"Overtorqued"? I'm not even mad. I'm simply ASKING MINI to fix the problem! And in the meantime, working with some other owners like myself that need this functionality to work, to try and fix it ourselves. what's wrong with that?

That would be GREAT, for that weekend. Then this week, I go away for bidness to PA (steelers country). Who knows what I will be looking for? I wish I knew ahead of time, I would search the web, and downoad a bunch of those things (whatever it is I will need in the future, again because I'm clairvoyant), and burn a new DVD, and pop it in the mini. Sure!!

But see, I'm not that smart. I can't see into the future, and I can't know what I will looking for all next week when traveling. Would be really nice to know however, my $2,100 nav software, could search for me as it was supposed to. Wouldn't it?

Here's a crazy idea!! How about MINI FIX the problem??? WOW, what a concept!!!!! I am a genious!! I feel like the Star trek guy "Shop and Compare.... briliant!!!"

 

Ahhhhhh!! So it is BROKEN, isn't it??? Your "fixing it", aren't you? hmmmmm throwing away the data that you bought and paid ALOT of money for, so you can use your own (and VOID your warranty by the way) that works properly, huh? hmmmm.... Sounds like something MINI should be doing for you, no?

 

Well, if the sofware wasn't broken, you could tell me in about 20 seconds (the time it took to type in "Emblem Embroidery" with the joystick and hit the search button), whether or not it was in the db. Right now, you can't tell me whether it is in the db or whether it isn't. That's BROKEN.

How would you like it, if the clerk at your bank said, "I'm sorry LynnE, I can't find your account in the search, so I can't help you." NOW the search would be a problem, wouldn't it? Yep, BROKEN. Trust me, the bank would be on the phone to their software developmer/manufacture to have the software FIXED. Because it is what? Yes, broken.

I have said this before, and I'll say it again. I don't know why it is, but people seem to have a VERY high (way too high) tolerance for broken software. When software doesn't work, pleople just say, oh well, I'll have to live with it. Yet, if you buy a china tea pot, and when you got home you take it our of the box, and you find it has the smallest little chip in it, you would immediatly go back and return it for a full refund or replacement. Now the teapot worked fine, didn't it? It holds water, makes tea, poors fine, just has 1 small thing wrong with it. That is un-accptable. But if it were software, say a navigation system, that has something wrong with it, in this case something major wrong with it like not being able to find all the data in it(like in the bank accounts example), you then say, "oh well, its just broken software, nothing I can do."

Funny thing is, the whole idea behind software development is so it can be changed, upgraded and developed. So when software is broken, complain and get it fixed.

 

You know, to someone who wrote that software it is intuitive. To them it makes sense for wineries to be where they are and all the other things to be where they are in the POI database.

When Palm Pilots came out they were a huge success because they worked well and carried with them a lot of calculating power in a small package. Lots of people complained about having to learn how to script their letters and numbers correctly so the Palm OS would recognize them. That didn't stop thousands of other people from re-learning how to write in a very specific way so they could be understood by the software.

No software designer can read your mind to look for what's up there and how you would catogorize everything around you into neat little nitches. No one could. I suspect that if you spent enough time searching through the menues, looking through the categories, reading what kind of things are in each one eventually you would learn how to search for things the same way the designer of the software designed for them to be searched.

Everyone does things a bit differently. If all you've ever used is a Texas Instruments calculator then one that uses reverse polish notation would seem counter-intuitive and fustrating to you. The same is true if all you've ever had is a RPN one and someone handed you a TI. Neither machine is broken, neither computer designer or programmer did anything wrong, you just need to learn how to use the different software.

The only valid argument you've made yet is that you can't input directly the name of a place in order to get thir information. That is a legitimate design flaw in this kind of software, and something they should seriously fix. As to organizing the categories so they are intuitive to you, and maybe to only you, I don't see that as necessary or important. Just because it doesn't make sense to you doesn't stop it from making perfect sense to someone else.

