What Caused the Sidekick Fail?
By now the word is out on the street. Microsoft/Danger has most likely lost everyone’s personal info including contacts, notes, calendar entries, to-dos, etc. The question remains: How did this happen? Microsoft is a big software company, they’re well versed in the enterprise world and should have systems in place that allow them to weather any sort of issue like this. Of course everyone (T-Mobile, Microsoft/Danger) hasn’t come out with any details on the cause of the failure, but we’ve got some theories and rumors floating around.
Currently the rumor with the most weight is as follows:
Microsoft was upgrading their SAN (Storage Area Network aka the thing that stores all your data) and had hired Hitachi to come in and do it for them. Typically in an upgrade like this, you are expected to make backups of your SAN before the upgrade happens. Microsoft failed to make these backups for some reason. We’re not sure if it was because of the amount of data that would be required, if they didn’t have time to do it, or if they simply forgot. Regardless of why, Microsoft should know better. So Hitachi worked on upgrading the SAN and something went wrong, resulting in it’s destruction. Currently the plan is to try to get the devices that still have personal data on them to sync back to the servers and at least keep the data that users have on their device saved.
We’ve heard this from what appears to be several sources and it seems to hold weight. Needless to say it all boils down to one thing: Microsoft did not have a working backup.
How this happens in today’s day and age is beyond belief. Hundreds of thousands of customers that generate millions of dollars in revenue means you back their stuff up, in triplicate. You test these backups regularly, and you move a copy off site that doesn’t get touched except in case of an emergency (i.e. right now). The head of the mobile division (and person in charge of what’s left of Danger) is Roz Ho, who has been at Microsoft for 18 years. You would think she’d know something about how to run a business.
What does this mean for the future of the Sidekick? Unless Microsoft pulls a miracle out of thin air the Sidekick is dead. People are already jumping ship to other phones with this news, and the exposure of how inept Microsoft is when it comes to the mobile world is huge. If Microsoft can’t continue to run Danger, a company that was ground-breaking and solidly built, how can we expect anything from the Windows Mobile department?
October 10th, 2009 at 3:05 pm [ Quote ]
It’s over. The lights have just been turned off. The cameras are no longer taping. There is no more action on Micro/Dangers part.
See ya!
October 10th, 2009 at 3:06 pm [ Quote ]
I Heard That They Were Trying To Merge They’re Storage Servers With Microsofts. Which Doesn’t Make Sense.
October 10th, 2009 at 3:06 pm [ Quote ]
More like how can we expect Danger to keep it’s current fan base and expect people to continue to love the Sidekick?
October 10th, 2009 at 3:07 pm [ Quote ]
Alright, 4chan.
October 10th, 2009 at 3:12 pm [ Quote ]
I’m so over it right now,Seriously looking into getting another phone.Its going to hurt my heart to give up my beloved sidekick but I’m sooo over it.
October 10th, 2009 at 3:13 pm [ Quote ]
THIS SUCKS…..i love sidekick….i blame Microsoft..them damn snakes
i wanted a sidekick cuz like it was “Original” everybody and the mama has a “iPhone, or Blackberry”….i wanted to Stand out
October 10th, 2009 at 3:13 pm [ Quote ]
And now, all the sidekicks on T Mobile.com are all suddenly out of stock. I was already planning to jump ship, within the next 2 months. Not because of Microsoft (who I am loyal to when it comes to PCs), but simply because of how the sidekick already is, I refuse to keep paying for games and apps, no multi-tab browsing, just some things that are lacking feature wise. I love the sidekick and always will, but I won’t be having 1 anymore
October 10th, 2009 at 3:17 pm [ Quote ]
Something I forgot, the desktop interface, and the fact that most of your **** on the sidekick was constantly backed up, which is/was quite unique is 1 of the reasons I stayed with the sidekick this long, I liked that security. But now, I don’t trust my **** to be backed up and saved, and being able to be pushed back to the phone, even though I haven’t lost anythings, I have all my stuff-contacts, notes, bookmarks, pics, calendar…etc., I don’t feel secure now
October 10th, 2009 at 3:22 pm [ Quote ]
I am trying to believe that the contacts and notes will return because i got back all of my email… i did not have any. i still cant see any pictures. once they work out the bugs and kinks, im sure it will get back around to the last settings it had before the outage.
October 10th, 2009 at 3:30 pm [ Quote ]
I didn’t lose a thing from my SK 2008. That said, my trust in the phone and MSDanger is shattered. Gonna move on to another data-phone once my contract is up.
October 10th, 2009 at 3:30 pm [ Quote ]
This is no accident, Sidekicks, are a direct competitor to MS’ WinMo and all the devices running it, it’s obvious that they wanted Danger and Sidekicks off the map, and they did it, and labeled it as a mistake!
Just like any other “well planned” murder!
October 10th, 2009 at 3:35 pm [ Quote ]
@Mr Lee
Keep on dreaming. They didn’t keep a backup so the only hope you ave is if they fix things. Even if they did I’d recommend moving to something different.
October 10th, 2009 at 3:35 pm [ Quote ]
i love sidekicks… **** you danger.
October 10th, 2009 at 3:40 pm [ Quote ]
“By now the word is out on the street. Microsoft/Danger has most likely lost everyone’s personal info including contacts, notes, calendar entries, to-dos, etc.”
The question is why is the data stored in the cloud rather than the phone’s internal memory. Storing ALL the information in the cloud is just stupid from a designer’s standpont.
You should blame Danger for not backing up the servers, blame Sharp from designing the phone to not store info the internal memory first, and then blame Microsoft.
October 10th, 2009 at 3:44 pm [ Quote ]
WOW, MICROSOFT IS A PIECE OF SHIIIIIIIIIIT,
BIG ******* Y O U TO YA’L
October 10th, 2009 at 3:52 pm [ Quote ]
I seriously would not hesitate a minute to do this:
“I just spoke to a lawyer and explain the entire situation. He informed me he would be happy to start a class action suit against T-Mobile (he said they are responsible for our contract and all problems). He said he could not only get us out of our contracts but can more than likely get $50 per contact lost. We contracted for something that was suppose to save our contacts and important information other than a normal phone and now that is lost. Many people have lost lots of money from loss of buisness and everyone should be compensated for they loss even if they only use their phone for personal use. He said T-Mobile would have to pay and then sue Microsoft for their loss”
http://forums.t-mobile.com/tmbl/board/message?board.id=Sidekick2&message.id=9307#M9307
In fact I would be ready to put in plenty of hours to help it happen!!
October 10th, 2009 at 4:00 pm [ Quote ]
The lawsuit idea is nice and everything, but many have already pointed out that our end-user-agreement states they are not responsible if data is lost.
That’s pretty much it, isn’t it?
October 10th, 2009 at 4:04 pm [ Quote ]
We NEED to make this happen.
October 10th, 2009 at 4:26 pm [ Quote ]
one of the main reason i rly stayed with the sk family is the fact that they had 5 years of my data ..
no its gone. all i got back were my tmails.
at least get the oldschool users there data back
October 10th, 2009 at 4:40 pm [ Quote ]
50 bucks a contact?
as lovely as that would be we need to come back to reality that’s deff NOT gonna happen. im all for a class action but something tells me these snakes will find a way to win. im pretty sure in the contract it says something about they aren’t responsible blah blah blah personally I think we are SOL. =(
October 10th, 2009 at 4:42 pm [ Quote ]
Same here. I wasn’t sure how my information would transfer over to another phone so I continuously bought the new Sidekicks each time they came out with a new one.
I’m so pissed at tmobile and microsoft. They will more than likely lose my service once my contract ends unless they do something big for each me. I’ve been a customer since 2005. I would imagine they would want to take care of us loyal customers. I really love my plan. But when the customer service people pretty much just tell me “too bad,” that’s it! I’ve had it with tmobile.
October 10th, 2009 at 4:54 pm [ Quote ]
This is total bull. How could they not back us up? It’s funny to me how danger managed to keep our stuff safe for yearsss and they’ve been under Microsoft for less then a year and this happens? Mann I’ve been wanting a myTouch for a while and now looks like I have no choice cuz I can totally see this happening again
October 10th, 2009 at 5:26 pm [ Quote ]
Thanks to M$FT, now I can plan on a farewell party for my beloved Sidekick 2 that I’ve used for almost 5 years
It’s time to move on… Will I get a ‘WinMo’ device or a Zune?
M$FT just lost one customer.
