[Motorola Photon 4G] SmartAceW0LF:
Some thoughts on practical user-friendly posting with regard to developers...

First, allow me a couple of consolations. 1.) I understand the frustration that must accompany anyone's efforts to provide a thing basically free of charge to the users of these forums. Not being in any fashion a coder, indeed one who steers his thought in a 180 degree fashion away from anything resembling { insert whatever here}, I nonetheless am no n00b in using computers. 2.) As a small business owner in this industry, my time "also" is valuable to me as I have no problem finding those who are happy to spend their money with me in their efforts to accomplish a variety of what-most-of-us-consider-to-be-elementary-and-mundane-tasks-related-to-the-everyday-use-of-their-pcs-and-macs.

With the above in mind, allow me to proffer the following observations and facts...

I have been working on trying to root and unlock my Photon now for several days. I have studied these forums for hours on end and thus far I have accomplished the "rooting" of my phone and that is all. In my efforts to unlock the device I have been confounded with a number of issues ranging from links that simply do not work any more and that subsequent search results for the necessary files are met with the same dead end; my own ignorance or confusion of the terminology used in the instructions combined with the outdated procedures and/or versions of the technology or software involved; and finally the ever-prevalent sense of the time I have invested in my desire to accomplish said feat when measured against other things necessary for me to be doing in order to pay my bills.

All of this is not new to me as I endured much the same in my efforts to jailbreak and unlock an iphone. A feat which was finally accomplished only when I encountered a site which professed its ability to accomplish, -for a set fee- no matter the baseband, ios version or whatever, along with the guarantee of my satisfaction in doing so or a simple explanation of why my phone -at that time- simply was not eligible for the offer with currently available applications and a note to check back later on. The fee was $29.95. Money well-spent in my mind, despite the notification following the operation of the first application stating that if I paid for this application –or site in this scenario- I had been ripped off. To me, the simple step-by-step instructions combined with the easily accessible necessary files was worth twice the asking price, as up to then, I had wasted so much time in the process I could have easily made 10 times that amount of money.

My prevalent thoughts at that point were twofold. First, relief that I was finally at the end of my journey and second that I had contributed to a middleman in accomplishing the task rather than the individuals whose work was exploited in doing so. Surely, the coding knowledge necessary to do this would dwarf the like skills in the individual(s) who set that site up. Even if such were not the case, one would think it a process not much more demanding than the development of the app necessary to do the deed. And this brings me to my final observation coupled with a few questions.

While I am sure that many would much rather endure the study and time involved in accomplishing the tasks this entire site is dedicated to, there can be no doubt that there is a significant and worthwhile percentage of users here who are of much the same mind as myself in their desire to simply get it done efficiently and as quickly as possible.

Are there legal issues involved in offering such a simple process? If so, then how is it accomplished elsewhere? Is it through the use of –or loopholes in- corporate law or International treaties? After all, the remedies offered here are not illegal on their face value as the user is the one responsible for how it is used.

Are the donations offered by the users here of such a paltry amount that this notion does not seem tenable to the developers? If so, I would suggest a revisit of the subject on their part.

I offer the above in the hopes of constructive discussion in overcoming the obstacles toward plausible solutions that encourage and compensate those whose valuable time is spent in developing these apps and instructions to individuals whose time is equally valuable elsewhere and would rather purchase them. Also, in the hopes that the developers here might understand that those asking questions in what might seem to be a premature manner without spending hours studying before-hand are not necessarily useful or worthwhile in other matters. Yours is simply not their forte.

It is my hope that this post is taken in its proper context and as described above and not as fodder for a flame war.

Just saying, if it can be done, someone is going to do it. Why should someone else profit from it? ;)