Ron Baird - Kodak guy

Hi Ron,

Do Kodak a favor and chastise you tech support folks for me. Promised they'd
mail out 98SE cd months ago and when I finally got fed up waiting and wrote
again I get a 'sorry problems so complex please call ...' response.

All I want is a USB Mass Storage Device Driver for camera for 98SE. No
Easyshare or any of that crap.

At this time it seems to me the tech support tactic was to stall for time so
I can't return the camera for a refund given time period that's elapsed.

And ALSO - provide some real download alternative besides a "web install" so
it need not have to be repeated for every pc. Who in their right mind thinks
that's best for their customers.

And based upon experience to date, I'm not even looking at Kodak for digital
camcorder as my suspicion is it'd use some non-common format rather than a
simple avi file requiring at most a codec install to view on pc.

P.S. Even under XP and restricted 'driver only install' why does the camera
show up under Camera and Scanner rather than just another removable disk
drive like EVERY other flash memory device I have (including two other
cameras).

Greetings PJP,

Sorry to hear that you did not get a copy of version 5.2 which is needed to
run EasyShare on a Win 98 system. Send me your full US Mail address and I
will make it happen.

When you get the CD, begin the installation and as you move through the
screens until you come to a screen offering the option for a custom
installation. Choose custom and install only the CCS (Camera Connection
Software). When you do and reboot your system you will have a Mass Storage
option. Your camera should appear as an icon in 'My Computer.'

Also, if you want to provide your full name I can see if I can find the
contact information and learn why you did not get a CD from us. Please note
that you can do this same thing from our web site. If you go to the
following URL and choose Windows 98 from the drop out list, you will see the
download changes to EasyShare software 5.2. If you start the download till
you come to the same noted screen, you can install just the CCS in this way
as well.

We distribute this way as it is most efficient. Our research shows that this
is the preferred manner to get the software for those that did not buy a
Kodak product. Those that did would have the CD on hand. For those few in
your situation that bought a new camera to use on an older system, we are
glad to help directly and continue to offer the EasyShare sw online as
mentioned. I am happy to send you a CD as soon as I get your information.

As you know, Kodak uses the .MOV format for its movies. It is a most common
format that is used by both PC and Mac platforms and the software to run it
is found in many places on the web. It is readily downloadable from the
Quicktime site.

Kodak, along with many others, use a communication standard known as PTP or
Picture Transfer Protocol. Kodak was one of the first to use this and one of
the primary authors of the standard, which has been submittd to the ISO and
is in the process of being adopted. There are numerous advantages to using
PTP, one of which is that the new direct-to-printer standard PictBridge runs
on top of PTP.

However, most OS' do not have PTP drivers in the base OS. (Windows XP and
MacOS X do, everything else does not). So, this requires that you install a
driver to communicate with the cameras.

The other standard that can be used is what is known as USB Mass Storage
Device Class, or USBMSDC. This makes the device appear as a removeable mass
storage device on your computer. Support for USBMSDC is a bit broader in the
native OS (I think Windows 2000 and Windows ME also have this) you still may
have to install a driver to use a MSDC device.

To install just the driver for Kodak digital cameras, run the Kodak
EasyShare software install disk, select custom install and install only
"Camera Connection Software" You will not get any of the Kodak EasyShare
software or the automatic transfer but your camera will be recognized by the
computer and will show up in Windows Explorer as a hard disk.

I do not think there is any tactic involved here as none exists. I am sure
Kodak wants you to enjoy your purchase. I would not allow the time for
return to pass without making a decision about whether or not you like the
camera and can use it on your system. Some of the features on the camera use
PTP so be aware that not installing EasyShare software will disable them.

I look forward to your information, PJP,

Ron Baird
Eastman Kodak Company






"pjp" wrote in message
...
Hi Ron,

Do Kodak a favor and chastise you tech support folks for me. Promised
they'd
mail out 98SE cd months ago and when I finally got fed up waiting and
wrote
again I get a 'sorry problems so complex please call ...' response.

