Comments on: Sony Announces OS Upgrade Program

Looks like Sony is encouraging this more than ever.

Assuming everything goes smoothly, I would think it would take more than 5 days.

Initial Transit time + 2 days + 2 day transit time for priority delivery.

I can't imagine not having my Clie for more than a day.

You do realize that Microsoft does this all the time. You don't expect to get Office 2002 since you already own Office 2000 do you? Windows 95 doesn't support USB, but if you want those featurs, you're going to have to pay for them. Some companies put their customers first, others put themselves first.

They do not support their products or customers! If you bought it your stuck!!

If Sony does this once, what prevents them from doing it again later with other units.

If Sony screws you once, they'll screw you again. Sell you 710 and buy something else. That's what I'll be doing. Sony: try educating your marketing folks so they can properly report on what the comsumer is looking for in a product.

Ha ha ha ...

If you are so down on Sony, why are you hanging out on Sony discussion boards? You have a grudge against them?

It took me 5 seconds of viewing the M505 sitting next to the 710 for me to decide which unit was better. The difference was..ahem..CLEAR!

Yes its a little frustrating having this OS fiasco occur one month after I bought the 710. But I'd still buy it. I value my eyes and the M505, simply put, sucks vision-wise.

I do think some consideration is due those who purchased the unit in the last 2 months (1/2 price on the upgrade perhaps?)...and having to send the unit in for upgrading is simply dumb.

But it still beats the socks off the Visor Prism (which can't even BE upgraded) and the Palm M505. Only thing I'd do differeent now is I would have waited for the 760 had I known it was coming out.

So, for those who have 710's and are a bit upset, remember why you bought the thing in the first place. And for those who don't have them, you have nothing to whine about (or gloat about, for that matter).

And I think they are making another mistake by making people ship their units to them in order for them to perform the "upgrade". I understand their reasoning (they want to keep the real upgrade software secure), but I think it's flawed. The cat is out of the bag, and they will have a hard enough time getting people to pay for the upgrade, let alone put up with the hassle of shipping it to them and letting them do who-knows-what.

And all this for 16-bit color. Seems pretty silly to me.

No, that's something someone dreamed up. There's no do-it-yourself upgrade in Japan.

Sony doesn't have to say it - studies have proven repeatedly that when it comes to anything technical, the average adult American is on par with a 6 month old Japanese baby with one bad eye and 7 missing fingers... ;)

I was watching the news tonight and they had a report on all the major PC makers out there and the quality of thier customer support.

After praising various companies, the report finally ended by disclosing the very worst company for customer support related issues--- Sony.

Sony has not done this. Sony is charging for an upgrade to a product that they have “end-of-lifed” within a 6-month period. The new product has the same hardware platform, but has a different OS. The OS is similar and offers only minor changes (the biggest the 16-bit display)

In the business of Sales and Marketing, this is a big mistake. Actions like these normally indicate features that were in the original plans but couldn't make it to delivery on time.

The problem here is that Sony, with such a short live to this product, is offer this upgrade at an outrageous price. This tells you something about how they see the market, and see their customer. My option is that they take us as fools.

Do not buy this upgrade!

Sell your 710C and send a message to Sony.

This is a proper forum where people are entitled to proper comments, not words of hooliganism. If you can't spell or use decent words, go back to high school for an education!

Before the upgrade came out, what exactly was wrong with the 710 that you had? Was there a defect, or software bug? Did the use of Palm OS 3.5 render the unit unstable or unusable? Did it cause any conflicts with third-party apps? Was there an undocumented bug that prevented your Sony 710 from performing its usual and intended functions? Did Sony's big bad marketing people promise some function in the 710 that they failed to deliver on?

COM'ON, get real and quit your whining. You bought what you paid for. If you wanted 16bit color, you should have gotten the 610. You knew that before you trudged down to the store. If you "banked" on Sony coming through with free upgrade, you guess wrong. This doesn't make Sony the miserable excuse for a company many of you guys are making them out to be.

No, I do not work for Sony and for the record, I am a 710 owner and I have not performed the flash upgrade.

