Shutting the Camera off? SURE you can disable it – when you deploy BES v4.12 that is. It’s been out on Exchange for less than a week, and it won’t be officially out for several weeks on Domino & Groupwise. How many large shops are going to immediately deploy new server code, potentially affecting thousands of users? And how popular a person will you be when you do shut that camera off because of Sarbanes-Oxley, or some other equally restrictive rule?

Lazy? I am typing this little diatribe on a Sunday at 3:30 am because I’m overloaded managing a large BB shop. If I were any busier, I’d be stroking out from exhaustion…

Frustrated? How’d you like to be in charge of a 10,000+ strong BB user shop, where every Tom, Dick & Sally has an opinion, wants you to hear that opinion, and if you can’t has a conniption fit.

Innocent until proven guilty? Yes, devices are as pure as newly fallen snow. Sadly, users are not… It’s never the toolmaker or the tool, it’s how it’s used.

Evidence? Suretype is a great thing but it’s a radical departure for many users. We’re looking forward to processing all the returns when older BB users can’t get the hang of it.

Most IT engineering groups love new things and want to deploy them as quickly as possible to as many users. The Pearl is gorgeous – it’s stuff that we love to work on, but most companies see IT as a drain on resources, and as a result IT groups can only support things that contribute to the company’s bottom line.

Coming up with innovative solutions and working with new technology is what we thrive on and frankly I take offense from Forbes magazine reading dilettantes who say otherwise.

Shutting the Camera off? SURE you can disable it – when you deploy BES v4.12 that is. It’s been out on Exchange for less than a week, and it won’t be officially out for several weeks on Domino & Groupwise. How many large shops are going to immediately deploy new server code, potentially affecting thousands of users? And how popular a person will you be when you do shut that camera off because of Sarbanes-Oxley, or some other equally restrictive rule?

Lazy? I am typing this little diatribe on a Sunday at 3:30 am because I’m overloaded managing a large BB shop. If I were any busier, I’d be stroking out from exhaustion…

Frustrated? How’d you like to be in charge of a 10,000+ strong BB user shop, where every Tom, Dick & Sally has an opinion, wants you to hear that opinion, and if you can’t has a conniption fit.

Innocent until proven guilty? Yes, devices are as pure as newly fallen snow. Sadly, users are not… It’s never the toolmaker or the tool, it’s how it’s used.

Evidence? Suretype is a great thing but it’s a radical departure for many users. We’re looking forward to processing all the returns when older BB users can’t get the hang of it.

Most IT engineering groups love new things and want to deploy them as quickly as possible to as many users. The Pearl is gorgeous – it’s stuff that we love to work on, but most companies see IT as a drain on resources, and as a result IT groups can only support things that contribute to the company’s bottom line.

Coming up with innovative solutions and working with new technology is what we thrive on and frankly I take offense from Forbes magazine reading dilettantes who say otherwise.

We love to test new devices…and let the users try them….but you miss the entire picture. There is more to just trying a new toy and saying no/yes because we are playing Xbox over your network in a back room with some other lazy IT guys.

The article also refers to Treos and other PDA phones..these till now are not up to par.

For example try to run Blackberry Connect on a PocketPC or Treo and tell me how long the battery lasts compared to a 7290? These non blackberry things are still “geek toys” that require plenty of two hand babysitting. Do you know how many support calls arrive on a weekly basis on complaints of battery problems, stuck keyboards, bad USB connectors, etc.? These units are still built crappy, the reception poor. The irregularity curve on problems on those units are high.
The Blackberry is still king on not having as many of these issues, it takes a pretty good beating and battery lasts compared to PDA phones such as Treo & Pocket PC.

From the Company point of view, there is more to just saying “Hey Make This work!”..the easy part is enabling it into the BES…..but the hard part comes when making this compliant with SEC Regulations (try removing T-Mobile IM OTA service books), Legal Company policies, and applications such as Bloomberg or Reuters that beat on the pseudo TCP stack as it pulls market data (some vendor units reboot at this part). Or Reuters for Blackberries that does not run on CDMA ones, thus leaving out your new Verizon 8700 version out in the cold.

