[Sajan Parikh]

I've been a loyal BlackBerry user for so long, and made the switch to BB10 immediately with the Z10, Q10, and now Classic. However, why does it feel like BlackBerry has just dropped the ball?

I'm a web consultant (software engineer). I haven't used Windows or Mac in 6 years. I use Linux exclusively. I run most of my stuff on my own servers, mail, contacts, calendar, files, vpn, etc. Just to give you a rough idea of who I am. Here's some major issues I'm having with the device. I'm not going to switch away from BlackBerry, but almost all of these are natively supported in iOS. It's a shame I absolutely love the keyboard on my Classic.

- CardDAV is still broken. Creates duplicate contacts.
- ZERO email encryption/signing features. Either GPG/PGP or S/MIME.
- CalDAV doesn't implement the VTODO for tasks.
- Email triage is lacking without a quick way to send a message to a designated 'Archive' folder.
- Deleting an email DELETES it from the server instead of moving it to Trash like it should.
- No real consumer VPN capabilities. IPSEC/L2TP or OpenVPN.
- I can't think of a single workflow where the new Remember app is ideal. It wants to be like 3 different things, but isn't any of them.
- What happened to just the normal Memopad I could launch with Convenience Key -> Quicklaunch -> 'n'.
- Speaking of which, consider how popular Quicklaunch was on BBOS and how many people built a mobile workflow around that...how did they not think to make something like that part of the core experience. At least give us a convenience key.
- Emails don't sent a plain text version...html only? WTF! This is incredibly inconvenient when we email into our company ERPs that look for the plain text version. This is the only device/platform that does this.
- For whatever reason, emails I reply to on the BlackBerry don't show as 'replied to' on other IMAP clients.
- No Linux support for...anything other than mounting the Media Card.

BB 10 has been out for over 2 years now. Yes, they've made big strides, but the list above isn't anything spectacular I think. Most of it is just standards/RFC compliance.

Of course, none of these issues exist if you're a Windows User with a Windows Server running Exchange with BES12 and Microsoft Outlook as the client. Which is a ridiclouslly narrow market to target.

If there's a clean solution to any of my issues, please let me know. I'm completely ready to accept the idea that I've missed a way to accomplish something.

If BlackBerry wants to target the 'security/privacy aware' user, or even small businesses that roll their own solutions on top of open standards...BlackBerry needs to address some of this stuff. It's a sad day when I can get more email security on an iPhone than a BlackBerry. iOS has at least S/MIME natively.

[anon(9353145)]

Pretty sure S/Mime and PGP encryption is coming in 10.3.2, you might want to browse over to the 10.3.2 findings and fixes forum and see if anything else has been added that you're looking for.

http://forums.crackberry.com/bb10-le...l#post11535810

[Sajan Parikh]

Pretty sure S/Mime and PGP encryption is coming in 10.3.2, you might want to browse over to the 10.3.2 findings and fixes forum and see if anything else has been added that you're looking for.

http://forums.crackberry.com/bb10-le...l#post11535810

Up until now they've crippled this feature and made it exclusive to BES accounts. I have a strong suspicious that they'll cripple it in some other way even now. Probably only available for accounts with ActiveSync...even though it has nothing to do with it.

[anon(9353145)]

I'm not sure to be honest. I'd browse the 10.3.2 thread though. There's undoubtedly more knowledgeable people than myself like Thurask who would have a better idea.

Posted via CB10

[c_bryant34]

Use speed triage in Hub and you'll have one tap access to archive/file all of your mail messages.

The keyboard shortcuts do exist in bb10 they're just based on long press of the key and not short press as was in BBOS.

Posted via CB10

[Tatwi]

Fellow Linux user. I agree with the dismal Linux support assessment.

The fanbois will yap that Linux is too small of a market for BlackBerry to spend money on, to which I reply,

BlackBerry can give back to the open source community or BlackBerry should stop filling their OS with open source software.

Don't know what I am talking about? Then shut your trap or educate yourself before replying.

Posted via CB10

[lasouthern]

I've been a loyal BlackBerry user for so long, and made the switch to BB10 immediately with the Z10, Q10, and now Classic. However, why does it feel like BlackBerry has just dropped the ball?

I'm a web consultant (software engineer). I haven't used Windows or Mac in 6 years. I use Linux exclusively. I run most of my stuff on my own servers, mail, contacts, calendar, files, vpn, etc. Just to give you a rough idea of who I am. Here's some major issues I'm having with the device. I'm not going to switch away from BlackBerry, but almost all of these are natively supported in iOS. It's a shame I absolutely love the keyboard on my Classic.