 

@oldepelgy,
That's exactly right. Unfortunetely, you obviously have not read any of this thread. NOBODY is asking ANYBODY to re-arrange the categorys in any particular order. Yes, we all agree they are in a BAD order, and worse, things are NOT in the places they should be. Aka Pepboys Autoparts store is under RENTAL cars.

FOR THE LAST TIME: What we are asking for is, the simple ability, to SEARCH for an item in the POI db, by it's name, WITHOUT having to select a category. PROBLEM SOLVED. Now it doesn't matter if your stupid like me, and don't know that Winery's belong under Banking and Shopping, or if you are smart like you, and you do know it. You can simply type: PINDAR and press search, and the software will find PINDAR WINERY, LI NY.

Was that so difficult?

Now, should they also fix the data, and put rental cars locations in the rental car category? Yes. Should they have put in a touchscreen? Yes. Should they have allowed the system to be updateable by the user? Yes. Should they allow is to Save to Address book without going thru hoops? Yes. Shoud they have..... BUT, none of those things, have anythign to do with this thread.

This thread is asking for the POI db search function to be fixed, plain and simple. As it is now, it is not possible to find a large portion of the advertised 6 million POI's in the data, because of the poor categorizations, and the lack of the ability to simply search by name. That, makes it broken, and as you said, needs to be fixed.

 

You sure about that? If you buy a fine china teapot, and get home and find it chipped. Do you keep it because it still "functions"? What if you try and return it, and the clerk at Wallymart says "Sorry sir, we can't take it back, it's not 'broken', it still functions."

What, you want your money back, or a replacement? Your just a spoiled crybaby consumer then, aren't you?

 

Surfblue says: Seems silly to spent this $2100 on an in dash permanent system that will surely be out of date in 12-24 months. That's what I thought when I ordered my 07 a year ago, that's what I'm reaffirming now.
GARMIN... that's what you guys should be thinking. Save some $$$

 

Wow, what an awful example.
If I brought a product that was defective from the manufacturer I have every right to return it. However if I get my fine china teapot home and decide "you know what, I don't like the way the water pours out of the spout" I can't get a replacement because the teapot is "broken".

You keep telling us that the Nav is broken when it patently isn't. It's not the most elegant piece of software but it's not broken by any definition.

 

So this was a must-have, not-even-consider-buying-without-it-feature.
Yet you bought it anyway without asking or checking for yourself that it had that feature.


I do understand your plight though.
The other day someone when to sit in my back seat and THERE WAS NO DOOR THERE! In order to get into the back seat you had to push the lever down (and figure out if the lever went up or down), push the seat forward, slide the seat bottom forward, bend over, crawl in, and there was no way of knowing if he would actual FIT IN THERE at all! Obviously a car with a back seat should have a DOOR, right? It should be simple to just SIT DOWN, right?!! How many steps do you have to reasonably go through to use the back seat?? My MINI is obviously BROKEN! :impatient I'll be registering www.whatthehellmyminidoesnthaveabackdoorhowamisupp osedtousethatseat.com
Go to your dealer and ask them when they will have a fix!

 

Eric, I don't know if your wonderful and entertaining analogies will ever sink through that thick bird-skull, but please keep it up! The entertainment value is priceless!

 

I modded my car the second day that I had it so I voided the warranty right out the gate for the most part. As for modding the data disk, there is little chance of it killing the unit. Firmware, that is a different story but you are IT and should know this.

As for data, no, I loaded speed cameras. That is not something MINI should do for me so no, it is not broken. Like I said, the POIs that are on the disk are not ones that I use a lot of. I maily search for ESSO (gas station) and those are located where they should be.

 

Well, MINI specifically emailed me and stated if I modify the data disk in any way, my warrantly would be void. They very likely have a memory in the system, which will display the history of what data disks were loaded into the system. Warranty void. Unless we can be sure we can make the disk look exactly like the original, version wise. ??

