2006 is rapidly drawing to a close, and yet I find Microsoft and MarkSpace conspiring to make it difficult.
First up, the Vista upgrade redemption from the good people at Microsoft. For those who acquired an OEM copy of WinXP during the later stages of the year there is a free upgrade to Vista on offer. To do this, jump over to their web-site and enter the coupon details, and Bob is your proverbial uncle.
If only. Firstly, the site is terrible. My first try in November was met by a refusal of the site to acknowledge that Windows XP MCE existed. Today’s try got a little further than that at least, but it was a painful journey. Every time you enter something the page reloads. Completely. Even for the obvious choices – such as selecting the only possible upgrade option, and then the quantity. And they use US dates, even when I’ve said I’m in the UK and my browser asks for UK English. Do I need to play Land of Hope and Glory as well?
Nor can you go back. God forbid that you make a mistake. This becomes particularly problematic around payment. Select your payment type – credit card or debit card. Easy. I’ve got a Visa card with DEBIT CARD printed in large capital letters across it. It’s not easy to confuse it with a credit card. And yet, they only believe in Solo/Switch debit cards. Further, you can’t go back. ‘Cancel’ I cry! They ask am I sure, for if I cancel the order then I’ll have to contact customer support. ‘Cancel payment’ I click instead, and am helpfully returned to exactly the same page. Further, submission results in a generic failure and a ‘please try again’ message. However, trying again results in ‘this coupon has already been used’. Could this all be an elaborate measure to ensure Vista’s security by never shipping it? One wonders…
On the desktop side, MarkSpace and their Missing Sync for Windows Mobile product has been driving me mad. Not only did they release the WM5 version (v2.5) and then follow it but a few months later with v3, but it doesn’t work. Can I get a USB connection to work with my HTC Wizard? Not a snowflake’s chance in hell. Bluetooth is my only option, and even that is flakey as hell, usually resulting in a crash of the software after disconnection and bollocksing up network access on my machine. Nor, looking at the forums, do I appear to be the only one suffering. No wonder people are happy to pirate software willy nilly when when one pays one gets such rubbish.
But never mind. This evening we’re off to Somerset House for New Year’s, where we can watch the fireworks in the howling wind and avoid the exceptionally packed Embankment. Assuming, of course, it doesn’t piss down. (Ironically enough, just as I wrote that line the rain started… figures).
