2001-08-22
The new, the old, the other: a dead horse is a dead horse. It doesn't help, even if you paint it new, you can't ride it any more.

Well, you can ride it but it won't move. So after 2 year of sitting on it, INTEL made a decision: the Rex 6000, manufactured by Xircom, which is a INTEL company, has been buried.

http://www.rex.net/rex/cda/faq/0,2110,203-13-0-3-0-1,00.html (local copy)

2000-02-18
Sometimes there is something dead and it starts to revive again. And it grows and begins to thrives into a small frail new flower.

Ups. Sorry, I digress. Here ist the work of Chris Lott. He has done a great job in decoding the contacts.
 

2000-01-15
No so happy Customers Voice
Chris at REX Rumor Central (http://www.linkmagnet.com/rex/rextalk.html) wrote:

Remember when Tom O'Brien and Phillipe actually read this website and cared what anyone thought?

Remember when the next great REX product was right around the corner and there was excitement in the air?

Remember when you thought the REX was exactly what you needed?

Remember when you thought it would work with current versions of popular organizer (it still doesn't work with org 5.0, when will it ever work with org 6.0)...

Remember that time, at band camp,....

Ok, forget the last one....

Here's to better times in days gone by, before class actions and sellouts, when hope sprung eternal with each new posting, when you actually would spend three times the current REX5 price to get a machine in the hope it would one day work with your data...

ah well....

Happy 2000 Starfish/Motorola/Xircom (sp?)/Franklin and the rest of you con men (and women).

Disgusted in Chicago.

 

1999-11-04 until 1999-11-30
Rex-Sellof at Office Max
As variouse source told me, Office Max sold Rex 5 Pro with DS for $29,99. Others found Rex Pro 5 for $14,00. Or two pieces of Rex 3 with DS for $20 each.

Remember: some unlucky people paid something above $200 only a year ago.....

1999-09-28
Rex springs back to life with Xircom acquisition
Xircom, which specializes in computer peripherals, said today it will buy the Rex product line from Franklin Electronic Publishers for $13.25 million. Within 60 to 90 days, Xircom will release a new organizer for the corporate market, said the company's chief executive Dirk Gates. Eventually, Xircom will develop devices that allow for Web clipping, cell phone synchronization, and wireless communications.

Read the article at CNET News.com or get the local copy.

Read the article at CNET News.com or get the local copy.

Read the article at CNET News.com or get the local copy. How to ride a dead horse?

1999-04-30
Class Action Settlement with Franklin (http://www.franklin.com/rexlegal.htm)

<quote>
Plaintiff alleges that the REX® PC Companion is defective in that it reorders the items in the user’s To-Do Call List in an apparent random fashion when an item on the To-Do Call List is added, deleted or marked as completed (the "Alleged Defect"). Plaintiff also alleges that Franklin has failed to disclose this defect to the buying public. As a result, plaintiff filed the Complaint asserting claims for breach of express and implied warranties, misrepresentation, and violations of consumer protection laws.
</quote>

Show at 11:00 pm, read everything here or here (local copy) . What comes next? Suit against the misleading Outlook/TrueSynch-Plus-advertisment? Stay tuned!

1999-03-24
Two customers voices:

• "REX3 with docking unit at $111 from BuyDirect.com plus a $30 rebate is a great deal ALTHOUGH, sadly, there is some misrepresentation on the Outlook synching out of the box. I bit the bullet and ordered TrueSynch Plus at another $69."
  
• "I just bought a REX for work because it so conveniently fit into the PCMCIA slot but I'm disappointed to find out that it doesn't syn under NT. What I'm not getting is why do we have to lug a docking station when both the REX and my laptop has the technical capability to communicate with each other? There are a lot of NT users that would like to syn with PCMCIA slots! perhaps a Palm would've been a better choice for NT users."

1999-02-29, oh, sorry, 1999-03-01
Rex shows 1999-02-29 after 1999-02-28. Perhaps this is the extra day the devolopers at starfish need to bring their projects back into the timeline.
Hey, developers! There will be a 1999-9-9 and a 2000-01-01! Check your code for y2k-errors!
And, for your orientation, there will definitly be a 2000-02-29. It IS a leap year.

1999-03-04
Margie - Starfish Technical Support: This is a known problem that occurs in daily view on the REX on March 1st during non-leap years. Since next year is a leap year, this problem will not occur. To resolve, simple reset the REX clock to the correct day. To do this, select the Clock icon on the REX, press the view key, and arrow down to the Clock Time. (http://www.starfish.com/forums/Index.cfm?CFApp=15&Message_ID=49407)
Hey, good job with the leap year problem, developers. 1 of 4 years works fine. Makes at least 25% percent success... no, to be honest, within 1.000 years we have 250-10+1 leap years, so success rate is at 24,1%. Not that bad, isn't it? Could be more worse, say 0%?

Auch die Entwicklerunterstützung seitens Starfish hat sich in der Zeit nicht verändert: sie ist schlicht nichtexistent.

Ohne Unterstützung ist es nicht möglich, mit sinnvollem Zeit- und Arbeitsaufwand für und am REX zu forschen. Natürlich mit dem Ziel, brauchbare Endbenutzer-Konzepte zu erstellen.

Ein weiterer Grund: der Palm Pilot III und das neue Modell PP V sinkt immer mehr im Preis und bietet bei etwas größer Bauform eine erheblich breitere Anwendungspalette. Echte Dateneingabe, Programmierbarkeit, Connectivity. Und 3COM macht an dieser Stelle auch vor, wie man ein Produkt erfolgreich an den Markt bring: Entwicklerwerkzeuge veröffentlichen und sämtliche Details freigeben. Selbst ein Software-Emulator ist verfügbar.....

So kommt der folgerichtige Entschluß: der REX ist für mich als Projekt abgeschlossen. Diese Seiten werden im WEB verbleiben, damit die Arbeit für die Öffentlichkeit nicht verlorengeht. Wer ernsthaftes Interesse nachweisen kann, mag sich bei mir auch um die Quellen für die REX-Programme bemühen. Ich behalte mir jedoch eine persönliche Entscheidung  vor.

The developer support at Starfish hasn't changed since then, too. It is still non-existing.

Without support it is not possible in a timely and efficient manner to investigate something for and at the REX. Of course with the target to develope usable end-user-concepts.

An other reason is: the costs of the Palm Pilot III and the new model PP V are declining and offer with a litte greater size a device with a lot brighter usability. Real data input, programmable, connectivity. And 3COM shows how to place a successful product at the market: publish developer tools and release every single details. Even there is a software-emulator.....

So there is a consistent decision: the REX as an project is closed. This pages remains in the web, because I don't want to get lost the work for the public. Anyone who can prove serious interests, may ask me to get the sources of my REX-programs. But I reserve the right to make a individual decision.