 

Rastven,
That's a great story. But unfortunitely it has nothing to do with my story. I said, the teapot is BROKEN, it is chipped. I did not say I didn't like the way it poured. And our nav system is BROKEN, it is chipped, you can NOT find POI's in the database in a humanly possible way, other than throwing darts at a phonebook type way.

So yes, your "story's" are very amusing, and posting under sevaral monikers you can write back to yourself about how amusing they are.

But they have not FIXED the BUG in our software.


And PS- I have now received 16 personal emails from owners reading this thread. Some thanking me for bringing this to MINI's attention, 2 emails from 2 different DEALERS, telling me they agree with me... Keep them coming!

 

TAKE IT BACK TO THE DEALER!!! MINI SUX!!! YOU ALL SUCK!!!! IT DOESN'T WORK!!! GACK!!!!!!

<insert hyperventilation and frantic gesticulation here> :impatient :impatient :impatient

 

So now you are accusing me of posting under different names?
You keep using the word broken to describe the NAV's failing which underlies a patent failure in your understanding of the english language.
The system works, it just doesn't work in a fashion that YOU FIND ACCEPTABLE.

 

Highly doubt it and I don't really care as my warranty is up anyway. The MK4 and MK3 have been dug into heavily over the years and there has been no indication of any type of "memory"

 

If the teapot can still pour tea, it is not broken. It is damaged, or chipped. The word 'broken' still means something is not able to perform its function. If the NAV unit can route to any address, it is not broken. Just because you have no idea how to make use of the English language is no one's fault but your own. If I am to use your definition of 'broken, then I submit, you are broken as you do not seem to grasp the definition of the word and its usage.

As to the supposed emails, as someone once said, "Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."

That is ok. If patting yourself on the back makes you feel better, then have at it.

 

Birdman, your constant accusations that people who disagree with you must work for MINI, are posting under multiple accounts, etc. is getting VERY OLD.

Please stop it. Focus on the topic and making your points without falsely labelling people. It's a rather pathetic way to deal with disagreement, and it doesn't win any arguments - it only tries to deflect from the issue, instead of facing and confronting it.

There are plenty of reasonable people here who disagree with some of your points, because you are so over-the-top with how you present them. That doesn't automatically mean they have a hidden agenda. It often just means they are expressing their honest opinion, one that happens to disagree with yours. How about dealing with that disagreement in a mature manner instead of throwing labels around?

I disagree with some of your verbage too - I've stated before that I think the word "broken" is too strong a word and does not apply (although I do agree that the POI system is not well designed and could use some real improvements). So now you think that I work for MINI? Hardly.

 

Very well put, Edge. Dammit!

 

Do you realize that a 'bug' is an error in the coding such that the system does not function as designed? The system was (sadly) not designed to have a 'search all' function.
Just how many words are you going to redefine?

 

Do you have a dictionary?

 

Ok, so you guys don't want to call it "broken".

I COULD CARE LESS!!

IT DOES NOT WORK, PERIOD. Call it "BROKEN" (as it is plain and simple), Call it "DEFECTIVE", call it "a software BUG", call it whatever you want. None of that has anything to do with the content of the thread.

So Edge, as you say, stick to the content, which is HOW are we going to FIX the broken, defective, malfunctioning software???


And rkw, you still have not answered the question. If it's not broken, why did your spend the weeknd FIXING it?

 

Why do you insist on asking people who have no access to the source code how they intend on modifying it?

I think Edge was more than fair with you.

Oh, by the way. It's not broken, malfunctioning, or defective. It is operating within its design parameters. If you want input on those parameters, you should go to work for BMW.

 

Uh, what are you talking about? I have a total of 2 posts in this thread (last one 7 days ago), and never mentioned being broken or fixing it.

 

Actually, IMO as a customer it's more than reasonable to ask for, if not demand certain features/functions on a vehicle.

It's (IMO) not reasonable to expect these changes/features to occur after you've purchased the vehicle. Just ask the folks who hate idrive.