Maybe on a small mom & pop shop of 1000 users that get 300 emails a day such as yours, this “make it work” policy flies and the lasy IT guys..say that…uh..ohm..”no”…but on large corporations of 60,000k++ users getting 1000 emails daily and above there are more issues to deal with that small provincial points of view that many would not be aware.

Sure we got the Pearl to try and test…but let’s see if it has the same bugs that the 8700g had with RADIO EDGE freezes..etc..etc.
It took RIM 3 months to fix…did you see that in the news? Noooo.

We the lazy IT group would love to have Pocket PCs phones with batteries that would last longer than a full work day while using MP3 player, mail, data, and other toys…but to date all the Pocket PC phones tested on various Mail systems and vendors uncluding UK and US just does not complete a full day without batteries dying. Try givng the users a FAT extended battery and see the look on their face.

Needless to say it is easy to go to the store and get a unit, but later when you crack the screen, or get your unit stolen, lose chargers on the hotel or crack house, etc…this is where approving units comes in handy..because we have spares to replace and parts/acessories to provide. The contracts you need to have in place to have a wireless company commit to the support, or to swap your SIM card within an hour while you are whining in a hotel in Cairo..takes effort and research in the part of the lazy IT team.

We love to test new devices…and let the users try them….but you miss the entire picture. There is more to just trying a new toy and saying no/yes because we are playing Xbox over your network in a back room with some other lazy IT guys.

The article also refers to Treos and other PDA phones..these till now are not up to par.

For example try to run Blackberry Connect on a PocketPC or Treo and tell me how long the battery lasts compared to a 7290? These non blackberry things are still “geek toys” that require plenty of two hand babysitting. Do you know how many support calls arrive on a weekly basis on complaints of battery problems, stuck keyboards, bad USB connectors, etc.? These units are still built crappy, the reception poor. The irregularity curve on problems on those units are high.
The Blackberry is still king on not having as many of these issues, it takes a pretty good beating and battery lasts compared to PDA phones such as Treo & Pocket PC.

From the Company point of view, there is more to just saying “Hey Make This work!”..the easy part is enabling it into the BES…..but the hard part comes when making this compliant with SEC Regulations (try removing T-Mobile IM OTA service books), Legal Company policies, and applications such as Bloomberg or Reuters that beat on the pseudo TCP stack as it pulls market data (some vendor units reboot at this part). Or Reuters for Blackberries that does not run on CDMA ones, thus leaving out your new Verizon 8700 version out in the cold.

Maybe on a small mom & pop shop of 1000 users that get 300 emails a day such as yours, this “make it work” policy flies and the lasy IT guys..say that…uh..ohm..”no”…but on large corporations of 60,000k++ users getting 1000 emails daily and above there are more issues to deal with that small provincial points of view that many would not be aware.

Sure we got the Pearl to try and test…but let’s see if it has the same bugs that the 8700g had with RADIO EDGE freezes..etc..etc.
It took RIM 3 months to fix…did you see that in the news? Noooo.

We the lazy IT group would love to have Pocket PCs phones with batteries that would last longer than a full work day while using MP3 player, mail, data, and other toys…but to date all the Pocket PC phones tested on various Mail systems and vendors uncluding UK and US just does not complete a full day without batteries dying. Try givng the users a FAT extended battery and see the look on their face.

Needless to say it is easy to go to the store and get a unit, but later when you crack the screen, or get your unit stolen, lose chargers on the hotel or crack house, etc…this is where approving units comes in handy..because we have spares to replace and parts/acessories to provide. The contracts you need to have in place to have a wireless company commit to the support, or to swap your SIM card within an hour while you are whining in a hotel in Cairo..takes effort and research in the part of the lazy IT team.

How blinkered? What about style, usability, intuitivity (it’s a word)?

Would they offer somebody a company car and hand them a Morris Minor? “Sorry Mr Senior Exec, but it does what you need it to do..”

How blinkered? What about style, usability, intuitivity (it’s a word)?

Would they offer somebody a company car and hand them a Morris Minor? “Sorry Mr Senior Exec, but it does what you need it to do..”

Thanks, Steven, for the comment. Nice to know our brains are on the right track.

Thanks, Steven, for the comment. Nice to know our brains are on the right track.

I think you hit the nail on the head.

I think you hit the nail on the head.