October 10th, 2009 at 5:52 pm [ Quote ]
Wow, I dont want to sound like a push over but I think I shed a tear reading this! Ive had the sidekick since the beginning of high school till the end and it was like my lifeline! I got a blackberry between the lx and lx09 and I hated it and bought the 09. Now I have 1.5yrs left on my contract! This is truly ridiculous and no way I will spend the time to put all my contacts back into the sidekick, and bother all my friends with it. I will also miss my $20 a month everything plan!!!!! Just unbelievable! I HATE MSFT!!!!!!!!!!!! Tmobile better do something for us, atleast let us get a phone credit, if not more.
October 10th, 2009 at 5:56 pm [ Quote ]
Make sure you backup everything before Upgrade Microsoft Windows on your computers.
October 10th, 2009 at 5:58 pm [ Quote ]
MSFT own both of those, ******. Do some real damage to the company that fucked you and go Android
October 10th, 2009 at 6:00 pm [ Quote ]
Well NO WONDER nobody’s coming forward to explain what went wrong — they fucked up!
Yeah, my next laptop is TOTALLY going to be a mac now. Also canceled my MSN Smart Watch subscription (albeit for other reasons, but at least now I don’t have any regrets about it).
October 10th, 2009 at 6:06 pm [ Quote ]
oh wow. sad story. sorry you guys.
i guess that’s what you get when you rely on microsoft. good thing i don’t
October 10th, 2009 at 6:10 pm [ Quote ]
Just another shining example of why Microsoft should NEVER manage a network asset!!
This isn’t T-mo’s fault, although they will ultimately have to compensate the end user. I hope they get every penny plus interest back from Mickeysoft!
October 10th, 2009 at 6:42 pm [ Quote ]
Smart jon, do you know that I didn’t realize that M$FT owns Windows and Xbox too? When’s their new OS going to come out? 10/22? How ignorant I am!
Can’t understand why I said these?
You didn’t know M$FT owns Danger? What I meant was that I would never get a M$FT device as they don’t take good care of Sidekick customers.
Got that, genius?!
October 10th, 2009 at 6:48 pm [ Quote ]
This is a pretty disgusting amount of failure. I have had Sidekicks for 6 years, and I was loath to switch. One of the main reasons is that if I were to get another phone, I would have to pay a great deal more for the same unlimited data/messaging plan. That and I actually like the hardware..the keyboard is still the most comfortable one for all smartphones. But I feel like I’m being forced out. This sort of instability doesn’t speak well for what’s going on behind the scenes.
October 10th, 2009 at 6:49 pm [ Quote ]
For those of you with Digg accounts
http://bit.ly/jwQ1
October 10th, 2009 at 7:04 pm [ Quote ]
@MrOtsKrad: Your link fails. Dod you mean http://digg.com/tech_news/T_Mobile_Sidekick_Disaster_Microsoft_s_Servers_Crashed ?
October 10th, 2009 at 7:06 pm [ Quote ]
Damn, im pretty slick.
http://bit.ly/jwQ1j
Correct link, but yea, that one works as well…long day
October 10th, 2009 at 7:08 pm [ Quote ]
QFT
October 10th, 2009 at 7:09 pm [ Quote ]
Come on…Hitachi!?! Wow they SUCK, I don’t even like Hitachi products they fail too easily, I have a 20GB hard-drive on an old laptop that’s an Hitachi and it’s already going bad, lucky I was able to back up stuff from it, but still come on Microsoft, HITACHI!?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MINDS!?!
October 10th, 2009 at 7:15 pm [ Quote ]
’smart’ jon on October 10, 2009 at 5:58 pm said:
@jon: As you’re so smart, do you know that I didn’t realize that M$FT owns Windows and Xbox too? When’s their new OS going to come out? 10/22? How ignorant I am!
Can’t understand why I said these?
You didn’t know M$FT owns Danger? What I meant was that I would never get a M$FT device as they don’t take good care of Sidekick customers.
Got that, genius?!
BTW, does true genius like to insult other people and use foul language?
Being a ‘******’, the only way I can think of is not to be M$FT customer. What “some real damage (to the company that f**ked you)” are you suggesting? Sounds quite barbaric…
October 10th, 2009 at 7:55 pm [ Quote ]
WINDOWS HAD TO KILL IT FOR DANGER WHEN DANGER WAS DOING SO GOOD! SIDEKICK ARE A GRATE PHONE AND WINDOWS AND DANGER HAD TO MESS UP THE INTERNET AND MAKE PEOPLE TALK BAD ABOUT T-MOBILE!
October 10th, 2009 at 7:56 pm [ Quote ]
X, you seriously overreacted to that comment. They were just talking about the Google Android phone. Microsoft has already had issues with Google when it comes to search, so sticking it to them the best way would be to replace a Microsoft device with one that is running a Google OS.
October 10th, 2009 at 8:09 pm [ Quote ]
@Chris: May I ask who was seriously overreacted to my comment at first by calling me “******”, and who wanted to bring “some real damage to the company”? Sorry I’m not a fan of Android, and I don’t think I will get any of the Android phones. Now that I learned from a Android fan who likes to insult other people’s intelligence, this confirms my decision.
October 10th, 2009 at 8:13 pm [ Quote ]
Dear Android fans, if you want to persuade Sidekick customers to get Android phones, please watch your language and show some class first.
October 10th, 2009 at 8:31 pm [ Quote ]
I have started a group on facebook for a class action/discussion of the issue.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=189294854808
October 10th, 2009 at 8:43 pm [ Quote ]
Microsoft has made many grave mistakes. It’s handling of personal information in this case is unforgivable. In IT we always backup files, especially with sensitive personal data. We keep nightly backups, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly backups, apparently microsoft doesn’t or at least they would be able to restore from last week. Most of the work Microsoft does is offshored or handled by H1-B visa workers. This is another huge mistake by Microsoft. Americans would have backed up the sensitive data at least twice before any maintenance was applied to the servers. The other question that arises with offshoring work and data, is, was this data stolen.
October 10th, 2009 at 8:52 pm [ Quote ]
MICROSOFT IS FAULT THAT IT…….
MICROSOFT IS DIRTY BUESSINESS
MICROSOFT MUST DOWN!!!!! AND DANGER IS BEST
MICROSOFT IS EVIL
MICROSOFT NOT SUPPORT!!!!
WE MUST KICK OUT OF MICROSOFT IS OUT!!!!!
October 10th, 2009 at 8:53 pm [ Quote ]
its funny kz evn tho microsoft is tha ownr of danqer now didnt any1 see this comiin lik cmon microsoft made tha windows vista which apparently they had problems wit ex.it kept freeziin up on yu n tha xbox 360 which also had problems ex. red rinqs n *******yur xbox n now tha sidekicks wats next jus hope windows 7 wont hav any problems haha
October 10th, 2009 at 8:57 pm [ Quote ]
i think its worse how danger actualy gave into microsoft and sold out to them, so in the end its actualy all dangers fault but still god damb microsoft
October 10th, 2009 at 9:13 pm [ Quote ]
i’ll leave sidekick for a cliq if they’ll buy my phone back ….not!!!!!!!!!!! only way im leaving my sidekick (aint even had it a week) is if they say that the server is not saveable and nothing will work again but thats not gonna happen because the investors would sue microsoft so quick it wouldnt be funny so rest assured it will be restored because too many people subscribe to sidekick service prepaid and postpaid so 20-35 bucks a head t mobile isnt about to take a loss that big they’ll either move us to android phones ( i’d rather die) or blackberrys and grandfather the price in someway but its too many sidekick users for them to just drop it i can see when suncom did it the demand wasnt there but seriously if u havent been with t mobile that long because your from nc or tenn. youve definately been suncom customers so its basically the same thing sidekick will be back up and running it may take a while to start putting your contacts back in but it will teach people not to be so reliant on phones and to do your own back up but the goof does lie on microsoft for not having like the blogger said the data in a place in case of emergency (as in now) microsoft u messed up but i have faith in you that you will get things back together and get our catalog and everything else ( like message alerts) back for me everything except for catalog and text notifications are back so just fix everything microsoft and i hate to say it let xbox crash now while u take care of us we are still users just like people that own xbox’s and have a windows based pc or mac we deserve the same swiftness honestly if you had people working “day and night ” like the forum said on t mobile you could have had it done HAD YOU NOT FIRED DANGER EMPLOYEES
October 10th, 2009 at 9:14 pm [ Quote ]
So who do you blame, the chicken or the egg?
October 10th, 2009 at 9:55 pm [ Quote ]
well mr0tskrad you blame the farmer for losing the eggs by not having a extra layer of cloth to keep the eggs from breaking ( odd analogy but it works ) like he said microsoft ought to know better but im looking for them to pull an ace out their *** on monday otherwise ill be going back to my other phone a nokia 5610 if sidekick is dead.
