Microsoft's Danger Data Service disrupts users for over a week and now warns of loss of contact and calendar information -- unbelievable screw-up

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "John F. McMullen" <johnmac13 () gmail com>
Date: October 11, 2009 8:33:14 AM EDT
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>, "John F. McMullen" <johnmacsgroup () yahoogroups com 
>, Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>, Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com 
>
Cc: Commonweal Mailing List <commonweal () yahoogroups com>
Subject: Microsoft's Danger Data Service disrupts users for over a  
week and now warns of loss of contact and calendar information --  
unbelievable screw-up

From my blog:

T-Mobile's Sidekick Smart Phone Service, powered by Microsoft's Danger  
Data Service has been out of commission for over a week and now the  
users are warned that their data, stored on Danger's Servers, may have  
been lost and that the data that remains on their Sidekick devices is  
at jeopardy, putting customers contact and calendar information at  
risk to disappear.

Some johnmac comments:
1. There was never a problem like this prior to the Microsoft  
acquisition of Danger.
2. There has been little media coverage of this problem although I  
suspect that multi-thousands of users are affected.
3. It would seem that, given all of its technical expertise, Microsoft  
could come up with some way to replicate the original Danger SideKick  
to Danger backup. Failing that, it should be able to provide a USB  
backup to Outlook.
4. Perhaps Google can jump in witha Sidekick to G-Mail, G-Calendar,  
etc. If so, game over and a lot of Androids get sold.

-----------------------
The latest missive:

Sidekick customers, during this service disruption, please DO NOT  
remove your battery, reset your Sidekick, or allow it to lose power.
Updated: 10/10/2009 12:35 PM PDT
T-MOBILE AND MICROSOFT/DANGER STATUS UPDATE ON SIDEKICK DATA DISRUPTION
Dear valued T-Mobile Sidekick customers:
T-Mobile and the Sidekick data services provider, Danger, a subsidiary  
of Microsoft, are reaching out to express our apologies regarding the  
recent Sidekick data service disruption.
We appreciate your patience as Microsoft/Danger continues to work on  
maintaining platform stability, and restoring all services for our  
Sidekick customers.
Regrettably, based on Microsoft/Danger's latest recovery assessment of  
their systems, we must now inform you that personal information stored  
on your device - such as contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists or  
photos - that is no longer on your Sidekick almost certainly has been  
lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger. That said,  
our teams continue to work around-the-clock in hopes of discovering  
some way to recover this information. However, the likelihood of a  
successful outcome is extremely low. As such, we wanted to share this  
news with you and offer some tips and suggestions to help you rebuild  
your personal content. You can find these tips in our Sidekick  
Contacts FAQ. We encourage you to visit the Forums on a regular basis  
to access the latest updates as well as FAQs regarding this service  
disruption.
In addition, we plan to communicate with you on Monday (Oct. 12) the  
status of the remaining issues caused by the service disruption,  
including the data recovery efforts and the Download Catalog  
restoration which we are continuing to resolve. We also will  
communicate any additional tips or suggestions that may help in  
restoring your content.
We recognize the magnitude of this inconvenience. Our primary efforts  
have been focused on restoring our customers' personal content. We  
also are considering additional measures for those of you who have  
lost your content to help reinforce how valuable you are as a T-Mobile  
customer.
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.
Once again, T-Mobile and Microsoft/Danger regret any and all  
inconvenience this matter has caused.
Service Disruption FAQs| Disruption Credit FAQs| Disruption Discussion
Password/Sign-in Text Message FAQs | Password/Sign-in Discussion




--
"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." --  
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
"When you come to the fork in the road, take it" -- L.P. Berra
"Always make new mistakes" - Esther Dyson
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable
from magic"
   -- Sir Arthur C. Clarke
"You Gotta Believe" - Frank "Tug" McGraw (1944 - 2004 RIP)

                   John F. McMullen
Editor - Web2.0 The Magazine -- www.web2themag.com
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Senior Member, ACM
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