Week in review: Data loss disasters

T-Mobile Sidekick LX

(Credit: CNET)

A massive data outage for Sidekick handheld users has become a massive PR headache for Microsoft and carrier T-Mobile.

A massive data outage in Microsoft's Danger unit left many T-Mobile Sidekick users without access to their calendar, address book, and other key data. However, things got even worse as Microsoft said in a statement that data not recovered thus far may be permanently lost. Microsoft and T-Mobile have not said how many of the roughly 800,000 Sidekick customers have lost data.

T-Mobile USA has, at least temporarily, stopped selling all models of the device as the company continues to investigate the recent problems.

T-Mobile later said that it may yet be able to recover Sidekick users' information. Those who do suffer permanent data loss will get a $100 "customer appreciation card" good toward T-Mobile service or products.

Not surprisingly, a number of lawsuits have been filed, including two in federal court in Northern California that allege both negligence and false claims on the part of Microsoft and T-Mobile.
• Sidekick's lesson: We learn by failing
• Unanswered questions loom large in Sidekick fiasco
• Sidekick users share their horror stories
• Deaf users sound off on Sidekick outage
• Microsoft: We've recovered most Sidekick data
• With outage, Sidekick service loses its footing

No comments:

Post a Comment