I hate to say it but Sony messes up big time, and lost a lot of credibility in the process.

1. I can get the OS for free and i can upgrade my clie myself knowing that it is stable and downgrading back to the original OS is as simple. While we all know that hardware wise there is absolutely no difference between 710 and 760 so v4.0 wont damage 710 in anyway.

2. Pay $50 bucks to do the exact same thing and get 3 free styli and not have your unit for at least 3 days. But have the assurance that it is supported(?) by Sony.

Regardless of how much money you have but this is about common sense. There isnt even a morality issue here. I will pay for something that deserves to be paid for but how can sony charge to upgrade a unit that was released only a few months ago. Technically speaking the 710 will cost then the 760 when there is absolutely no difference.

If im not comfortable about upgrading the unit myself then i guess i have no choice but to shell out $50 bucks. That doesnt give me the right to call people who did it themselves pirates out of bitterness and envy.

On the other hand if i have the ability to upgrade myself then why on Gods good earth will i pay $50 bucks for something that Sony has been deceiving its customers about and something all 710's deserve anyway. However that doesnt give me the right to call people who pay for the upgrade ignorant out of defiance and arrogance.

The whole problem here is the fact that the 760 was released only months after 710. We all know how short the obsolescence cycle is but if Sony doesnt provide the upgrade for FREE it just killed the 710 in a few months. Where's the morality in that?

Ohhh la la... I would love to...

Should we pay more for the upgrade then? Like what someone suggested, make it $200 (or pounds even)

Let's show those people who complain that we whine how much we love Sony!

So.. please shut the **** up.

Upgrading to XP is not mandatory, and neither is upgrading to 4.1 on the CLIE. If you want the added extra, it's a luxury so pay for it. If you want to pirate it, go ahead. No one is going to stop you.

But will you all just stop the forking whining already?!!

As a matter of fact SONY has benefited from piracy. As a matter of fact the sucess of the SONY PLAYSTATION is attributed to the ability to modify it and play pirated games. (pirated games go for $1.50) As a matter of fact SONY has been very lacks in their efforts to prevent this. Why? Because pirated games have significantly decreases the maintainance value of the PSX. As more pirated games come out more people will buy playstations.

On a side not, the eventual winner of the next generation of consoles (PS2, Gamecube, Xbox, etc.) will obviously be determined by which units sell more. The number one determinant to that is not processing power or visual dominance or coolest design, it is COST and the only way to keep that down is the ability to play pirated games.

Bottom line is SONY is still making billions and billions of dollars with or without piracy. SONY sells hardware, thats their only concern. Thats why its so wrong that they charge people for the OS upgrade.

Maybe that's what we should do with the pirates too.

Sorry Rishi, thats pretty damn funny

First of all increasing the 2mb of memory on your m100 is a hardware issue. You can have your m100 modified by replacing your 2mb chip with an 8mb chip. There is no software that can do anything for that. Maybe a file maintainance software but not much more.

Secondly the OS of the m100 is not flashable so even if PALM or SONY paid people to upgrade their OS you wouldnt be able to do it.

Lastly adding an MMC/SD slot to your m100 is a hardware issue but im sure you knew that. To date there is no such thing for the m100 or m105.

I think your expecting too much for a 99 buck unit. Im surprised you didnt ask for color.

To make it even more amazing, it was posted twice!!!

What a refreshing break from all this madness. Thanks Rishi.

Plane tickets fluctuate all the time. To top it all off you introduce a once in a lifetime incident like Sept. 11! Your analogy is WAY off!!

Nice try though...

Stealing if theft whether you think its justified or not.

Its not an issue of "fair" its an issue of law.

Its dangerous when people do things that are wrong because they feel justified. I made the attempt at a parallel to the bombings because those sickos felt that they were justified to do something that was wrong, so they did it. All these 710 owners feel justified, so they're doing whatever they want and calming themselves by saying they deserve it. Legally, they deserve nothing.

Mad marketing...Yes.
Stupid....Yes.
Unfair....Sure.
Justifies copyright infringement/pirating? No.

Still Illegal.