With outage, Sidekick service loses its footing

A prolonged outage for users of T-Mobile's Sidekick device gets even worse as Microsoft's Danger unit says that their lost Sidekick data may be gone forever.

Deaf users sound off on Sidekick outage

Recent problems with the smartphone, long popular in the deaf community, leave many users frustrated and sizing up alternatives.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)
October 15, 2009 4:00 AM PDT

Microsoft: We've recovered most Sidekick data

In a letter to customers, the software maker said that it thinks only a minority of customers will end up losing any data.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)
October 15, 2009 1:00 AM PDT

Lawsuits filed over Sidekick outages

Various legal actions claim negligence on the part of Microsoft and T-Mobile led to the recent cell phone woes.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)
October 14, 2009 4:04 PM PDT

Sidekick's lesson: We learn by failing

The Sidekick outage shows that management hasn't caught up with the cloud, not that network storage is unreliable.
(Posted in Rafe's Radar by Rafe Needleman)
October 12, 2009 10:32 PM PDT

Unanswered questions loom large in Sidekick fiasco

Microsoft and Danger remain largely silent as to both what led to a massive data loss as well as what it plans to do to try to make things right, not to mention what this will all mean for the future of the device.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)
October 12, 2009 4:39 PM PDT

T-Mobile says Sidekick data may yet return

The wireless carrier says "recent efforts indicate the prospects of recovering some lost content may now be possible." Those who suffer permanent data loss will get $100.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)
October 12, 2009 6:01 PM PDT

T-Mobile halts sales of Sidekick

Amid a massive failure that led to data loss for owners of the the gadgets, the wireless carrier stops selling new devices online and at its stores.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)
October 12, 2009 10:11 AM PDT

Sidekick users share their horror stories

In the wake of a massive data loss, tales of woe are coming in from those whose devices have suffered a wicked case of amnesia.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)
October 12, 2009 9:29 AM PDT

Sidekick outage casts cloud over Microsoft

Although Microsoft inherited Danger's service, this week's massive failure could call into question the broader reliability of depending on keeping data in Redmond's cloud.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)
October 10, 2009 3:26 PM PDT

Missing Sidekick data may be gone for good

T-Mobile issues apology to users, saying whatever contacts, calendar info, and other data that are currently missing from their Sidekicks are likely to be lost forever.
(Posted in Crave by Matt Hickey)
October 10, 2009 1:40 PM PDT

Major outage hits T-Mobile Sidekick users

Outage that began Friday knocked out data service. Microsoft, whose Danger subsidiary powers the Sidekick service, says it has restored service for "critical applications."
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)
October 6, 2009 11:57 AM PDT

[shycelticwitch]

Mobile Me rocks. It syncs all my systems no matter where I am, as long as I am connected. New info on phone? backed up to cloud and computer. iDisk syncs automatically. Mail syncs automatically. Calendar syncs automatically. In other words... my info is stored and synchronized in three different locations, automatically! Data loss? Not me. Maybe a few kbs if the system goes down while synchronizing, but nothing to get panties in a knot over like this mess in Redmond. But I agree with most others here... blame the cloud service, not MS. It wasn't their technology that caused the issue.

If the auto sync feature is used on Mobile Me, very little data would be lost during an issue such as this. I lost no data during the Me outages that occurred when they were fine tuning the service. Auto sync can be set to operate at specified intervals, or as soon as you turn on the device. It did have a few bugs in the beginning, but for $99 a year you cannot top the features you get with this service.

And yes Dan, I will keep posting this as "info" for those looking for a safer way to "cloud".

[MyRightEye]

Yeah but what happens if all the data in the cloud is deleted? You can kiss your data goodbye, that's what. Oh, wait, not so fast, because Apple keeps all that data on the local device AND in the cloud, so it is impossible to lose your data. Apple knows what they are doing.

[shycelticwitch]

you answered your own question. I don't use any kind of smart phone, but I do have 5 different "offices" that rely on the .me cloud for data storage and transfer. All five are set up so any new info added to cloud from another location is automatically backed up to a tape drive AND a server every time I log on no matter which location I am in. Can you say "Time Machine"? One of the most awesome features I have seen on the Mac so far.

[Fil0403]

Bad alternative and/or exmaple IMO: granted it's surely not as bad as losing data, around 20,000 members unable to access their e-mail through MobileMe for around 2 weeks doesn't sound to me as a much "safer way to "cloud"".