October 10th, 2009 at 10:23 pm [ Quote ]
man microsoft is being a b****, theyre expecting u to move to one of theyre fone after this FAIL. Wat i believe they should do is go ahead and make the sidekick lx 2009 a pager old school flavor with a new twist. disable the ability to make calls and improve the multimedia stuff give it better games and work on its messaging abilities, also improve the browsing experience. thatll also lower the price and offer it with its unique service provider let it work by itself. and goddamn danger stop tryna **** people over grow the **** up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 10th, 2009 at 10:29 pm [ Quote ]
my heart is heavy, *tear*
We dont need a class action to get $50 per contact lost. What we need is a class action to make MS sell back Danger to the original owners, goddamit.
******* MS cant do anything right. Leave it to them to kill a 7 year (or so) company in less than a year.
Ro Ho – aka the widow maker
October 10th, 2009 at 10:36 pm [ Quote ]
**** M$ and the 3shitty with the RROD 34% failure
something like this wouldve happened
PS3 FTW R.I.P SK LX
October 10th, 2009 at 11:35 pm [ Quote ]
My iPhone is sync’d to Mobile Me.
The iPhone is sync’d to an iMac.
The iMac has a backup.
The iMac is sync’d to MobileMe.
Apple backs up MobileMe.
The Macbook Pro is sync’ed to MobileMe.
The Macbook Pro has a backup.
My data/email/contacts/ical is in Seven places.
Why would you want to come within a 1000 miles of Microsoft???
October 10th, 2009 at 11:45 pm [ Quote ]
MOST OF US DIDN’T KNOW THAT MICROSOFT TOOK OVER DANGER!!!!
…. I’ve had a Sidekick for a little over 5 years.
Part of the original draw of the device was this “Cloud” that is now named. You change phones and your data ports over, unlike any other phone at the time (and for years)
….When the phone started acting up late Thursday (Oct 1st), I didn’t think much of it. The next day, I reset it, and then by Friday night I pulled the battery. This caused all of my Cloud-stored data to be lost.
(note – anyone who’s had a sidekick for more than a year knows that sometimes they have trouble connecting to Danger’s Servers and the usual solution is a hard-reset/battery pull)
Many people were advised to pull their battery by T-Mobile employees, while others had their phones automatically reset around Saturday morning (October 3rd) with the subsequent data loss.
I have been following many forums (including t-mobile’s) and finally called into Customer Service last night to see if there was any kind of data-reset push they could do. (This has been done before, long ago and some posters where hinting that they had this done for them).
At this time, there was a poster who was stating (loudly and repetitively) that the data was GONE. I shared this information with (Sheri in Arizona) the CS rep I spoke with that night and she sounded surprised. She, too, was a sidekick user and very nice.
Today, we all (mostly?) received a T-Mobile text asking us to check tmobile.com/sidekick which redirected to the forum and the apology you see quoted in this article…
Since then, I’ve cried twice.
Fortunately, through Facebook, I’ve been able to contact one of my brothers who gave me my parents’ numbers.
Yes, George Orwell would be laughing, but we have all come to depend on technology to some extent.
I’m now contemplating lugging around an obnoxious “organizer” so that I can write everything down, in addition to putting all of my data on my iTouch.
For the record, there is a program – Intellisync – for saving Sidekick info on your computer, but it has always been clunky and unfriendly. The original reason for the Sidekick has been destroyed.
Well over 300 contacts and years worth of calendar information, along with notes upon notes and “to-do” lists are gone, for good apparently.
It almost feels like a house fire, except just to the external other-half-of-my-brain that I call my sidekick.
For those of you out there who think your information is safe. Learn from this please. Store information online, on paper, on a phone, everywhere. Invest the time!
Please reply to me at gmail (2janae) if you care to.
Thanks.
October 11th, 2009 at 12:00 am [ Quote ]
whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! im about to cry!
October 11th, 2009 at 12:09 am [ Quote ]
I work for a company, that tmobile outsource its technical department.
We work with sidekicks, and even tho we are offshore, we dont steal, or missuse customer’s information. Ive seen this happen with americans, or offshore companies…no matter who’s handling bussiness.
I think you have a little bit of a problem with foreigners.
October 11th, 2009 at 12:16 am [ Quote ]
I agree, Tim definitely got a little offensive there.
I’m sure he’s just pissed like the rest of us Sidekick users.
Sorry, Victor.
October 11th, 2009 at 12:31 am [ Quote ]
this is hilarious , like everyone said….microsoft is horrible…anything they touch instantly turns to garbage i.e xbox360 ,windows…so it shouldnt come as such a surprise ..but for them not to do a back up b4 hitachi came in is uncalled for…i know 12 yr olds that would have backed up data b4 doing so…also why hitachi?????? maybe cuz they are so cheap …..microsoft is stupid or like people said trying to coem off as an accident or watever…they know sidekick has such a strong following…they basically sabotaged it in order to hype their own product up….uncalled for seriously…also the whole thing of telling us not to pull the battery out a couple days after the outage happend…seriously??? tmobile reps have told us to that numerous amount of times wen are data service n network are a lil out of wakk …so of course thats the first thing thouand of people did as soon as they saw 2 dots on their phone…tmobile definitly has fault in posting that info of not taking out the battery so late…so everyone has thir fault in this little scheme…tmobile will most definitly lose so many loyal customers if they do not do something to rectify this mistake on behalf of microsoft…they most certainly need to provide a free upgrade to a phone of the customers choosing…which means no deductable or anything like that …or have a credit on the account for the customer to use as desired..also a free month of service…including data voice and everything else the customer has on their plan, also if the customer chooses to stay with tmobile do not charge them the new 35 dollar data fee keep it the original 20 they were paying.. also tmobile should allow anyone to get of their contract without having to pay the cancelation fee , if they so choose to leave tmobile…me personally i have had tmobile since 2004 and i have been happy with theyre service until the day the outage happend…because personally att plans and service are ****…..sprint always has some hidden charges in their bills even though when i had them back in the day service was great ….verizon i will never get they have horrible plans also phones are ok but not me…so with all that being said i will wait till moday to see what solution tmobile has came up with to compensate sidekick users for their lost clients lost contacts lost anything that is so important..personally i am a hiphop artist and i used the note section to write lyrics…i personally lost 20 songs that i did not get to record….which pushes an album release back farther…considering i have to write new songs.. and comeupwith new ideas…and i know fellow artist and other busy people…who count on their sidekicks for so much i know im not the only rapper that had a sidekick for this great handy feature…..time will tell wat tmobile will do….sorry for such a long post but i had to vent…feel free to hit up my email if ud liek to discuss this crazy scenario…gdachamp773@yahoo.com
October 11th, 2009 at 12:37 am [ Quote ]
What the hell are you talking about with Hitachi?
Also, most users weren’t aware of the switch to Microsoft.
Btw, hit the Enter key every once in awhile, okay?
October 11th, 2009 at 12:40 am [ Quote ]
listen tig…i know alot of people didnt know im talking about the ones who did…read the previous post n things and youll know what im talking about with the hitachi.
hey i hit the enter key what da ya know i noticed my keyboard has one ..lol..
but tig tell me im not right in alot of the points i made??
October 11th, 2009 at 12:48 am [ Quote ]
I honestly found it hard to read your post, but yes, lots of great points.
October 11th, 2009 at 12:52 am [ Quote ]
sorry about making it hard to read…i know very cluttered, just had to vent over this ya know …
October 11th, 2009 at 1:11 am [ Quote ]
yes, the conspiracy theory…gotta love it. SK OS and WinMo are NOT competitors…if anything Android/BB OS are the competitors of WinMo as they go after similar consumers…SK OS is no where near a competitor for WinMo…this was a mistake made by the company’s lack of foresight.
October 11th, 2009 at 1:36 am [ Quote ]
**** Bill Gates. We don’t want him and his stuck up company around! Ur ruining all of us and ur taking all of us down! F MS!
October 11th, 2009 at 2:55 am [ Quote ]
ugh. Good excuse to finally try out android I guess.
October 11th, 2009 at 2:58 am [ Quote ]
I have worked for T-Mobile for awhile and damn why in the hell they sign with microsoft. It is retarded. Now microsoft bought out Danger, and right after that they screw everything up. And why would Hitachi do the freaking update.
