Thursday, December 19, 2002
What's Up For e310 Owners?
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "HARDWARE" @ 12:30 PM
Reader Herbert Dijkman sent this in a few days ago. "Bad news for Toshiba e310 owners(like me). I asked Toshiba when the e310 upgrade will be released (the e740 upgrade is available for about a month now). This is their response. 'Unfortunately, the E310 has been discontinued and as far as I know, there is no plan to release a EUU3 update at the moment. Please check our site or www.pocketpc.com frequently for any new updates that may be released for the Operating System. Thank You.'"
Well, first of all, Microsoft provides the updates to the OEMs to test and distribute and you won't find them on www.pocketpc.com. Second, after various attempts to contact both their PR and Tech Support departments going back to December 3rd, we've had no response to clarify this issue. I am still optimistic that the above quote was a response from an employee that didn't have all of the facts.
I think it is very important for us to keep the upgrade and support record of companies for discontinued devices in mind when making purchasing decisions. I have no illusions that my 3900 is still really an active product with the 5400's coming out, but given Compaq's track record in the past, I am reasonably confident that they will not only keep providing EUUs for the device, but also a future Pocket PC upgrade assuming the 3900 meets the hardware requrements, just as they did for the 3600 series last year. Compaq also makes a solid effort to keep supporting older products with new hardware, like sleeves and keyboards. Toshiba's new keyboard, in contrast, seems to only be available for the brand new e330/335 and e740 devices, not the recently discontinued e310. :( See the comments in this thread.
Toshiba makes a fantastic product. Let's hope they are going to support them past their discontinuance date and not leave older e310 and e570/Maestro owners out in the cold.
Well, first of all, Microsoft provides the updates to the OEMs to test and distribute and you won't find them on www.pocketpc.com. Second, after various attempts to contact both their PR and Tech Support departments going back to December 3rd, we've had no response to clarify this issue. I am still optimistic that the above quote was a response from an employee that didn't have all of the facts.
I think it is very important for us to keep the upgrade and support record of companies for discontinued devices in mind when making purchasing decisions. I have no illusions that my 3900 is still really an active product with the 5400's coming out, but given Compaq's track record in the past, I am reasonably confident that they will not only keep providing EUUs for the device, but also a future Pocket PC upgrade assuming the 3900 meets the hardware requrements, just as they did for the 3600 series last year. Compaq also makes a solid effort to keep supporting older products with new hardware, like sleeves and keyboards. Toshiba's new keyboard, in contrast, seems to only be available for the brand new e330/335 and e740 devices, not the recently discontinued e310. :( See the comments in this thread.
Toshiba makes a fantastic product. Let's hope they are going to support them past their discontinuance date and not leave older e310 and e570/Maestro owners out in the cold.
