Palm Pledges Security Patch for Some Treo's

According to InfoWorld, Palm spokesperson Marlene Somsak has pledged that Palm will fix the recently disclosed Treo security vulnerability on the current products, but not discontinued models such as the Treo 650 and 600. She states in the article, "Palm will definitely be fixing the vulnerability in Cinular Treo 680's and Sprint 700p in an upcoming "rev", but all other models will remain unfixed." [...] "Palm has already done the revs they planned on the other models and hadn't planned to do more."

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Verizon?

a_nonamiss @ 2/21/2007 3:08:46 PM # Q
So what about my Verizon 700p? I thought there was a ROM update planned for that one, too. It would be a shame, because I love my Treo.

Arthur

Palm Pilot 1000 > Palm Pilot Professional > Palm III > Palm M100 > Sony Clié PEG-T415 > Palm T|T3 > Samsung SCH-i730 > Palm 700p

RE: Verizon?
jfme @ 2/21/2007 7:47:31 PM # Q
"Palm will definitely be fixing the vulnerability in Cingular Treo 680's and Sprint 700p in an upcoming "rev", but all other models will remain unfixed."

How about the rest of us "suckers"?

I guess Verizon, and unlocked customers are OK to lose...

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Discontinued Products Hmmm?

foxmulder @ 2/21/2007 3:49:22 PM # Q
How long till the 680 is discontinued? This has me consider the timeline for palm's discontinuation of products. It seems to me that the amount of available devices shrink all the time when products get discontinued especially when you consider that a portion of them don't even run Palm OS.

I mean how do you spend so much money releasing an inferior product first only to sell the updated (maybe "real") one later.

For example, just to name a few

Palm IIIx becomes Palm IIIxe
Palm 505 becomes Palm 515
Zire 71 becomes Zire 72
Treo 600 becomes Treo 650
Tungsten e becomes Tungsten e2

Off the top of my head I just named 5 devices that seem to be the result of rush to market intial offerings. And it really is not that the products work but they are outdated in terms of new functionalities in the market as can be expected. It is that they are flawed to begin with (Zire 71 camera ribbon, 505 color, etc). Some users actually prefer some of their older models to the new update ones with missing features.

I guess by calling something discontinued you don't have to follow the same kind of actions you would need to if they were called a recall.

How ridiculous is it that your "Customer" provides a solution to "your flaw" to your "Customers" and you don't even thank him or send a freebie or something. Unless I am mistaken there seems to have been no addressing of this fix by someone other than them.

http://www.palmisdead.com

RE: Discontinued Products Hmmm?
PacManFoo @ 2/21/2007 7:01:25 PM # Q
You forgot
Tungsten T -> Tungsten T2
Lifedrive -> Oh well just kill it off
TX -> We'll just stop making PDA's

PDA's Past and Present:
Palm - IIIxe, Vx, M500, M505, Tungsten T, TX
Handspring - Edge, Platinum
Sony - SJ22
Apple - MP2000, MP2100
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Stupid

ocspub @ 2/21/2007 5:07:53 PM # Q
While I don't think the actual flaw is all that great (if you have secret information on your Treo, don't secure it just with the rather useless "private" flag!), this can quickly turn into a public relations nightmare for Palm where the media and the press (not understanding anything about the details) point out that Palm doesn't offer secure devices and doesn't stand behind its products.

Visit www.tapland.com for Zodiac news and discussion.
RE: Stupid
PacManFoo @ 2/21/2007 7:05:17 PM # Q
It would be a public relations nightmare if it weren't for the fact that this is buisness as usual at Palm. After so many years of it now we have just come to expect it from them.

PDA's Past and Present:
Palm - IIIxe, Vx, M500, M505, Tungsten T, TX
Handspring - Edge, Platinum
Sony - SJ22
Apple - MP2000, MP2100
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I'm so sorry.

twrock @ 2/21/2007 9:28:14 PM # Q
"Palm has already done the revs they planned on the other models and hadn't planned to do more."

"Hadn't planned to do more." I can not believe they can say that with a straight face! [sarcasm]Oh, poor Palm. I'm so sorry that you might have to change your "plans" because you didn't properly design you product in the first place. Yes, you are right once again: the user should be the one who suffers for it.[/sarcasm] Unbelievable!


Thinking about Vista? Think again: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt
Want an alternative? Try this: http://www.ubuntu.com/

RE: I'm so sorry.
drw @ 2/21/2007 11:06:00 PM # Q
"Palm has already done the revs they planned on the other models and hadn't planned to do more."

That is soooooooo LAME, soooooooo ARROGANT. They had a decade head start on nokia, motorola, symbian, wince, apple, and they have blown their lead in the most spectacular implosion since enron. They're going from world wide domination to single product nano-niche to nothing. I hope all the employees of Palm feel satisfied having ruined a beautiful platform.

Regards,
T|C user

---
David

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Why the Palm bashing?

jhh @ 2/22/2007 4:02:25 AM # Q
I'd be very surprised if the Verizon 700p and the unlocked 680 were not patched by Palm - it was probably just a badly worded comment. And it is standard practice by all manufacturers to stop updating old devices. I don't recall any cell phone manufacturer ever releasing any firmware updates for phones I owned prior to switching to the Treo, despite known issues with them.

Having said that, given the (GSM) Treo 650 has only just been superseded by the 680, I'm surprised they won't be patching that one.

RE: Why the Palm bashing?
ocspub @ 2/22/2007 2:34:34 PM # Q
> And it is standard practice by all manufacturers to stop updating old devices.

Well, I would be surprised if Microsoft didn't continue to patch XP now that Vista is out. Let's face it, we're talking about a security issue here, not a feature patch. What would someone's "workaround" be if they are concerned about this issue -- buy a newer Treo? Surely there are still people around with 650s that are less than a year old (given that the 700p was just released in May of last year), who are potentially stuck in two-year contracts.

As I said earlier, it's a stupid move that saves them a few bucks on engineering and a lot of potential good-will because of bad PR.

Visit www.tapland.com for Zodiac news and discussion.

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