Orange's response to bugs + digital signatures

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

I have this afternoon contacted the Orange press office, to request Orange's official response to the bugs and issues raised in this forum, including the requirement for digital signatures, thereby preventing 'homebrew' software development for the SPV.

As soon as I hear back, I will update this thread.

P

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

I have this afternoon submitted the questions below to the relevant Orange contact on behalf of myself and the forum users, and anticipate an OFFICIAL Orange response in the near future.

Watch this space!

P

1)

OK, this is an obvious one, but one which is very close to people's hearts. Your early adopting SPV users have highlighted a reasonably large number of bugs in the SPV handset. Those raised so far are listed in our 'BugTrack' at http://www.modaco.com/viewforum.php?f=5.

Simply, what are Orange and Microsoft's plans regarding bugfixes and updates?

2)

A lot of your SPV customers are in the Developer Community. These customers (myself included!) were dismayed to learn that Orange had locked down the SPV such that software requires Orange digital signatures before being loaded on the device - thereby rendering any software created with the SmartPhone 2002 SDK unusable.

What is Orange's stance on this?

While the forum members understand the need for Orange to protect it's network infrastructure, a number of PDA devices have been deployed without issue before (Trium Mondo on Orange, HP Jornada 928 on Vodafone and Orange and the XDA on O2).

Is there any scope for Orange reconsidering their position to be more accomodating to these developers? I believe the uptake of the SmartPhone 2002 platform would be seriously hindered by this approach.

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

Hi guys and gals! I have now received an official reply from Orange to the points raised above, which I post below. Apologies for deleting the previous replies to this topic, just trying to keep it tidy! I will post an official forum response to the replies when I have seen what you guys have to say! After all, it's YOUR forum, as well as mine. Enjoy!

:?

Paul,

Thanks for the mail and apologies in the delay of response.

1) What are Orange and Microsoft's plans regarding bugfixes and

updates?

One of the key applications of the SPV is Orange Update. This allows us to send so software updates to customers over-the-air. We are working on one update to be sent before the end of the Year, and a further update to be sent before the end of Q2 2003. The intention is that these updates will address a number of concerns raised by your contributors.

2) Is there any scope for Orange reconsidering their position to be more

accomodating to developers? I believe the uptake of the SmartPhone

2002 platform would be seriously hindered by this approach.

Orange is committed to working with third party developers, and understand that developers and their applications will be essential to the success of the SPV - without these applications, customers will not get the best out of their SPV. However, to protect it's customers from malicious or corrupt applications and to protect the value generated by application developers, Orange has opted to implement security measures on the SPV. Orange is working towards launching a website early in the New Year to assist SPV developers. The site will detail how a developer can get their application digitally signed, how to get an application published on the Orange download site and also explain how a developer can get an SPV for development purposes.