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Microsoft/Danger lose Sidekick user data in server failure

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Re: Microsoft/Danger lose Sidekick user data in server failure

#21

Post by SamAtt »

jonknee wrote: post #16
SamAtt wrote: post #5

This probably (definitely?) makes me a jerk but I have to say it: They deserved it. I'm sorry but in this day and age anyone trusting their data to a device that stores it exclusively on the server deserves what they get. Some will say "the type of person who uses these devices isn't the type of person to understand where their data is located" but I say that's BS. We're in a data centric world now and I don't think…

Are you storing your Hacker News comments client-side? To use the Internet is to trust servers.

If my comments disappear tomorrow it's not going to have a huge negative impact on me. Not like losing my entire address book would.

Re: Microsoft/Danger lose Sidekick user data in server failure

#23

Post by SamAtt »

JimmyL wrote: post #10
SamAtt wrote: post #5

This probably (definitely?) makes me a jerk but I have to say it: They deserved it. I'm sorry but in this day and age anyone trusting their data to a device that stores it exclusively on the server deserves what they get. Some will say "the type of person who uses these devices isn't the type of person to understand where their data is located" but I say that's BS. We're in a data centric world now and I don't think…

Uh, what? Every day there are posts here about how great the Cloud is, and how we should just dump our data there and not have worry about data centers ourselves. Isn't that exactly what was done here - individual handheld users put their personal data into "the Cloud" (in this case, Microsoft's cloud) and then got hosed when the Cloud busted, as happens in traditional Cloud-computing applications. Should we now say…

1. I'm sorry but any admin who trusts their data solely to the cloud is foolish. It's just that simple. You really think an admin in a company is going to keep their job if they trust all their data to the cloud and then the cloud company screws up and loses it. No, because they were the one responsible for the data and they should have made backups.

Same here. Sidekick screwed up. No question. But that doesn't make it ok for the users not to have this data backed up.

2. How about you read my post before commenting on it. I didn't say they did know where their data is I said they had a responsibility to and if they weren't they were being irresponsible.

Re: Microsoft/Danger lose Sidekick user data in server failure

#24

Post by covercash »

megaduck wrote: post #13

Oh. My. God. I was one of the first Sidekick customers, long before the MS buyout. It was an amazing email/texting device, far easier and more comfortable to use than a Blackberry. Plus the web browsing was decent, and the UI was simple and elegant. All in all, a really cool phone. Unfortunately, the first generation of hardware was super flaky. I had five of them die on me in a year, often failing within weeks. Sinc…

I was a loyal Sidekick user right up until the day the first gen iPhone launched. It really was a fantastic device with the always on AIM, server side re-rendering of websites to optimize them for the device and one of the best physical keyboards I have used to this date.

If I remember correctly, Mark Cuban was a sidekick fanatic. I wonder what his reaction to this debacle is.

Re: Microsoft/Danger lose Sidekick user data in server failure

#26

Post by viraptor »

johnnybgoode wrote: post #18

This is incredible. In no way is it even remotely acceptable for them not to have backups.

It doesn't have to be the case of no backups. Many different things can happen... They could have a faulty backup design. They could have lost the backups. They could have a fault in their backup verification / checking procedure. They could miss some part of the data that wasn't crucial before, but after a couple of updates, they cannot restore contacts without it. Etc.

There are many ways this could have happened - not that they are excused because of that, but it's not fair to say "not to have backups" until we know the whole story.

Re: Microsoft/Danger lose Sidekick user data in server failure

#28

Post by pyre »

SamAtt wrote: post #5

This probably (definitely?) makes me a jerk but I have to say it: They deserved it. I'm sorry but in this day and age anyone trusting their data to a device that stores it exclusively on the server deserves what they get. Some will say "the type of person who uses these devices isn't the type of person to understand where their data is located" but I say that's BS. We're in a data centric world now and I don't think…

> To Anyone Downvoting This: Let me ask you one question. If someone without a seatbelt gets hit by a drunk driver does the fact that the accident's the drunk driver's fault mean it was ok for them not to wear a seatbelt?

Is a lack of a seatbelt the cause of the accident? Would having a seatbelt on prevent the accident? Is the drunk driver not the 'most guilty' party here?

No offense, but this is the type of situation where the company (Microsoft/Danger) needs to really get smacked back into the Stone Age. It's a case of huge neglect if they just lost all of their customers' data. I mean what will probably happen is just an apology with a, 'sorry this won't happen again folks' is wholly inadequate for what they caused.

Reaching into your other comment, while the bus driver and doctor have laws stating that they have legal responsibilities, there seriously needs to be one here. Regardless of consumers' ability to backup their own data, this sort of incompetence is unacceptable from any company operating on this sort of scale.

It really enrages me that the likely outcome of this whole thing will probably be less than a slap on the wrist, if that. While I'm not really a proponent of 'cloud services,' the fact that companies feel that they can offer these services and try to weasel out of any sort of damages they might cause through their incompetence by trying to add things like, "we are no liable for any damages" in some contract pisses me off. This is the same sort of legal nonsense as the 'arbitration' clauses in EULAs where the company is the one that gets to choose the person that will decide who is right and wrong in disputes... and someone somewhere in the company actually believes that this is fair.

Re: Microsoft/Danger lose Sidekick user data in server failure

#29

Post by Sidnicious »

"We continue to advise customers to NOT reset their device by removing the battery or letting their battery drain completely, as any personal content that currently resides on your device will be lost."

This is the most shocking part of the article. Is the system really set up so that a failure on the server side causes data on the devices to be deleted? That strikes me as bad design. Yes, any sync system comes with a built-in danger that one endpoint will unexpectedly delete data on another, but if servers goes down the phone should hold onto its data until told otherwise.

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