Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2002/09/10/sendo_ships_selfdestructing_stinker_phone/

Sendo ships self-destructing Stinker phone SDK

Mission: Improbable

By Andrew Orlowski

Posted in Personal Tech, 10th September 2002 18:01 GMT

Microsoft's flagship phone vendor Sendo is poised to ship the much-delayed smartphone to its developers, but there's a catch.

The software will expire on September 30, giving ISVs two weeks to compile and test their applications, giving a new dimension to the term Rapid Application Development (RAD).

One mailed us in high dudgeon.

"The developer units were first supposed to be shipped in March, then May, then June, then the end of the summer. It has cost me more than $900, and Microsoft has already released the final version of the SmartPhone SDK. But we get a phone that will be good for only 3 weeks."

At which point presumably, the SDK - much like the agent instructions from Mission Impossible - self-destructs in a cloud of smoke.

Interestingly, the SDK terms specifically exempt the company from liability in case the phone does indeed self-destruct. In an email date 9 September, Sendo requests:-

THE SOFTWARE (INCLUDING UPGRADES) MAY CONTAIN TECHNOLOGY THAT IS NOT FAULT TOLERANT AND IS NOT DESIGNED, MANUFACTURED, OR INTENDED FOR USE IN ENVIRONMENTS OR APPLICATIONS IN WHICH FAILURE OF THE SOFTWARE (INCLUDING UPGRADES) COULD LEAD DIRECTLY TO DEATH, PERSONAL INJURY, OR SEVERE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE OR FINANCIAL LOSS.

So there.

Bootnote: Well, at least it's free. SonyEricsson charged $995 for the developer kit for its P800 smartphone, before promising to waive the fee. Have any SonyEricsson developers seen their free SDKs yet? ®

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