- CardDAV is still broken. Creates duplicate contacts.
- ZERO email encryption/signing features. Either GPG/PGP or S/MIME.
- CalDAV doesn't implement the VTODO for tasks.
- Email triage is lacking without a quick way to send a message to a designated 'Archive' folder.
- Deleting an email DELETES it from the server instead of moving it to Trash like it should.
- No real consumer VPN capabilities. IPSEC/L2TP or OpenVPN.
- I can't think of a single workflow where the new Remember app is ideal. It wants to be like 3 different things, but isn't any of them.
- What happened to just the normal Memopad I could launch with Convenience Key -> Quicklaunch -> 'n'.
- Speaking of which, consider how popular Quicklaunch was on BBOS and how many people built a mobile workflow around that...how did they not think to make something like that part of the core experience. At least give us a convenience key.
- Emails don't sent a plain text version...html only? WTF! This is incredibly inconvenient when we email into our company ERPs that look for the plain text version. This is the only device/platform that does this.
- For whatever reason, emails I reply to on the BlackBerry don't show as 'replied to' on other IMAP clients.
- No Linux support for...anything other than mounting the Media Card.

BB 10 has been out for over 2 years now. Yes, they've made big strides, but the list above isn't anything spectacular I think. Most of it is just standards/RFC compliance.

Of course, none of these issues exist if you're a Windows User with a Windows Server running Exchange with BES12 and Microsoft Outlook as the client. Which is a ridiclouslly narrow market to target.

If there's a clean solution to any of my issues, please let me know. I'm completely ready to accept the idea that I've missed a way to accomplish something.

If BlackBerry wants to target the 'security/privacy aware' user, or even small businesses that roll their own solutions on top of open standards...BlackBerry needs to address some of this stuff. It's a sad day when I can get more email security on an iPhone than a BlackBerry. iOS has at least S/MIME natively.

Thank you so much. I totally agree. Especially post-Snowden, s/mime and/or PGP natively to all will be a huge market for BlackBerry but they stubbornly stick with enterprise users. I have to tote my iphone 5s around just to send s/mime e-mails. I even have a hosted bes and BlackBerry still can't get s/mime to work on my Classic!

Posted via CB10

[lasouthern]

If BlackBerry released s mime to all, I'd sell my 5s tomorrow!

Posted via CB10

[Sajan Parikh]

Thank you so much. I totally agree. Especially post-Snowden, s/mime and/or PGP natively to all will be a huge market for BlackBerry but they stubbornly stick with enterprise users. I have to tote my iphone 5s around just to send s/mime e-mails. I even have a hosted bes and BlackBerry still can't get s/mime to work on my Classic!

Posted via CB10

Even without the Edward Snowden hype, many of us having been using S/MIME email encryption for a long time. How we have been shunned from BlackBerry with BlackBerry 10 in mind boggling.

Honestly, out of all the things I listed in the OP, here are really the only 4 things that if fixed, will make me a happy camper. None of these 4 things is too much to ask for, in fact...two of them are bugs and two are a purposeful crippling of the device.

- S/MIME or PGP email encryption. Yes, either one. We have our own keyrings with a good WoT...and we have our own CA.
- Fix IMAP bug where Delete doesn't 'move to trash'.
- Fix CardDAV contact duplication.
- Allow sending emails in Plain Text...WTF! How is this even a thing?
That's it. Everything else, I can 'live' without.

Although I'm not a big fan of the bandwagon that everyone is jumping on post-Snowden, but BlackBerry's brand has/had a unique oppurtunity to market itself as the only solution in the face of the Snowden 'revelations'. They could've fully supported open protocols perfectly out of the box (CalDAV [with VTODO], CardDAV, IMAP), hell even released some sort of server component that didn't require Microsoft and Windows. BlackBerry could've presented itself as the only 'post-Snowden' solution if it supported all of this out of the box properly considering the only thing they still have reliably attached to their brand is 'security'. However, I even question that sometimes.

[KlausW]

BlackBerry is not interested in business users only, they are interested in everyone who is willing to pay for their devices and services.
Which are only a few, but at least we have Stickers! Thank you John Chen.

[Sajan Parikh]

BlackBerry is not interested in business users only, they are interested in everyone who is willing to pay for their devices and services.
Which are only a few, but at least we have Stickers! Thank you John Chen.

Yay, stickers. Every time I open up BBM, I have to open the shop and back out to remove the notification dot.

"At least we have stickers" - lol.

[Sajan Parikh]

Sorry for the double post, but it looks like I'm going to be done with BlackBerry. Turns out 10.3.2 is adding S/MIME PGP....but...****...

BlackBerry, QUIT BEING STUPID (Invalid MIME Email Sent) in [Market-Ticker]

It doesn't actually work.

[wojt7]

I have plain text as an option in my email. Do u mean you also have it but it just doesn't work?

[Sajan Parikh]

I have plain text as an option in my email. Do u mean you also have it but it just doesn't work?

I have the option, but its still stupid in two ways.

1.) You have to manually select it on each email. You can't do plain text by default.
2.) When you select plain text it doesn't send it as a multipart along with the HTML like all other mail clients. It literally does plain text...only.

[lasouthern]

Even without the Edward Snowden hype, many of us having been using S/MIME email encryption for a long time. How we have been shunned from BlackBerry with BlackBerry 10 in mind boggling.