Now this is “not” t-mobile’s fault”. It is their fault that they negotiated with Microsoft, and should have known that microsoft has never entered the cell phone market. So lets say for example that microsoft bought danger for 40 million dollars and reak the benefits of the sidekick. Now T-Mobile is still relying on the Sidekick and put their trust in Microsoft to keep everything normal. Microsoft does an update and decides not to back up the data which Danger already did. Well everything screws up and Microsoft can not get the personal info back. Now microsoft promised that they will fix the issue. Everytime they issue an update the put Dangers name on it. Listen people Danger is no more. It is run by microsoft. And Microsoft is trying to put the blame on Danger and T-Mobile. Well knowing T-mobile they will get their revenge. There is now no more sidekicks on sale. Microsoft will not wreak the benefits of the sidekick. And for the two phone that are coming out…I don’t know if T-Mobile will support it. There will be a long lawsuit out of this and the only thing that scares me is if microsoft wins they could own T-Mobile
October 11th, 2009 at 3:32 am [ Quote ]
What I don’t understand about the story is this: they forgot to back their SAN up before the upgrade – OK. But surely they have a backup from a day, a week, or a month ago, or something. Were they not doing backups at all?
If not, then Danger was running on borrowed time it’s entire life. I doubt MSFT instituted an operational change like stopping backups when they took the company over. More likely they never thought to check that something so obvious wasn’t happening.
To have lost SOME data would be bad, but “forgiveable.” To have lost ALL data is, as everyone is saying, an unrecoverable disaster.
October 11th, 2009 at 3:36 am [ Quote ]
I am on the prepaid sidekick plan. I haven’t heard how much they will compensate prepaid. I pay $1 a day. $28-31 a month. I don’t feel like I have any bargaining power. If they loose the prepaid customers-so what?! Does t-mobile care about us???
October 11th, 2009 at 4:52 am [ Quote ]
How this happens in today’s day and age is beyond belief?
No, it’s quite believable and happens everyday in companies acros the world. Here’s how:
You have some sort of enterprise storage in place and a growing business. As the volumes of data increase, the performance of your storage starts to drop. You spot this happening and build a plan to upgrade or replace the storage. Between the time of spotting the impending problem and getting the new stuff in, to migrate onto, the problem increases in size. You reach the point where the added IOPS needed to take a backup would severely impact (read: make the business unworkable) the performance of the storage array – so you are in a position where you can’t back it up. At this point incremental backups are useless, as the time taken to restore them would also put such a strain on your storage array as to kill your business, too.
Since you’re in the process of upgrading, some manager somewhere thinks WTF! we’re upgrading the storage, so we won’t be modifying the existing stuff, so we don’t need a backup – we’ll just read from the old and write to the new. Then someone mods the firmware on the existing storage arrage and everything just disappears. Or, in the process of copying the data across some structures get lost / corrupted or overwritten. Again: goodbye data. The worst is when you have cut over to the new storage and find a problem. At that point your old stuff is no longer being updated with changes, so you cannot revert back – not without losing all the changes since cutover. You might try to merge the old and new sets, but there are many, many risks.
October 11th, 2009 at 5:05 am [ Quote ]
Hey where’s the Jesus Christ dude around here…. Joe is it? I havnt seen anybody get their contacts back and this guy thinks he is Jesus. Telling everybody it will be alright. Now people arnt getting their stuff back, what do you think about that?….people, it’s over. Jump ship you’ll be in heaven. iPhone or no iPhone just leave the kick. It’s not impressive anymore.
October 11th, 2009 at 8:36 am [ Quote ]
jesus? nah. better informed then you? definitly. though i do appreciate the kind comparison. with that said, if you had payed attention instead of ranting and display your tough guy persona on a message board you would probably know what is going on. with that said. i will not bother explaining anything to you, because unlike jesus, i have no tolerence for ignorance. good lucking jumping ship, hope you don’t drown.
October 11th, 2009 at 8:57 am [ Quote ]
so does any one have any idea whats instore for mondays big reveal?
im thinking/hoping microsoft might try to save their image and try to pull a fast one like “hey good news we found a way to get everything back blah blah” that way people will be allittle more forgiving than we will if everything is truley lost forever.
October 11th, 2009 at 8:58 am [ Quote ]
Item 1: MS owns Danger
Item 2: MS trying to promote Windows Mobile OS and increase market share.
Item 3: Sidekick/T-Mobile uses non-Windows Mobile OS – Possible MS ‘problem’ if many are moving to Android/Iphone/Blackberry smartphones instead of Winmobile.
Item 4: Other Cell Providers charge much more for unlimited data for iPhones/Blackberries
Item 5: T-Mobile charges only $20/mo for unlimited data(?!) – Possible T-Mobile ‘problem’ if they wanted a way to increase profits.
Item 6: Was Danger a competitor to Microsoft? Many companies buy competing companies, integrate what they can, then close the purchased company eliminating the competition and expense of running it.
Item 7: MS/Danger hired Hitachi to upgrade thier SAN?
Item 8: Mass loss of Sidekick customers might help
1) Effectively eliminate Danger as a viable company
2) May allow negative ‘marketing’/'propaganda’ campaign against Android to promote Windows Mobile. In marketing, as in politics, facts usually don’t matter as much as hype.
3) Possibly allow increase in data charges to ensure backups even though TOS did not guarantee backup/restore of user data (Even if this is in a TOS, is this even legal?)
4) This may have been a very easy (if dangerous, no pun intended) to kill several birds with one stone.
How anyone can allow thier data to be stored in the cloud, so it might be lost or worse, scanned and used for marketing, or worse purposes, is beyond me.
October 11th, 2009 at 9:18 am [ Quote ]
Of course, all this is just conjecture.
Bad decisions, and/or bad luck could have caused the irretrievable data loss and is a more likely scenario because of the negative impact on all parties involved.
Just because someone says in a TOS or disclaimer that they are not reponsible, doesn’t mean it’s a true, or a legally viable statement.
October 11th, 2009 at 9:19 am [ Quote ]
@tdk1598: I doubt MS would blink an eye or feel the slightest impact to their bottom line if we sk users abandoned the platform overnight. They already got what they wanted out of the danger purchase. The users are just an afterthought now to them.
October 11th, 2009 at 9:24 am [ Quote ]
Never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity. I love how everone blames Microsoft for this. It’s only been a little over a year and I doubt they ‘ve had time to review all the IT operations of danger. I would suspect that (liek every startup I’ve ever seen) backups were underfunded and seen as low priority. Once the buyout went thru I would guess that noone at microsoft di anything but audit the books and procedures rather than actually do a full DR test.
October 11th, 2009 at 9:26 am [ Quote ]
Listen, everyone.
All our emotions should be focused on one person – Roz Ho, the stupid b**** at MS who came up with the idea of buying danger in the first place, and who is also responsible for everything that happened afterwards.
We need to mount a campaign and single her out at MS.
We need to cause her and MS so much grief she relents and sells off danger.
We need to take back the platform.
October 11th, 2009 at 9:51 am [ Quote ]
i have a question is the outage over yet? because i was just about to pick up the kick when i read about the outage and if its over itll be good for (sorry) and sidekicks will be cheap on ebay
October 11th, 2009 at 10:54 am [ Quote ]
From danger.com: “Danger is now a part of Microsoft’s new Premium Mobile Experiences”. We hope you’ve enjoyed your Microsoft Premium Experience. Have a good day.
October 11th, 2009 at 11:16 am [ Quote ]
Save the sidekicks!!!!
I won’t jump ship!!
**** that
I’m going down with titanic
October 11th, 2009 at 11:29 am [ Quote ]
Can I have your stuff?
October 11th, 2009 at 11:32 am [ Quote ]
guys JUMP SHIP there is a 60% chance sidekicks are going to be gone for good
October 11th, 2009 at 11:39 am [ Quote ]
as far as i know HITACHI had a very large recall. This is happenning to NYCBOE schools their HITACHI brand drives are falling out of RAID5 with hotspare. This is an ongoing project for me that was overnight emergency.
October 11th, 2009 at 11:40 am [ Quote ]
OH MY EFFEN GOD
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You have been connected to ~Kyle T.
~Kyle T: Good afternoon Myles, welcome to T-Mobile live Chat. I’m Kyle and my rep ID is 13-20808. I will be happy to assist you. Please give me a moment to review your question.
MYLES WONG: Sure
~Kyle T: Okay Myles, I understand you have been greatly affected by the Sidekick situation and you would like a phone upgrade or credits for the inconvenience. Is this correct?
MYLES WONG: yes
MYLES WONG: im prepaid customer… just to let you know
~Kyle T: I am very sorry about this Sidekick situation Myles; it will be just one moment while I pull up your account information.
MYLES WONG: okay thankyou sir
~Kyle T: The Sidekick service should be now restored but I regret it still remains unstable and all content (including contacts, calendar, and notes) are unfortunately not backed up on the network.
