. It will give you more trouble than postponing the update. You have to take in account all kinds of users. Some people just install it without any instructions and it works. Other people get confused when you call the 'select key' the 'enter key' in your description. And then the update fails. Of course the blame is on the company who cannot write a decent manual..

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Utahcowboy

My advice to Harry is to stop asking when an update is coming and then posting it on this forum, it just gets us all anxious and riled up for absolutely nothing.

I do so because I'm interested to know. If you get "riled up and anxious" as a result then I'm afraid that's really not my problem . I don't have any "show stopping" bugs in my Gen3, but I am looking forward to hopefully getting some nice new features, so naturally I'm interested to know when we're likely get the upgrade. However, as a software developer myself I know that these things can easily slip, and that it is very important to put right any issues found in testing, which I'm guessing is what's occurred here.

[magiske]

I think they should break down the firmware release so they can make sub releases. Instead of releasing "major" fw updates. Maybe even do beta releases.

I would love to have folder support but can wait for that, but the buggy PDF rendering is a real problem for me..

The pdf could have been done a few months back, but we might be waiting for the folder support to work..

/M

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Ortep

The main problem in software development is that you can make a nice program or update in a very short time. It will work for 80% of your customers. It will not work for 80% of the 20% and it will brick/crash the rest.

Most of the time goes into the testing, testing and even more testing. If only 0.1% of the users will get in serious trouble the outrage will be extreme. It will give you more trouble than postponing the update. You have to take in account all kinds of users. Some people just install it without any instructions and it works. Other people get confused when you call the 'select key' the 'enter key' in your description. And then the update fails. Of course the blame is on the company who cannot write a decent manual..

Yes, but they already have an update that is shipping on new units. So there is no excuse to not release that update officially. I have to rescale images in MobiPerl just because this update is not released or described anywhere.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by tompe

Yes, but they already have an update that is shipping on new units. So there is no excuse to not release that update officially. I have to rescale images in MobiPerl just because this update is not released or described anywhere.

But the release of an official v538 upgrade wouldn't change that, would it? There would still be people running the older v476. What I'd do, in your position, is NOT rescale the images as a default, since the overwhelming majority of Gen3s now have firmware v538 - it's been shipping for 4 months out of the Gen3's 6 month life, not counting those v476 owners who've already upgraded to 538.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But the release of an official v538 upgrade wouldn't change that, would it?

Yes, it would because a release will describe what they have fixed so i can now that it is fixed. I also refuse to have a program that will generate a lot of email to me and were people will be unwilling to update just because it is a lot of trouble.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by tompe

Yes, but they already have an update that is shipping on new units. So there is no excuse to not release that update officially. I have to rescale images in MobiPerl just because this update is not released or described anywhere.

Why mess with the images when the bug has been fixed? What will happen is when the next firmware update is available and you see your tiny images, you'll be cursing yourself for reducing the images just because a few people on the forum might still have the old firmware.