Honestly, out of all the things I listed in the OP, here are really the only 4 things that if fixed, will make me a happy camper. None of these 4 things is too much to ask for, in fact...two of them are bugs and two are a purposeful crippling of the device.

- S/MIME or PGP email encryption. Yes, either one. We have our own keyrings with a good WoT...and we have our own CA.
- Fix IMAP bug where Delete doesn't 'move to trash'.
- Fix CardDAV contact duplication.
- Allow sending emails in Plain Text...WTF! How is this even a thing?
That's it. Everything else, I can 'live' without.

Although I'm not a big fan of the bandwagon that everyone is jumping on post-Snowden, but BlackBerry's brand has/had a unique oppurtunity to market itself as the only solution in the face of the Snowden 'revelations'. They could've fully supported open protocols perfectly out of the box (CalDAV [with VTODO], CardDAV, IMAP), hell even released some sort of server component that didn't require Microsoft and Windows. BlackBerry could've presented itself as the only 'post-Snowden' solution if it supported all of this out of the box properly considering the only thing they still have reliably attached to their brand is 'security'. However, I even question that sometimes.

[email protected] shoot everything you said there. I'm hoping if enough people bring this up, maybe they'll listen.

Posted via CB10

[lasouthern]

Sorry for the double post, but it looks like I'm going to be done with BlackBerry. Turns out 10.3.2 is adding S/MIME PGP....but...****...

BlackBerry, QUIT BEING STUPID (Invalid MIME Email Sent) in [Market-Ticker]

It doesn't actually work.

Speculation for now. I think it's only in beta right?

Posted via CB10

[Sajan Parikh]

Speculation for now. I think it's only in beta right?

Posted via CB10

Beta, sure. But knowing BlackBerry, it's a legitimate concern. They can't seem to follow ANY standards properly.

Posted via CB10 on Blackberry Classic

[russlanda]

What server is used when carddav duplicates contacts?
It works fine with my patched owncloud installation.

Posted via CB10

[world traveler and former ceo]

I am rocking a Passport... personal... meets my needs and then some!

May also get the "slider" as it looks to be awesome and unique high end....



Posted via CB10

[rthonpm]

As for the Linux argument, the Linux desktop market is microscopic. The server market is quite strong and growing, but that doesn't so much for desktop software.

The real key is that there's no real return for the expense of building software to work in different X11 platforms, as well as through Debian and RHEL variants. There's the further issue of not all Linux distros being willing to even support something that has as much as a single proprietary component to it.

BlackBerry has decided to focus on an area where it feels it can make money: enterprise customers. This has been their admitted focus for some time so that means more of a focus on services rather than a new flagship phone every other week. So it's support for Exchange and other high ticket systems.

Posted via CB10

[Soapm]

As for the Linux argument, the Linux desktop market is microscopic. The server market is quite strong and growing, but that doesn't so much for desktop software.

What's the problem with releasing the source code and letting the end user compile?

I agree that Linux is a small footprint and BB users are a small portion of that but the Linux user base would grow if more software makers released the source code.

[rthonpm]

Intellectual property or other patent concerns most likely. BlackBerry is in the business of making money and putting its assets into open source licensing won't do that.

Your argument has a flaw though: if you have to compile software yourself I'd think your user base would contract more than grow.

For the record, I am a Linux user though I tend to stay more on the server side than the desktop world.


Posted via CB10

[Soapm]

Intellectual property or other patent concerns most likely. BlackBerry is in the business of making money and putting its assets into open source licensing won't do that.

Your argument has a flaw though: if you have to compile software yourself I'd think your user base would contract more than grow.

For the record, I am a Linux user though I tend to stay more on the server side than the desktop world.


Posted via CB10

Makes sense though I admit I don't see how making Blend, free software, source code avail would loose them money.

Also, I said the Linux/Unix base would grow because we could use Blend on Linux/Unix without Wine etc... Don't matter since the growth would be negligible.

[Tatwi]

First rule of volunteering: if you're in it for the money, you're doing it wrong.

BlackBerry should have better Linux / open source support, because BB10 USES open source programs. Give back to community or write your own damned software.

Seriously, install Ghost Commander and browse the /usr/bin and /bin folder on a BB10 device. Chalked full of FOSS.

[Sajan Parikh]

Forget about releasing the source code. All we need is SOME sort of proper API access and we'll create the awesome tools for you!

More and more businesses, startups are using non-Microsoft products like Google, XMPP, LDAP, Carddav, Caldav, IMAP. Proper, working support for standards would be enough.

Linux users like to run their data off our own servers. We likely have our own dns, email, calendar, contacts, chat, docs, backup, etc servers. All BlackBerry has to do is support standards. They don't even need a Linux desktop client. Just give me a way to backup the phone in full natively on the device and push it via ftp.

Make carddav work properly. Follow imap RFC behavior. Sync Remember tasks and notes via imap/caldav.

That's it. Blackberry does have to do anything special for us. It just needs to do the stuff it's already doing...properly.

Posted via CB10 on Blackberry Classic