~Kyle T: As far as compensation for data loss, we are advising our customer to visit the T-Mobile forums for the latest updates.
MYLES WONG: yes.. im aware
MYLES WONG: okay.. i have siteded the websites
MYLES WONG: and read everythi
~Kyle T: We will proactively provide credits to all of our prepaid customers and we will notify them when we do.
MYLES WONG: i use my phone r business
Currently experiencing network delays, one moment please….
Network connection re-established.
MYLES WONG: credits for ?
MYLES WONG: so it is important that i have my contacts…
MYLES WONG: they have been gone fr week
~Kyle T: Prepaid customers will be receiving a credit for this service disruption.
MYLES WONG: ONE OF YOUR TMOBILE REPS told MEto hard reset my phone
MYLES WONG: TUS removing all my info
MYLES WONG: as in minutes ?
~Kyle T: Credit like adding prepaid card to your account.
MYLES WONG: ARE YOU SERIOUS ?
MYLES WONG: that is all they are doing abut this
MYLES WONG: 520 contacts gone
MYLES WONG: and that is what hey do?
MYLES WONG: its bad enuf that they are gone for good
~Kyle T: That is all the information I have at this time unfortunately Myles.
MYLES WONG: i lost a700 dollar JOB OFFR bc of this
MYLES WONG: ughh ! i will be calling my attourneys
MYLES WONG: this icrazy !
MYLES WONG: should have signed a contract
~Kyle T: I understand Myles. I am very sorry for the inconvenience we have cause you.
MYLES WONG: MY 2 CUINS HAVE BEEN GIVEN FREE PHONES !
Currently experiencing network delays, one moment please….
Network connection re-established.
MYLES WONG: I DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW THIS CAN BE ANY DIFF FOR ANY OUTHE COSTOMER
MYLES WONG: CRAZY JUST CRAZY… AND I DUNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS NOT YOUR FAULT…
MYLES WONG: IS HERE ANY HIGHER UPPER MANAGEMENT THAT I CAN SPEEK TO ?
~Kyle T: I regret we do not have a program like that Myles. All the recent updates regarding how we can handling the situation is on http://www.t-mobile.com/sidekick.
Currently experiencing network delays, one moment please….
Network connection re-established.
MYLES WONG: THIS IS SOO WEIRD
~Kyle T: I understand your situation Myles and I am sorry. I can see if there is any management available to speak to you.
MYLES WONG: MICRODANGER IS TELLING ME SOMETHING AND TMOBILE IS TELLING ME SOMETHING ELSE !!
MYLES WONG: OKAY THANK YOU SO MUCH
~Kyle T: What is Danger\Microsoft telling you Myles?
MYLES WONG: (haha i spell bad when im typing sorry for that )
~Kyle T: No problem Myles.
~Kyle T: What is Danger\Microsoft telling you Myles?
MYLES WONG: that for sure i have lost all contacts and other informaon… just got off the phone las nite.. they told me to wait another week(tmobile told me to wait the extra week for further update
MYLES WONG: i hope that what imsaying is making sense to you
~Kyle T: Okay Myles, please give me 4-5 minutes.
MYLES WONG: sure
~Taunjia Y has entered the session.
~Kyle T has left the session.
MYLES WONG: hello
~Taunjia Y: Hello Myles.
~Taunjia Y: For your reference my rep. ID is 13-47281.
MYLES WONG: okay thankyou
~Taunjia Y: I understand that you upset about the recent outage that was experienced by our sidekick users.
MYLES WONG: yes VERY UPSET
~Taunjia Y: I do understand how frustrated you must be by losing your contacts. I would also like to assure you that we are trying to find a solution.
~Taunjia Y: Danger/Microsoft is working to restore these services for you.
MYLES WONG: Okay…
MYLES WONG: To restore My contacts ?
~Taunjia Y: That is correct.
MYLES WONG: Okay… Well MicroDanger has told me that all 520 of My contacts and info have been lost…
Currently experiencing network delays, one moment please….
MYLES WONG: I missed out on a 700 dollar Job offer !
Network connection re-established.
MYLES WONG: I mainky Use my sidekick for BUSINESS
~Taunjia Y: I am so sorry to hear that you missed that job offer.
MYLES WONG: Okay….
~Taunjia Y: I understand that you were looking to change your phone.
MYLES WONG: One of YOUR tmobile reps old me to hard reset my device !… LOOK AT WT HAPPND NOW ?!
~Taunjia Y: You were also looking for a discount on a new phone.
MYLES WONG: Yes
~Taunjia Y: Have you considered going with a monthly service since you are using the line for business?
MYLES WONG: i was.. but not anymore i dont think
MYLES WONG: I had a bad expirence with At&t contracs
~Taunjia Y: May I ask why?
~Taunjia Y: I do understand that.
Currently experiencing network delays, one moment please….
Network connection re-established.
MYLES WONG: I had trouble with at&t with their iphone services… and i was pctly tied to at&t when i wanted to get out of this deal ! BUT at the time i could not afford to break the contracr
MYLES WONG: and i wasn not paying for the monthly service either
MYLES WONG: but NOW i am
~Taunjia Y: I can understand that. We do offer a number of phones at discounted rates but only to new contracted service.
~Taunjia Y: Unfortunately with the account type that you have we are not able to offer any discounts on the phones.
MYLES WONG: okay.. listen,,, My cusin and 2 friends Recived free phone BC of this sitution…
~Taunjia Y: I do not know how they received new phones.
MYLES WONG: I dont think that they are prepaid though
MYLES WONG: Me and my cusin purched our sidekick 2009’s at the same time and location
~Taunjia Y: That may be why. They may have done a handset upgrade.
MYLES WONG: okay i see…
MYLES WONG: yes but as i said the lx09 has not been out fr a half yeaar yet
MYLES WONG: dont you need 2 years to qualify ?
~Taunjia Y: However on a regular monthly account they would have qualified for a partial discount.
~Taunjia Y: Even that can be significant depending on the phone they purchased.
MYLES WONG: ughh… okay… i do understand that this is not tmobiles fault… but ehat are you guys going to be doing for the prepaid coustomers with this problem
MYLES WONG: One got a My touch
MYLES WONG: one got a blackbrry
~Taunjia Y: We are looking to issue a credit onto your account, however this could take sometime to complete. They are being issued to all sidekick users.
MYLES WONG: okay and how much would this credit be ?
~Taunjia Y: At this time we are not sure of the amount. We are still trying to figure that out.
MYLES WONG: Do you…. Speaking for yourself think that a credit is all that the coustomers should recive if they lose sutch a big loss ? 520 contacts + 700 dollars ? !
MYLES WONG: crazy ! just out of this world
MYLES WONG: hello ?
~Taunjia Y: I do believe that if I was in your situation right now that I would be upset.
Currently experiencing network delays, one moment please….
Network connection re-established.
MYLES WONG: extactly… ughh
MYLES WONG: Who else can i speak to about this situation ?
~Taunjia Y: I do however not depend on my mobile phone as my only form of communication for work and have my contacts backed up on my computer. So I am not in the same situation as yourself.
~Taunjia Y: You could speak with our customer relations department for any additional complaints or concerns.
MYLES WONG: yes i understand and that was one of the main reasons i shose sidekick… B/C cour info is backed up online
MYLES WONG: Okay is it possible for you to trandsfer me please?
~Taunjia Y: I mean I back them up on my computer in a word document. I could provide you with their address.
MYLES WONG: Im seriously sorry about thisb/c i am just soo tiked off
MYLES WONG: adress? email adress?
~Taunjia Y: Mailing address.
MYLES WONG: 520 contacts would take forevto back up… however i wsth that i had done it !
MYLES WONG: ughh ! okay please do that
MYLES WONG: I WILL BE CONTACTING MY LAWYER
MYLES WONG: JUST SO CRAZY
~Taunjia Y: One moment please and I will get you the address.
MYLES WONG: MICROSOFT WES YOU GUYS BIG MONEY
MYLES WONG: SURE
~Taunjia Y: T-Mobile Wireless
Attention: Customer Relations
P.O. Box 37380
Albuquerque, NM 87176-7380
MYLES WONG: OKAY THANK YOU FOR THIS INFORMATION tAUNJIA
~Taunjia Y: You are welcome,
~Taunjia Y: Myles, is there anything else I can assist you with today?
MYLES WONG: UGHH WHAT AM I GOING TO DO… OK MAM THANKS FOR THE HELP T YOU PROVIDED ME ?
MYLES WONG: NO THAT IS ALL….
i am speachless !
