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-- OmniSky: early adopter = beta tester?! (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=11119)

After several days with my OmniSky service and Minstrel modem I get the feeling that:

1) I am beta testing software for connection and file maintenance,

2) the OmniSky software is poorly written and not handling memory properly.

My stable PRISM with PalmOS 3.5.2H had been running without Fatal Error (!) for a few of months. With the OmniSky software I am getting classic memory stomping and recoverable (soft reset) fatal errors. Connection is overall pretty good considering it's a new service. I'm OK with it. But the software obviously hasn't been run through much (any?) compatibility testing with standard apps.

So far I'm 50 (return) 50 (keep) with it. If updates come along promptly to deal with the problems great. I'd rather have the bugs fixed than have native color in the main OmniSky app.


[Edited by dtplink on 01-23-2001 at 02:37 PM]

Well, looks like we'll be waiting quite a while for native color support on our Prism's...I emailed them this morning about that and customer service got back to me saying they have no timeframe on when color support will be issued for the Prism.

If that's the case, I'm with you...hope they get around to fixing the current version's bugs. I really like the service, and a wirelss Blazer, alone, makes it worth it IMHO. The daily soft resets (for no apparent reason) gets annoying, though.

Oh, being an early adopter is OK in moderation, but like the old bromide goes: "all too often you can identify the pioneers by all the arrows in their backs..."

quote:

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Originally posted by dtplink
After several days with my OmniSky service and Minstrel modem I get the feeling that:

1) I am beta testing software for connection and file maintenance,

---

__________________
...the patron saint of the easily amused...

While I don't want to take OmniSky completely off the hook for the Fatal Errors I've been experiencing, it does look like they are going to have to find a way to deal with web pages with javascript and frames better than a crash. It seems that many of the problems I am facing have to do with with long, complicated, web sites not optimized for my pda, or for desktop systems for that matter. Some crashes happen when I try to exit a slow loading page on the verge of crashing.


Today I found the sweet reception spot and reached an RSSI of 52 and solid green. Moving between pages was like having a T1 attached. I will now only eat in similarly optimized restaurants.