Microsoft to Sidekick users: We totally found your data!

Microsoft has announced that most if not all of the data lost last week in the Sidekick debacle is being recovered.

While the news comes as a relief to panicky customers, some who filed lawsuits after the data loss, it appears that confidence in the device may not be recoverable. Since the incident, angry T-Mobile Sidekick users have ranted angrily on the web, feeling rightfully less assured that their data is safe and reporting lack of cooperation on T-Mobile’s part in facilitating device changes.

Microsoft blamed “a system failure that created data loss in the core database and the back-up” and explained that components need to be painstakingly rebuilt piece by piece to keep data intact. While the efforts are no doubt appreciated, it’s difficult to forgive an error that could have been avoided with adequate preparation. Keeping customers through contract is one strategy, but working from a place of “we’ll make the trouble worth your while” is always a better strategy than “after a protracted period of making you worry, we’ll eventually do what you paid us to do all along.”

Microsoft’s statement on the incident and resolution:

Dear T-Mobile Sidekick customers,

On behalf of Microsoft, I want to apologize for the recent problems with the Sidekick service and give you an update on the steps we have taken to resolve these problems.

We are pleased to report that we have recovered most, if not all, customer data for those Sidekick customers whose data was affected by the recent outage. We plan to begin restoring users’ personal data as soon as possible, starting with personal contacts, after we have validated the data and our restoration plan. We will then continue to work around the clock to restore data to all affected users, including calendar, notes, tasks, photographs and high scores, as quickly as possible.

We now believe that data loss affected a minority of Sidekick users. If your Sidekick account was among those affected, please continue to log into the T-Mobile Sidekick forum at http://www.t-mobile.com/sidekick for the latest updates about when data restoration will begin, and any steps you may need to take. We will work with T-Mobile to post the next update on data restoration timing no later than Saturday.

We have determined that the outage was caused by a system failure that created data loss in the core database and the back-up. We rebuilt the system component by component, recovering data along the way. This careful process has taken a significant amount of time, but was necessary to preserve the integrity of the data.

We will continue working closely with T-Mobile to restore user data as quickly as possible. We are eager to deliver the level of reliable service that our incredibly loyal customers have become accustomed to, and we are taking immediate steps to help ensure this does not happen again. Specifically, we have made changes to improve the overall stability of the Sidekick service and initiated a more resilient backup process to ensure that the integrity of our database backups is maintained.

Once again, we apologize for this situation and the inconvenience that it has created. Please know that we are working all-out to resolve this situation and restore the reliability of the service.

Sincerely,

Roz Ho
Corporate Vice President
Premium Mobile Experiences, Microsoft Corporation

[Image: GadgetCrave]