October 11th, 2009 at 12:02 pm [ Quote ]
wow ive been on hold for 40min when i was told 10min all i want to know is when my contract is up so i can switch
October 11th, 2009 at 2:52 pm [ Quote ]
How exactly are you leaving Microsoft if you end up with a Windows Mobile phone? It would be hard to move to a Zune for a replacement for your sidekick since a Zune phone doesn’t even exist.
October 11th, 2009 at 3:14 pm [ Quote ]
Great name… Roz Ho… LOL
October 11th, 2009 at 3:22 pm [ Quote ]
“The head of the mobile division (and person in charge of what’s left of Danger) is Roz Ho, who has been at Microsoft for 18 years. You would think she’d know something about how to run a business.”
—-
It’s funny to see people, who have no clue who Roz Ho is, and of her ‘track record’, make these kind of statements.
What’s even more funny is how management at Microsoft has actually put someone like her in charge of a rather important (for Microsoft) project like this.
Oh well, reap what they sow, and all that stuff — I’d suggest a bit more in-depth look into Ms. Ho’s pat performance, and you’ll get an idea on how screwed up Microsoft really is.
October 11th, 2009 at 3:50 pm [ Quote ]
Thats what you get when you use a MicroSHIT product. Whenever MicroSHIT puts in **** somewhere, GET OUT! These MORONS are anti-competence.
October 11th, 2009 at 3:52 pm [ Quote ]
@Myles: What age are you? I sincerely hope you are a 13 year old retarded person because from the text of the transcript you pasted into your comment, it seems you don’t have a command of the English language at all.
October 11th, 2009 at 4:21 pm [ Quote ]
SideKick was not unique in porting data from an old device to a new one. BlackBerry users have been able to do that for years and the same applies to the iPhone. After years of BlackBerry use, I switched to an iPhone earlier this year and I am most impressed with the syncing of contacts, calendar, emails, notes, playlists, etc. through MobileMe a/o GMail a/o Evernote, etc. AND the additional backup whenever I connect the iPhone with my Mac. Even if one of the clouds go down, I still have another backup as well as instant access to all data on my Mac. Good luck to you all SideKick users.
October 11th, 2009 at 4:32 pm [ Quote ]
In the same week that we have a media blitz telling us how wunnerfull WinMo 6.5 is the Microsoft owned competitor Danger looses all customer data irretrievably…
Puh leese…
With all the resources M$ has at its disposal they could’nt prevent or recover from this?
No friends, this is clearly the extinguish part of “Embrace, Extend, Extinguish”.
Short term goal of M$ met.
Long term, whole generations of new upcoming users learn the bitter lesson of ever doing business with this rapacious marketing company called Microsoft.
Hope you guys remember your lesson & pass it on to all your friends/family.
October 11th, 2009 at 5:05 pm [ Quote ]
Of course the problem here is that Microsoft has utterly destroyed their own reputation.
In 7 years Danger never had a customer-data loss such as this. In one year MS has managed to destroy the Sidekick. Make no mistake, it will NOT recover from this. Nor will MS’s cloud-computing initiative recover it’s rep- this is incompetence on a breathtakingly monumental scale.
It throws in high relief MS’s “buy a PC- we’re the cheapest” campaign. Yeah, you get what you pay for.
Do not make the mistake of underestimating how bad this is for Microsoft.
B-A-D.
October 11th, 2009 at 5:13 pm [ Quote ]
Sure (^_^) Lolz
…
Ima Ride It To The End
Crash Burn And All
I Don’t Like Blackberries, Iphones Or Androids Is Why I Have A Sidekick
After This Back To Nokia Brick Phones My Netbook Can Do Everything Else
October 11th, 2009 at 5:34 pm [ Quote ]
This is interesting — http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/technology/business-computing/12sidekick.html?_r=1
According to this article, “Microsoft stressed that its own technology was not to blame for the T-Mobile service issues. Danger had its own technology, which has remained in use after Microsoft’s acquisition.”
Sounds to me like Microsoft isn’t fessing up to their **** up.
Hiptop3 You should do a blog about that. This is ridiculous!! People need to know how Microsoft keeps messing up our lives and the future of the SK.
October 11th, 2009 at 5:34 pm [ Quote ]
People still use sidekicks?
October 11th, 2009 at 5:36 pm [ Quote ]
Funny to see how many commenters say they’ll switch to Android.
Is that because you can’t switch to AT&T?
Because there’s nothing out there that works as reliably as an iPhone and MobleMe.
Android doesn’t have a track record, let alone one as good as iPhone’s. Just seems odd that you would go with an unproven phone after getting burned like this.
Posted from my iPhone.
October 11th, 2009 at 5:37 pm [ Quote ]
Yeah OVER one million you dumb ****. Obviously people still do. You are on THIS website aren’t you?
October 11th, 2009 at 5:47 pm [ Quote ]
Microsoft doesn’t want to fess up for their mistake.
“Microsoft stressed that its own technology was not to blame for the T-Mobile service issues. Danger had its own technology, which has remained in use after Microsoft’s acquisition.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/technology/business-computing/12sidekick.html
Might want to tell people about that. Obviously this wasn’t Dangers fault. They haven’t lost any of our info for how many years? Ya, Microsoft comes along and then things start going wrong. yet Danger is the one to blame? RIIIIIGHT. I highly doubt that.
October 11th, 2009 at 6:01 pm [ Quote ]
Funny to see how many commenters say they’ll switch to Android.
Is that because you can’t switch to AT&T? (I hope it’s not because of any bias against or ignorance about Apple.)
The fact is, there’s nothing that works as reliably as an iPhone and MobleMe.
Android doesn’t have a track record, let alone one as good as iPhone’s.
Just seems odd that you would go with an unproven phone after getting burned with this experience.
October 11th, 2009 at 6:03 pm [ Quote ]
What can one expect from Roz Ho, who used to run the MacBU. Has anyone seen her during a MacWorld Expo keynote?
October 11th, 2009 at 6:14 pm [ Quote ]
If you’re switching to a WinMo device, or a Zune, then MS has NOT lost a customer, dumbshit!
October 11th, 2009 at 6:17 pm [ Quote ]
You don’t even know how right on target you are.
Listen to Serpentor.
October 11th, 2009 at 6:31 pm [ Quote ]
they told us that they dont know when the problem will be fixed but they could give us a ****** loner phone and if it wasnt fixed within a wee we would still have to send back the loner, or else pay $100 for it. the ******* ****** operator told us that if we wanted to leave and go to at&t, that we could just buy an iphone (at $600) and unlock it and use it on tmobile (which i already do, my husband still has the sidekick). **** that. we”re going to at&t, and theyre going to wave the ECF because we filed a formal complaint with the BBB and the Federal Trade commission, theyll be sure to dro- us after we tell them that.
October 11th, 2009 at 6:55 pm [ Quote ]
I agree with those saying this was “murder”. With all the talk of the plans to get rid of the SK, this is the perfect plan. Everyone’s pissed and saying “f the Sidekick, I’m getting an iPhone”. No one’s going to raise a stink when they stop making the SK, everyones going to say “good riddance.”
I’m pissed because I still haven’t been able to sell my old Sidekick, and I really need the money now.
October 11th, 2009 at 7:00 pm [ Quote ]
MICROSOFT HAS MANAGED TO DESTROY A COMPANYS 7 YEAR PROGRESS IN A MATTER OF DAYS…
NO PART OF THIS IS T MOBILES FAULT…
I FEEL SORRY FOR TMOBILE HAVING TO LOSE ALL OF THIS MONEY BC OF POS MICROSOFT !
DANGER HAS NEVER HAD A PROBLEM AS SUTCH ! E-V-E-R !!
I WILL NEVER E V E R !!! PURCHASE ANOTHER MICROSOFT PRODUCT AGAIN !
APPLE IS DEF THE BETTR SOFT AND HARD WARE BRAND ! EFF U MICROSOFT !
THEY DO NOT BELONG IN THE MOBILE INDUSTRY AT ALL ! THEIR MOBILE PRODUCTS ARE MAJOR FAIL !
I BET YOU THAT WITHIN THE NEXT 2 YEARS !…. THERE WILL BE NOTHING LEFT OF WINDOWS MOBILE !
JEEZ HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN !
I CANNOT STAND MICROSOFT..’
WHY BUY SOMETHING AND THEN THRO IT IN THE GARBAGE ? 500 MIL DOWN THE DRAIN !!
IM SOO PISSED ! T MOBILE WONT GRANT ME A NEW PHONE ! FU*K EM 2 !!! IUNDERSTAND THAT YOU DDNT CAUSE THIS.. BUT YOU NEED TO MAKE YOUR COUSTOMERS FEEL MORE WILLING TO STAY WITH YOUR SERVICES… ESPECIALY WHEN ITS CAUSTING LIKE 75 DOLLARS A MONTH !