[rdbyrne]

I suspected that when Microsoft bought the Danger Sidekick company that they would intentionally kill the operating system and replace it with Windows Mobile. (Shiver!) Never in my wildest dreams would Microsoft accidentally kill the Danger operating system by failing to back up their system.

If I were Tmobile, I'd demand Microsoft replace the Sidekicks with Android phones.

[faceless128]

hey now, WinMo saves data locally, on a SD card via various programs such as PIMBackup, remotely with ActiveSync, over the internet with several 3rd party apps such as Dashwire and even Microsoft's own MyPhone. Danger's been designing their phones for almost 10 years with a cloud only based implementation, that's not really Microsoft's fault, it's by design of the phone.

[JCPayne]

But ofcourse. The Sidekick used Java. Java is owned by their nemesis Sun Microsystems (Which became Oracle). So... Voila. Get everyone off Java... Opps. server died in the process.... If you look at the Sidekick's internal software you'd see that the server it connects to is t-mobile.hiptop.com And "Hiptop.com *is* at Danger not T-Mobile.

[James7777777]

5 Articles on this? Who cares that much to read five articles and listen to a podcast on this subject?

[viper396]

I'm sure all those that use T-Mobile sidekicks care. You cared enough to comment on it yet contribute nothing usefull to the conversation.

[James7777777]

3 More articles today. I understand reporting on the news, but it was only news once, stop trying to milk it cnet.

[A41202813]

M$Z.

[cloudmatt]

check who wrote most of them. One Ina Fried, in fact today she had 2 stories about this only 3 hours apart. I call apple pie and whitewash.

[dylerl]

Ha Ha, should have bought a Iphone, should no better than to use a Microsoft product to store your data, yeah I know they bought Danger but it is still their product and their responsibility, this makes Microsoft look like the amateurs they are when a company like this doesn't even back up their users data, pathetic!!! I hope all sidekick users sue the crap out of them!!!

[viper396]

You and your juvenile hate mongering attitude don't exactly give anyone a valid reason to buy an iphone. If you really cared you would do Apple a favor and stop trying be their salesman. You're an embarassment.

[Akiba]

Apple is having a similar problem with Snow Leopard, except you don't even have to store your data on their servers: http://apple.slashdot.org/story/09/10/12/2259228/Major-Snow-Leopard-Bug-Said-To-Delete-User-Data?art_pos=17

The only reason this is getting attention is because it involves MS.

[AppleSuxLeo]

Snow Leopard guest account bug deletes user data
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/10/12/snow_leopard_guest_account_bug_deletes_user_data.html

[solitare_pax]

Interesting - but many programs I run on Windows seem quite adept at losing data on their own.

This Cloud Computer thing seems like a step back to the ages of Mainframes and terminals anyways - wouldn't it be wisest to have a local copy and an external copy of your data rather than rely on a sole set of data?

[sharmajunior]

All I want to say is: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHA

All sidekick users deserved it, they were just so annoying back in high school, trying to look cool (I am not complaining). They distracted me so much with their chitter chatter typing, so now NO SERVICE MEANS NO PROPER DEVICE FUNCTIONALITY.


BTW, has anyone wondered, if this stuff happened to Sidekick users whose data is not that precious as Medical records, what if this thing happened to medical records [if the gov't decided to go with letting Microsoft host and create a cloud for medica records]?

I am also pretty sure, the T-Mobile network would be much lighter now.

[mrcjacobs]

This is the biggest "Non News Worthy" story I have ever seen. Everything, and I do mean everything eventually breaks down or has some sort of service outage. It's a fact of life. Those that didn't have the common sense to make a local backup of the stuff on their phones have just learned a valuable lesson. I would wager that they won't make the same mistake again. So lets all just move along because there's nothing to see here!

[Warp09]

All cloud data is stored in a central location at a secret rural Virginia site. It is managed by Homeland Security. It's perfectly safe.

[Fil0403]

Not just cloud data, all data, including everything in your computer, smartphone, and fridge. It is not only managed by Homeland Security, but also by the CIA, the FBI, NASA, the NSA, and George W. Bush himself. Get a doctor.

[Fil0403]

IMO it's not hard to conclude that if it was already a hard task to fight the market leader (RIM BlackBerry), even more so now.

[Fil0403]

...and IMO RIM BlackBerry is precisely the one that most wins with this situation.