1.4.2?

[JohnBachmann]

Last week several people posted that they had spoken to B&N support about how 1.4.1 had caused damage to their Nook Tablet's operating system and had destroyed the ability to side load apps from other sources. At least two people posted that they were told that B&N had disabled the side loading by mistake and that they were going to fix this "next week."  Any time table on when this is going to occur? I have had my wi-fi turned off for the last week because of this virus-like 1.4.1 "update." PLEASE FIX!!

[raqball]

Yawn... You could have posted this in any one of the 19,837 threads that currently have sideloading rants... I highly doubt 1.4.1 was released by mistake and I am even more sure it's not a virus... Yawn...

[Souzou]

OMG!  You mean my nook no longer does something that the company never said it could do in the first place!?  What am I supposed to do now?   READ?!?!?!

I'm so tired of the endless sideloading app complaints.  It just clutters everything and makes it harder to talk about anything worthwhite. 

[TnTexas]

Souzou: I'm so tired of the endless sideloading app complaints.  It just clutters everything and makes it harder to talk about anything worthwhite. 

No one's forcing you to read the complaints. If you don't think they're worthwhile then feel free to ignore them and start topics you feel are.

[raqball]

@TnTexas Sounds good but how can it be avoided / ignored when it's littered in every thread! Sure he/she can start a new thread but no matter what it will get crapped in just the same as every single thread on this forum... It's quite sad and pathetic...

[gilgomez]

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JohnBachmann wrote:

Last week several people posted that they had spoken to B&N support about how 1.4.1 had caused damage to their Nook Tablet's operating system and had destroyed the ability to side load apps from other sources. At least two people posted that they were told that B&N had disabled the side loading by mistake and that they were going to fix this "next week."  Any time table on when this is going to occur? I have had my wi-fi turned off for the last week because of this virus-like 1.4.1 "update." PLEASE FIX!!

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I too would like to hear from a B&N admin or tech rep regarding this matter since many NT owners are frustrated with the latest firmware update.

Please respond and/or acknowledge the request.  Thanks.

[TelSC]

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Souzou wrote:

OMG!  You mean my nook no longer does something that the company never said it could do in the first place!?  What am I supposed to do now?   READ?!?!?!

I'm so tired of the endless sideloading app complaints.  It just clutters everything and makes it harder to talk about anything worthwhite. 

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Examples please because I'm sick of this "bury my head in the sand" attitude that all you B&N employees have about the update. How can you sit there and whine and pout about folks complaining when a company changes the hardware they purchased without their permission. IT'S CALLED A TABLET, IT WAS MARKETED AS A TABLET, IT WAS SOLD AS A TABLET. and if that's too much for your brain to wrap itself around, then I'd suggest you go back to whatever it is you do when you're not trolling these threads. Complaints are how things get done so GET OVER IT!!!!

[poiuy]

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It's quite sad and pathetic...

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It's only sad and pathetic because it's not an issue you care about.  If it was an issue you did care about and didn't really affect me I certainly wouldn't be rude enough to post anything like that about your concern.  There are a lot of posts about it because it's unresolved.  If you want to see the subject go away, help us either get it addressed, or at the very least help us get B&N to address the issue directly.

[gilgomez]

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TelSC wrote:

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Souzou wrote:

OMG!  You mean my nook no longer does something that the company never said it could do in the first place!?  What am I supposed to do now?   READ?!?!?!

I'm so tired of the endless sideloading app complaints.  It just clutters everything and makes it harder to talk about anything worthwhite. 

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Examples please because I'm sick of this "bury my head in the sand" attitude that all you B&N employees have about the update. How can you sit there and whine and pout about folks complaining when a company changes the hardware they purchased without their permission. IT'S CALLED A TABLET, IT WAS MARKETED AS A TABLET, IT WAS SOLD AS A TABLET. and if that's too much for your brain to wrap itself around, then I'd suggest you go back to whatever it is you do when you're not trolling these threads. Complaints are how things get done so GET OVER IT!!!!

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I agree regarding the inferred android tablet in their marketing.............

Barnes and Noble:  Please stop calling it a Tablet and simply issue a press statement in that it is simply a Nook Color 2. 

Or, we would appreciate a formal response from B&N outlining their reasons behind the latest firmware intent and their removing customers' freedom to use owned (legally purchased via 3rd party Android and ebook vendors) electronic media and applications.

Those bored or irritated by NT threads regarding this topic or other topics of no personal interest to themselves should simply ignore them.  If these are not open forums then just have B&N tell us up front so we don't bother. 

Thanks and................  Stop Calling it a Tablet! 

[krier32]

In response to Souzou: Sorry, but maybe you should go back and read the Terms of Service that speciafically say I can load my own content. And before you try to tell me that apps aren't content, go research reviews and articles by major pc and computing magazines and you will find that when they refer to content, it is anything loaded onto the tablet other than the operating system.

[SamSpade88]

I think the ranting and raving is good because you are passionate about your device and expect what you expected. The fact B&N hid the link for the update indicates they are either going to fix it or at least figure out what to do about it. I would expect after the holidays.