EFF U MICRODANGER !
I WANT DANGER BACK YOU STUPID B*T*H*S !!
RIP SIDEKICK UR GUNNA NEED IT FOR WEN U RIZE FROM U FUKKNNN GRAVE !
LOL I THINK THAT MAY HAPPEN… LOL I WISH
OH…. AM I WRONG… APPLE AND PHILIPS DESIGNED AND MADE THE DANGER PLATFOM ? TELL ME IF IM WRONG !
(MY KEYBRD KYS R STIKIN )
October 11th, 2009 at 7:04 pm [ Quote ]
YOUR A JAVKASS… MY KAYS ARE STICKING ON MY LAPTOP…. ROFL… I GOTTA GO GET ONE F THOSE CO2 BOTTLES !
October 11th, 2009 at 7:42 pm [ Quote ]
Sidekicks are horrible pieces of ish ever since Microsoft took over,I saw this coming their Mobile Phones suck Ie; Shadows,Wing,Dash etc pure garbage,Sad to see Sidekicks go downhill,on the bright side thank god for Blackberry currently using a 8900 and I love it,as long as they keep making these solids phones ill support Blackberry also HTC and Android their bad *** phones….Thats my 2 cents. Good bye Sidekick you were good to me since the Sidekick 3!!
October 11th, 2009 at 8:25 pm [ Quote ]
You know what? Serves all of you for not maintaining backups yourself.
The service probably never stated they were responsible for data and none of you sadassed effers read the contract.
October 11th, 2009 at 8:44 pm [ Quote ]
This doesn’t actually make sense. Upgrading a SAN isn’t necessarily a lossy thing, but more so on top of that, not having any sort of backup of data that’s been thoroughly protected for the past 7 years just doesn’t add up. I’m hoping there’s a recovery point somewhere. Maybe they can contact the hacker that compromised the data back end a few months ago can get the data retrieved?
October 11th, 2009 at 8:45 pm [ Quote ]
I’m going to get my free month of Sidekick data usage worth, and by that time I think the Blackberry Bold 9700 should be released to T-Mobile (around November 11th), and it looks pretty awesome. Not a fan of Android… would rather have a phone I know works well. BeeJive seems good for instant messaging on it, and Opera Mini is supposedly a very nice browser.
October 11th, 2009 at 8:48 pm [ Quote ]
By the way, Admin! Since we’re all jumping ship and the “sidekicks are dead” as you so morbidly put it, what’s going to happen to Hiptop3.com? Are you going to pick a new phone to follow and go from there? Just curious.
October 11th, 2009 at 9:08 pm [ Quote ]
Hiptop3.com will continue following the Sidekick until it’s last day. However if this is truly the end (I’m hoping MSDanger does pull out a miracle), then I’ll probably start focusing my energy and attention on new sites revolving around other phones. Depends on where the community moves. Right now it’s looking like Android, Blackberry, or iPhone. We’ll see though.
October 11th, 2009 at 9:13 pm [ Quote ]
Wait wait. You’re all telling me you completely trusted an outside service to back up your data? I mean, you didn’t even back it up yourself every few months at the least? Is this not even possible with the Sidekick?
I’m just saying, the old adage is if you want to do something right you do it yourself. I backed up my Blackberry every week. My new N97, every week.
Unless this is not an option for the Sidekick, in which case, that totally blows.
October 11th, 2009 at 9:50 pm [ Quote ]
I was working at a silicon valley company several years ago and my boss gave me the original sidekick to try. They weren’t even generally available yet. He had a friend who worked at Danger and wanted to give one to someone to see how they liked it. I ended up not using it much and gave it back. I suppose it was ahead of its time and I didn’t really have the time to spend figuring out all of its capabilities. At that time, if something took me longer than a day to figure out how to get some decent utility out of it, it went to the curb. After a day with Danger, I could do with it about the same as I could do with the cell phone I already had. I liked the idea of being able to ssh to my servers to fix something but I sort of saw it as just a longer leash tying me to work.
It is interesting about the whole Hitachi SAN upgrade disaster thing. We once had pretty much the same scenario. Had Hitachi come in to upgrade our SAN and they blew the thing up. We aborted the upgrade, recovered the SAN (took about 24 hours as I recall with our customers screaming bloody murder) and then had Hitachi send out the “two bannana” tech to perform the upgrade the “one bannana” tech screwed up.
I simply can not believe they didn’t have a backup. What has been my experience is that you THINK you have a backup but it turns out that nobody has ever tried to do a restore from the backup and then when you try, you learn you have only done an incremental or something and only a tiny bit of your data gets restored. Or you added a new storage unit and never modified your backup process to add it to the backup procedure. Or your last full backup was kept at the company office and that office has since been abandoned and the tapes were salvaged out to a recycler.
Moral of the story is that you not only do a backup, you need to actually attempt a restore from that backup at some point to make sure it works. If you change tape formats and don’t do a full backup on the new media, it isn’t going to help you after you toss out the old drive and all the old tapes. You know, the tapes that had your last (only?) full backup.
Scenarios like that are more common than not backing things up. Lots of places THINK they have a backup but it is really useless.
October 11th, 2009 at 9:59 pm [ Quote ]
I UPGRADED TO THE T-MOBILE G1 AND AM VERY PLEASE WITH THE TRANSITION FROM SIDEKICK (OF WHICH I’M VERY DISAPPOINTED DID NOT PROVE TO BE RELIABLE) AND I HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH THE G1. AND BACK IN LOVE WITH T-MOBILE….. THEY HAVE A WINNER WITH THE G1!!!! I HAVE SO MANY MORE OPTIONS AND CAPABILITIES (INCLUDING 3G AND WIFI!!!!!) WITH THE G1….. I HAVEN’T LOOKED BACK SINCE
I AM TRULY PLEASED THIS ALL HAPPENED OTHERWISE I NEVER WOULD HAVE DISCOVERED THIS AMAZING PHONE!!! 
October 11th, 2009 at 10:19 pm [ Quote ]
My suggestion is for every one of us to make this request – please copy and paste:
I request for my SideKick data to be salvaged, returned to my account, and for my SideKick Desktop Interface to be re-opened, so I can capture the data. And then, once I have the data, I request to be allowed to upgrade to a G1, for no charge ($0.00), and will keep my current data services contract – not only the $20/month data service, but the contract for the G1 service plan would contain only my remaining SideKick service plan months.
I have already made this request, using the 611 line, and I suggest for the rest of you to do the same.
I am at a loss for words. Late late summer, when I learned of the Microsoft taking over of DANGER, I moved to a G1. But, the G1 battery life was so poor – even with all GPS turned off – and the G1 applications were not nearly as easy to use as the SideKick’s – T-Mobile suggested I return to the SideKick, until the G1’s battery life issues and use of contacts/address book were resolved… which I did. I’ve never had ANY SideKick data lost – not once. There were a couple of days over the past 7 years of use (I, II, III, 2008, 2009LX), when I could not use the data services, but that’s about al the trouble I’ve ever had. I had built over 1,000 contacts – most all of them populated with names, numbers, addresses, pictures… The only reason I moved to the G1 was because of my low respect and lack of trust for Microsoft, and my gut feeling that something like this was on its way.
From all I’ve been able to gather, my assumption is this was not an accident. Please understand, these are only assumptions; I have no proof. Microsoft has bought many companies and dissolved them – their way for taking out certain competitors and for legally taking ownership of certain pieces of the competitors’ operations/products. All of us should have seen this coming. DANGER was a plum – just waiting to be picked. DT/T-Mobile made the mistake of not buying them or maybe not signing a use contract with them, so they could not change ownership. This is the part that does not fit. DT moves slowly and carefully and is very clever. And T-Mobile can’t do anything without DT signing off on it… DT would have most certainly seen this Microsoft foolishness coming and would have prevented it – unless they were on board. Of course, the way some people will take this, is for some reason… DT is setting up for the sale of T-Mobile to Microsoft… or maybe to VERIZON? I repeat, I do not have proof of any of this. These are purely speculative assumptions. Again, this was not an accident. And all our SideKick data has not been lost. Whom ever is in control of this project is waiting to see how all the SideKick users will react. React, we should, and now, is the time.
October 11th, 2009 at 10:31 pm [ Quote ]
You used the wrong its. {it’s means it is.]
October 11th, 2009 at 10:37 pm [ Quote ]
I don’t think the murder theory holds water.