All I want is a USB Mass Storage Device Driver for camera for 98SE. No
Easyshare or any of that crap.

At this time it seems to me the tech support tactic was to stall for time
so
I can't return the camera for a refund given time period that's elapsed.

And ALSO - provide some real download alternative besides a "web install"
so
it need not have to be repeated for every pc. Who in their right mind
thinks
that's best for their customers.

And based upon experience to date, I'm not even looking at Kodak for
digital
camcorder as my suspicion is it'd use some non-common format rather than a
simple avi file requiring at most a codec install to view on pc.

P.S. Even under XP and restricted 'driver only install' why does the
camera
show up under Camera and Scanner rather than just another removable disk
drive like EVERY other flash memory device I have (including two other
cameras).

Well Ron, based upon your presence in the newsgroup I did expect some reply.

I live in Canada not the US.

I have recontacted your tech support and apparently they'll send the
software cd out "again"???

The time period to return the camera to place of purchase has now past.

Please tell your "marketng idiots" that something should be done about how
they treat their customers. Specifically ...

The cd that came with the camera should already have all OS's on it. Notice
on your web site that can be ordered (for a fee) so it clearly could be part
and parcel of purchase.

The download from your site is "Web Install", hence without doing a
rig-a-more-all (e,g, grab it out of "temp" before it gets deleted), needs to
be repeated everytime one needs to connect camera to another pc.

At least on your web site, you should provide just the "connectivity
software", e.g. the "inf", "dll" and "sys" files required for camera to be
seen as a Mass Storage Device. That'd be a small download and all one needs
and all I want!. As it stands now, looks like I'll have to allow some type
of install and then manually look for the inf file and parse out exactly
what other support files it requires so I can create such a package
myself!!!

Any research referred to must have used novice computer users. Anyone who's
been around awhile (e.g. I used CPM in it's day) knows where their pictures
are and doesn't need any bloated software creating some "library". In fact,
as I do "tech support" on an ad-hoc basis for local people, my view is the
propensity of vendors to "help" their customers is counter productive. I
basically have seen too many pc's with everything scattered everywhere and I
simply won't take the time to go thru every folder etc. asking 'want to keep
this'. "library" software facilitates this ingorance. My own feelings are
your customers would be better served if Kodak took the time and effort to
educate their customers in why they should create a folder (and appropriate
sub-folders) and teach them to do the standard thing, e.g. use Explorer to
copy/move from camera to hard disk MANUALLY. Then they 'd have a much better
chance of saving their images etc. when Windows goes belly-up (and we all
know it will sooner or later).

Regarding your digital cameras. You state it uses the Quicktime "MOV"
format. Well that's a pain. Means pc must have Quicktime installed. Also
means it's a pain to convert it to a "standard avi file" using whatever
codec I want. That also causes grief because conversion software isn't
readily available and even though I can do that (I already have software
will do it), there is a quality loss issue in the conversion. I'll therefore
do as I'm doing now and not even consider purchasing a Kodak model. As an
additional note, willing to bet no software is supplied to do said
conversion(s).

Incidently, USBMSDC should be used and not PTP. Then customers would have a
common technique for camera, digital camcorder, mp3 player, thumb/pen drive
etc. etc. To my mind, PTP is nothing more than a marketing ploy hoping that
more people will print more photos so "you'll" sell more highly inflated
priced ink. AND one could walk up to any "newer" pc and without ANY software
be able to retrieve their images!!!

Basically I feel Kodak should re-examine who's running and their decisions
within the marketing department. I hate idiots (web install, PTP, etc.). I
detest attempts to "milk" more money out of customers, e.g. charge for cd
with all OS software on it when could be supplied with camera. I'll not be
looking at another Kodak product again based upon this experience. I just
won't support that type of company.

One last comment. Camera does take nice pics. Too bad the jpg compression
can't be "set" by the user as it appears to be very "high", e.g. way to much
compression so it is actually degradating the images.


