[hayabusa]

Has anyone looked into this? I looking at testing this out in our enviroment to see if it might be an alternative to Blackberry for our converged phone users in corp.

[hdawg]

We use it; it works. I like BES better.

Whatchoo lookin into it for? The uppity ups want something different?

[Frank Castle]

When the whole RIM / NCP thing was going on we put in a good server to beat around in the event we needed something else. Outside of the BES it's the next best thing. It actually had some things that I liked (website, OTA deployment) BES 4.1 has brought some of these items to Blackberry and Good isn't much cheaper CAL wise.

In the end we stuck with BES and Blackberry due to we have a large amount of users already with a BB. And Good doesn't have THAT many devices to choose from.

[hayabusa]

they are looking for a cheaper alternative to BB but they are also wanting to utilize converge devices with 802.11 and push email technology so they can hop on and off there network shares. I have looked at Cal price and its not much different but they may be able to save some on the device price. I just wasnt sure how secure it was compared to BB. Most of the white papers I have read on it looks to be about the same. I think they are wanting to also get a device with a smaller learning curve for our end users with going to a windows product as well. Any info on this product would be very helpfull like if you had issues setting it up proxy, pacfile, software push etc etc ......

[hdawg]

actually, my biggest complaint with GOOD is the fact that security is packaged as a different product GMD (Good Mobile Defense) ... and GMI (Good Mobile Intranet) is another totally different product. When you get BES, you get it all.

I guess its just me liking how it is with BES, but with GMD you need certain version of software and handheld versions ... whereas with BES the core security features (that we've grown to accept as a minimum) are supported with every device.

[Frank Castle]

I wouldn't call moving to a non blackberry having a less learning curve, if anything I find users are more confused as you need to use a stylus and tap on what you want. Blackberry I give a 15 min once over and their off and sending emails. If your talking straight email I'm not convinced WM is easier to use from a end user perspective.

[hdawg]

Excellent point. The BB HH is so easy as there aren't a lot of things to tap and click incorrectly. Bravo BB!

[hayabusa]

I would say that our end users had prior knowledge to wm and not BB OS so its been a bit of a learning curve for some users. I know the email portion of wm is clunky at best compared to BB but my end users are looking for more mobile office replacement for there laptops as well and they think that wm fits this shoe better then BB does

[Frank Castle]

trust me .. I have heard this and for the past year have offered pretty much any WM 5 device as long as it had MSFP.

Half of those users are not back to a Blackberry, at the end of the day you just want a device that works and you don't have to keep checking if it synced up etc .. The ability to "edit" documents on a mobile device is a less then ideal experience.

Connectivity wise WM will need some sort of VPN to connect back into your intranet ..

The new HTC device do look nice and Exchange 2007 bring mobility closer to what a BB offers.

[rliebsch]

Good isn't as nice as BBerry. I rolled the MotoQ to a dozen BB users. In under a week all 12 handhelds were returned.

I have one remaining Treo loyalist on my Good server now, and he complains of VERY short battery life with Good.

Good isn't as bad on Palm, but in WinMo, its horrid. Its like having 2 different environments. The Good stuff isn't accessible by the WIndows stuff and vice versa. Little things like SMS become chores, basic navigation and core functionality are several scrolls and clicks away...

[hdawg]

BB has definitely succeed with being extremely proprietary ... it has its drawbacks and GOOD tried to capitalize on it. There is a definite market that fits GOOD / MOTO; but I still think a BB has its market, and until other devices can provide the tight integration with everything BES does there will continue to be discussions of which is better than the other.

They each have similiar core functions from an end user standpoint, but very different administrative functions ... and definitely different end user "fun functions".

With cameras and sd cards, RIM is certainly listening to the call from the consumer; but how many of us will actually disable these camera's and sd slots via policy?

Does that make us a BOFH?

[rliebsch]

How many of us want calls at 3AM that the camera isn't working?

yes, yes it does make us BOfHs and a few PFY's I'd wager as well

[hdawg]

not a blemish on that monkey face ;)

In addition to my little picture I wish I could have a sound there too.

Perhaps that'll be a sig.

[charliemurphy]

We use it, I have a bunch of Crappy E62's and a few q's and treos. Biggest complaint, GOOD locks up too often and battery sucks. but they deal with it. Now my boss wants me to get this intellisync server to free up the space on the GOOD server held by the E62's. But one thing Good is very persistant on all updates. They push handheld GOOD "client" updates to your server. Not to be confused with handheld updates.

[Lowrider]

I haven't had any luck w/ MotoJunk

[hdawg]

Originally Posted by Lowrider

I haven't had any luck w/ MotoJunk

What haven't you had any luck with?

[mahoward]

All our Treo people wanted Good, so we also did a pilot back during the lawsuit days. There were complaints about inconsistencies, having to manually sync, using the stylus was actually more difficult than one-handed BB operation. It seems like people realized how "good" BlackBerry is once they tried an alternative. Grass is always greener syndrome, countered by a more wise "appreciate what you have" result!

As for the Treo folks, haven't heard much out of them since the 8700, Pearl et. all arrived. I suspect their lamenting wales will fade out entirely any time now, as those devices are cast upon the ash heap of history.

[DarthBBerry]

Originally Posted by mahoward

As for the Treo folks, haven't heard much out of them since the 8700, Pearl et. all arrived. I suspect their lamenting wales will fade out entirely any time now, as those devices are cast upon the ash heap of history.

My Treo folks finally came over to the "dark side" and ditched their devices for 8703e. We were using mSuite (Enterprise Edition) for synching Lotus Notes wirelessly to the devices. Not only were the devices crap, mSuite was as well.

Blackberrys rule; all others drool.
'Nuff said.

[MarkF]

"actually, my biggest complaint with GOOD is the fact that security is packaged as a different product GMD (Good Mobile Defense) ... and GMI (Good Mobile Intranet) is another totally different product. When you get BES, you get it all."

Good Mobile Defense is packaged with Good server 5.0, due out Sept/Oct.

We're being forced to roll it out because some managers insist that Windows Mobile devices have added functionality. Then, when I ask them for specifics they just get PO'd.

[Frank Castle]

I get a chuckle as I went down all these roads after users INSISTED other devices work better, have more functionality blah blah and what are they all back using .. that's right .. a blackberry.

After the fancy gadget effect wears off people realize a majority of these devices are flaky if not outright not suited to be a business caliber mobile device. Microsoft is getting better but their devices are always a bit off .. the HTC series has been the closest I've used that is close to a Blackberry and don't even mention any flavour of Treo .. Palm is dead. It's sad because the Palm Professional way back in the mid 90's is what brought me into the mobility space.

When the NTP case was going on we took a long hard look at Good and it almost mimics the security BES offers, I think their device selection is spotty and not consistent, at least with BES - while the Blackberries might have a different look & feel they function the same and it's the same experience .. other companies need to focus on that, it's funny but if Apple gets their iphone working with corporate standards they could be a major player in the mobile market.