C’mon, the harm this is doing to Microsoft in the mobile market is *massive* and it hurts their reputation on a much bigger scale (see how they try to fend off the impression that their own technology was involved?).
With this incident project Pink is dead, Win mobile and Zune still suck and Microsoft has nothing to offer in this market. They are out, it’s all RIM, Apple and Android for the next years.
Beyond that it creates doubts if Microsoft is able to run data centers properly, which puts them in a terrible situation against Google and others.
Attacking Roz Ho personally? She certainly has her share to carry, and she certainly won’t have a happy time now either. I do not think that cornering a single person, who is a human being after all, is acceptable. This was a corporate failure.
Kabe
October 11th, 2009 at 10:44 pm [ Quote ]
A SAN isn’t “that thing that stores your data” it’s a Network. It’s made up of switches and storage arrays. The Storage Arrays are what store you data. I work on these arrays everyday as a storage administrator. and yes i work on Hitachi storage arrays. I have worked with engineers to perform firmware, cache, add disk and other upgrades involving these arrays. I can’t see how you can make a mistake like this from a technical point of view unless you format the disks or physically damage them in some way. Even if the upgrade was to migrate from old arrays to new ones then the old arrays would still be there as a roll-back plan. More details are needed to understand the true level of incompetency driven presumably by greed that the parties involved in ventured to.
October 11th, 2009 at 10:48 pm [ Quote ]
Why everything we input into our phones has to be connected to a “server” is beyond me. When sh*t like this happens then we lose what seems to be our entire lives… important emails, contacts, entries on our to-do list and appointments in our calendar.
We sometimes believe that we are still able to depend on technology in this “day and age” when the truth is… WE CANNOT!
Who cares if they didn’t have a back up plan… How about having your own!
October 11th, 2009 at 10:51 pm [ Quote ]
React how, Kevin?
October 11th, 2009 at 10:58 pm [ Quote ]
exactly what im sayin.I used boost mobile & at&t(at the time jus Cingular) before going to and also while having a sidekick.No contacts/Ringtones n all that were backed up on a server,it was on either the sim or the phone itself.
Alls i want back on the sidekick is contacts,nothing else matters 2 me more than that
October 11th, 2009 at 11:25 pm [ Quote ]
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! Heee! This is way to funny! First of all the sidekick’s were originally attended for the hear impaired, i.e deaf people. Later on it was (and still is) for people between the ages of 18-25.
Now with that said, how in the hell are people b*tching that they had problems with the SK from the very beginning. ‘I had a SK LX, a 2008, and now a 2009 and all those phones gave me problems.’ Well here is my question for those people that complains about all there sidekicks…WHY DO YOU KEEP ON BUYING THE SIDEKICKS? I KNOW IF I HAD A PHONE THAT DID NOT WORK, I WOULD NOT BUY THE UPGRADED VERSION! STUPID!
Also who in the hell runs a full business with there sidekick? That is just plain stupid. WE HAVE COMPUTERS PEOPLE! I HAVE NO SYMPATHY FOR PEOPLE THAT DEPEND ON THERE SIDEKICKS FOR BUSINESS BECAUSE YOU SHOULD NOT BE RUNNING A BUSINESS. YOU ARE SO STUPID THAT YOU DID NOT BACK UP YOUR CONTACTS OR GIVE YOUR CLIENTS AN ALTERNATE WAY TO CONTACT YOU, THATS JUST COMMON SENSE, BUT YET YOU DEPEND ON DANGER.
NOW HERE IS FUN FACT = OVER 80% OF SIDEKICK USERS ARE RETARDED!
October 11th, 2009 at 11:39 pm [ Quote ]
i got my contacts back! hell yea!
October 11th, 2009 at 11:41 pm [ Quote ]
“Attacking Roz Ho personally? She certainly has her share to carry, and she certainly won’t have a happy time now either. I do not think that cornering a single person, who is a human being after all, is acceptable. This was a corporate failure.”
—
How little you know of Roz’ past performance. Corporate failure – sure, but only insofar as it was a corporate decision to put her in charge of Project Pink, and the Danger subsidiary.
Subsequently, of course, us with iPhones are left to snicker – not only is it a better phone, but we get always updated software and features that don’t require us to buy new hardware to get the new features – combine that with a MobileMe subscription, and I get local backups *and* cloud backup.
October 11th, 2009 at 11:58 pm [ Quote ]
what?!!?
October 12th, 2009 at 12:08 am [ Quote ]
Well All I Can Say Is R.I.P Sidekick Oct. 1, 2002-Oct. 9, 2009 The WORST Business Move Was Danger Letting M$FT Buy Them. Microsoft DESTROYED A GREAT Company That For 5 Years Created The Best Communication Devices Around. The Last GOOD Phone That Danger & Sharp Made Was The Sidekick LX 2007. The Moment M$FT Bought Danger, Which By The Way Danger Was Created When APPLE (Yes APPLE) Apple & Philips Created Danger Inc. Microsoft Is The Most Idiotic Company On The Planet And They DONOT Deserve Any Of Their Success Whatsoever. Now I Say Good Bye To My Sidekick LX 2009 Which Crashes And I’ve Already Had 4 Sidekick LX 2009’s Since August. I’m Going To Make A Transition To A Blackberry Curve 8900.
Toodles Sidekick :[ You Will Be Missed!
October 12th, 2009 at 12:27 am [ Quote ]
DANGER was *NOT* created by Apple and Philips, as a bunch of morons keep repeating in this thread.
Danger was founded by *former* Apple, Philips and WebTV veterans Andy Rubin, Joe Britt and Matt Hershenson – these are people that *used* to work for Apple (and Philips and WebTV) – they are NOT the respective companies they used to work for. There is a difference.
This isn’t to take away from the brilliance of either of the founders, but it does not mean that Apple (the company) or Philips (the company) founded Danger, or were even remotely connected to it. Clue!
October 12th, 2009 at 1:40 am [ Quote ]
IS POWEREDBYDANGER.COM DOWN?
October 12th, 2009 at 2:45 am [ Quote ]
Id said microsoft is really screweddd on this one bigg time..
and 2 questions..I know they were crediting ppl for a months service..but what about some of us who are prepaid users????
and not sure if this is a result of what’s been going on..but
when I put my memory card in my phone my fone freezes for hours on end? has this happened to anyone else? lol
October 12th, 2009 at 6:31 am [ Quote ]
I too hope the SIdekick “recovers”. I was one of the luckier ones whose address book wasn’t so massive that I couldn’t rebuild it without too much fuss, but all my Notes / Apps I’ve bought are most likely gone forever. As is the Download Catalog still down? I can’t seem to get it up.
I’m still reminded about that survey T-Mobile ran about “what is a sidekick to you?” and this makes me hold out hope that T-Mobile is going to hire someone to make a heavily inspired device to take up the Sidekick mantle (my money is on HTC), but we all know we liked the Sidekick because of the technology behind it — the always-ON instant messaging and low cost data plan. Can such a thing really be fully duplicated? I’m going to try when I get a Blackberry… err… if.
But at the same time, I think I’m ready to move on. I love the Sidekick (I wouldn’t have chosen it for my only phone I’ve ever used since the very first one launched if I didn’t), but Danger hasn’t really worked on evolving the technology much passed what they did with the Sidekick II. The browser only had one major update, the email capacity was rediculously tiny, the Download Catalog was closed off… its a great phone, but phone technology is really taking off beyond what Danger’s done with the most recent Sidekicks, and I’m ready to try something a bit more advanced.
Of course my loyalty is with the Hiptop3 community! I know I haven’t posted a ton, but I’ve subscribed and I read all the comments, and whereever the community goes, I’ll always be around following everyone! Long live smartphones!
October 12th, 2009 at 6:39 am [ Quote ]
I hate these guys forever they lost 6000 saved emails, all my family photos that I had on the device, all my contacts (o0ver 250) and irrepplaceable saved email containing software registration information for about $2000 of software purchased online, etc. I will join ANY class action lawsuit that comes from this BS which absolutely stunning that they did not have a backup in triplicate and tested it prior to any upgrades. Monumental jerks they are do compromise our data in this fashion and speaks volume on what a company tmobile is and I will never have business with them in the future forever forever no way hose all my friends using sidekicks are the same and will cancel what is remaining no matter the cost. Any cost is less than what they already cost me. ##%@# these guys I hope the Taliban blows up their headquarters and MS and Bill Gates with them.
October 12th, 2009 at 7:47 am [ Quote ]
This is going to really help MSFT’s cloud computing scheme, isn’t it?
It’s really sad. MSFT has all this $ and buys up companies and has no clue.
Gotta get ready for my Windows 7 party now.