Sunday, July 29, 2007
Desperate Times Make Desperate ROM Flashers
Posted by Jon Westfall in "THOUGHT" @ 08:30 AM
A couple of days ago, a AT&T/Cingular Windows Mobile 6 ROM appeared on XDA-Developers forums, and the frenzy began. The ROM File, which wasn't even packaged in an executable (as normal ROMs are), has probably been downloaded a few hundred times now (conservatively), been thrown on to MiniSD cards, and manually installed via the Treo's bootloader by individuals who have been foaming at the mouth since early June for the Treo Upgrade. Some have reported serious problems, while some report that the upgrade has gone amazingly well. Heck, even one person reported that they believed that this leaked ROM would prompt Palm and the OEMs to release their official ROMs this Tuesday! (Wishful thinking I suspect, someone who is just hoping to "will" the carriers into producing a real upgrade!)
The problem here isn't that ROM leaks occur and are detrimental to the community (Which they very well may be). The problem is that a group of users, namely Treo 750 owners, has been baited for so long by Palm for a WM 6 upgrade (with pictures of it showing up early this year and an official announcement stating that their will be an upgrade coming several months back), that these 750 owners are willing to jump as soon as ANYTHING WM 6 related comes along! This ROM, which I suspect is actually an earlier beta (Not that close to the finished product as some may think) that now has found it's way to the hands of users, is seen by users as filling a void that their OEM should have filled months ago - and users are downloading a rather large file that may potentially destroy their devices just because they can't wait any longer for the slow OEMs and Palm to react. In a strange way, it appears to me like a child who has been told not to eat the cookie from the jar grabbing a jar of potentially dangerous cookies and devouring them!
Are you desperate enough to try a "iffy" ROM on your device just to get to Windows Mobile 6? And Does Palm have any of the blame resting on it's shoulders for bricked devices given their non-existant communication with users regarding the timeline for this upgrade?
The problem here isn't that ROM leaks occur and are detrimental to the community (Which they very well may be). The problem is that a group of users, namely Treo 750 owners, has been baited for so long by Palm for a WM 6 upgrade (with pictures of it showing up early this year and an official announcement stating that their will be an upgrade coming several months back), that these 750 owners are willing to jump as soon as ANYTHING WM 6 related comes along! This ROM, which I suspect is actually an earlier beta (Not that close to the finished product as some may think) that now has found it's way to the hands of users, is seen by users as filling a void that their OEM should have filled months ago - and users are downloading a rather large file that may potentially destroy their devices just because they can't wait any longer for the slow OEMs and Palm to react. In a strange way, it appears to me like a child who has been told not to eat the cookie from the jar grabbing a jar of potentially dangerous cookies and devouring them!
Are you desperate enough to try a "iffy" ROM on your device just to get to Windows Mobile 6? And Does Palm have any of the blame resting on it's shoulders for bricked devices given their non-existant communication with users regarding the timeline for this upgrade?