I am a little pissed because I updated my NT based on B&N Support to fix my corrupt subscription. Unfortunately that didn't fix it and it was only the brilliance of B&N Community posters that I was able to rectify the situation. B&N does need to be held accountable for this screwup with their handicapped update and the more we pour this over the threads and the media in general then people will be more vocal about this when they contact support.  Keep the pressure on and Happy New Year!!

[keithlm]

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krier32 wrote:
And before you try to tell me that apps aren't content, go research reviews and articles by major pc and computing magazines and you will find that when they refer to content, it is anything loaded onto the tablet other than the operating system.

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If you do research on "content management" you find that in general the word "content" is used to mean mostly documents or data. The definition is vague enough that somebody could possibly stretch it to include apps; but applications are not generally included in the common definition you'll find for the term on half a dozen content management sites.

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One definition of the word content from a content management site:

What is Content?

Content is in essence, any type or 'unit' of digital information. It can be text, images, graphics, video, sound, documents, records etc - or in other words - anything that is likely to be managed in an electronic format.

(From http://www.contentmanager.eu.com/cms.htm)

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From another site:

"More generally, effective content management systems support an organization's business processes for acquiring, filtering, organizing, and controlling access to information."

(From http://compnetworking.about.com/od/internetaccessbestuses/l/aa122999b.htm)

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As can be seen above the definition is vague enough that somebody could claim apps are content. But the definition does not specifically mention apps or software.

And this is how the word is used in the IT industry. If we narrow down how the word is used in the publishing industry you'll find that if it came to a court of law that B&N can easily support the stand that content does NOT include apps.

I personally hope they re-open the use of side-loading apps; but as others have mentioned the amount of complaints is kind of pathetic. (And the misinformation used to attempt to substantiate claims is even worse.)

[TnTexas]

SamSpade88: I think the ranting and raving is good because you are passionate about your device and expect what you expected. The fact B&N hid the link for the update indicates they are either going to fix it or at least figure out what to do about it. I would expect after the holidays.

I'm not so sure about this. My Tablet updated itself after the link to the update was reported to be hidden. If they plan to address the issue, why did they continue the OTA updates? Why not stop them when they hid the link?

[patgolfneb]

Nice post Keithlm. I doubt an interpretation based on IT or legal perspectives will satisfy people in the I should be able to do anything I want camp. There are so many grey areas. Music, word docs are easy, but what about a self written app. All content requires the OS to respond in some way. Any action which modifies the OS clearly can be prevented, most apps don't. I doubt most end users will feel that the IT and legal usages don't matter. The users objecting value this practice, feel entitled to it, and are defining it from a customer service perspective. The fact that that legally they have no meritis irrelevant to them.

[TnTexas]

patgolfneb:  The users objecting value this practice, feel entitled to it ...........

I suspect that most feel entitled to it simply because the ability was there when they bought the Tablet, they're objecting to having the device limited post-sale. Had the ability been limited from the very beginning, I think most would be disappointed; and many would have chosen not to buy the device. But I don't think they would have been angry over it.

[PeterDe]

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SamSpade88 wrote:

I think the ranting and raving is good because you are passionate about your device and expect what you expected. The fact B&N hid the link for the update indicates they are either going to fix it or at least figure out what to do about it. I would expect after the holidays.

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I'm sorry to say that the link is no longer hidden. Its right on the support page under software updates.

[SamSpade88]

Oh no!  What a disaster!!!  

[Nom-de-Nook]

to the OP, it definitely was intentional that sideloading is no longer supported (you can argue it was a mistake but a business mistake not a mistaken update).  You can tell because you get an error that tells you that you can only load apps from the BN app store as opposed to some generic system error.

I don't really get all the complaining either.  Just return the device if it doesn't meet your needs.  Also be aware that BN can and will update your device whenver, however they want as long as you are unrooted and on wifi. 

[CaptainGuy]

Many android apps are simply re-formatted HTML / XML pages.

I've created dozens for my phone and would love to have them on the nook.  

Hey, wait, I do... I just copy the html source to a directory and voila, I have the content, but it is not automatically formatted to the nook.

SO, Apps can be content.

[JMTR]

keithlm wrote: "I personally hope they re-open the use of side-loading apps; but as others have mentioned the amount of complaints is kind of pathetic."

The arguments in this thread against Nook users expressing their opinions are very highhanded. People aren't spamming the forums with off-topic diatribes; they are writing about what matters to them as customers of B&N. The only way that companies know what their customers think, and how they feel, is by the customers telling them. The fact that customer X complains about something does not mean that customers Y and Z shouldn't also speak up; indeed, their failure to lend their voices would only lead the company to conclude, "Well, we've received only one complaint on this subject, so evidently it's not important." Someone who got his Nook this week has just as much right to express his views here as someone who got his Nook last week, or the week before that, or the month before that. Indeed, if he remains silent because he thinks the point already has been made, he's being foolish.

Weight of customer opinion -- intensity of customer opinion -- matters to companies. Issues go away when they are resolved, or when no customers are left who wish to raise them. They don't go away because other customers get bored and tell the dissatisified ones to be quiet.