"Ron Baird" wrote in message
. com...
Greetings PJP,

Sorry to hear that you did not get a copy of version 5.2 which is needed
to
run EasyShare on a Win 98 system. Send me your full US Mail address and I
will make it happen.

When you get the CD, begin the installation and as you move through the
screens until you come to a screen offering the option for a custom
installation. Choose custom and install only the CCS (Camera Connection
Software). When you do and reboot your system you will have a Mass Storage
option. Your camera should appear as an icon in 'My Computer.'

Also, if you want to provide your full name I can see if I can find the
contact information and learn why you did not get a CD from us. Please
note
that you can do this same thing from our web site. If you go to the
following URL and choose Windows 98 from the drop out list, you will see
the
download changes to EasyShare software 5.2. If you start the download
till
you come to the same noted screen, you can install just the CCS in this
way
as well.

We distribute this way as it is most efficient. Our research shows that
this
is the preferred manner to get the software for those that did not buy a
Kodak product. Those that did would have the CD on hand. For those few in
your situation that bought a new camera to use on an older system, we are
glad to help directly and continue to offer the EasyShare sw online as
mentioned. I am happy to send you a CD as soon as I get your information.

As you know, Kodak uses the .MOV format for its movies. It is a most
common
format that is used by both PC and Mac platforms and the software to run
it
is found in many places on the web. It is readily downloadable from the
Quicktime site.

Kodak, along with many others, use a communication standard known as PTP
or
Picture Transfer Protocol. Kodak was one of the first to use this and one
of
the primary authors of the standard, which has been submittd to the ISO
and
is in the process of being adopted. There are numerous advantages to using
PTP, one of which is that the new direct-to-printer standard PictBridge
runs
on top of PTP.

However, most OS' do not have PTP drivers in the base OS. (Windows XP and
MacOS X do, everything else does not). So, this requires that you install
a
driver to communicate with the cameras.

The other standard that can be used is what is known as USB Mass Storage
Device Class, or USBMSDC. This makes the device appear as a removeable
mass
storage device on your computer. Support for USBMSDC is a bit broader in
the
native OS (I think Windows 2000 and Windows ME also have this) you still
may
have to install a driver to use a MSDC device.

To install just the driver for Kodak digital cameras, run the Kodak
EasyShare software install disk, select custom install and install only
"Camera Connection Software" You will not get any of the Kodak EasyShare
software or the automatic transfer but your camera will be recognized by
the
computer and will show up in Windows Explorer as a hard disk.

I do not think there is any tactic involved here as none exists. I am sure
Kodak wants you to enjoy your purchase. I would not allow the time for
return to pass without making a decision about whether or not you like the
camera and can use it on your system. Some of the features on the camera
use
PTP so be aware that not installing EasyShare software will disable them.

I look forward to your information, PJP,

Ron Baird
Eastman Kodak Company






"pjp" wrote in message
...
Hi Ron,

Do Kodak a favor and chastise you tech support folks for me. Promised
they'd
mail out 98SE cd months ago and when I finally got fed up waiting and
wrote
again I get a 'sorry problems so complex please call ...' response.

All I want is a USB Mass Storage Device Driver for camera for 98SE. No
Easyshare or any of that crap.

At this time it seems to me the tech support tactic was to stall for
time
so
I can't return the camera for a refund given time period that's elapsed.

And ALSO - provide some real download alternative besides a "web
install"
so
it need not have to be repeated for every pc. Who in their right mind
thinks
that's best for their customers.

And based upon experience to date, I'm not even looking at Kodak for
digital
camcorder as my suspicion is it'd use some non-common format rather than
a
simple avi file requiring at most a codec install to view on pc.

P.S. Even under XP and restricted 'driver only install' why does the
camera
show up under Camera and Scanner rather than just another removable disk
drive like EVERY other flash memory device I have (including two other
cameras).