Jaa

WM Geek Fun (PM+SDE/T match wits with a smart SDE)

  • Artikkeli

So you've all seen blog posts from our brilliant Software Design Engineer Luis Cabrera. He's one of the smartest people in the team. In fact, Luis is so smart that he uses complex mathematical patterns for his device PIN, while the rest of us prefer silly PINs like 1111 or 1234.

My coworker JJ recently needed to borrow a device from Luis and realized it was PIN locked. When we asked Luis for the PIN he simply told us to refer to the hint. And the hint was:

See, Luis really is smarter (and less lazy) than the rest of us. So JJ (a mere SDE/T) and I (a mere PM) had to spend a few minutes plus a couple million brain cells calculating the first 4 digits of the Fibonacci series just to use Luis' device. Whew. When it was time to return his device we decided to get even and changed the PIN. And what did we change it to?

Who said Microsoft PMs and SDE/Ts can't be as smart as SDEs? :)

Oh, and when Luis saw the hint, he actually asked us, "should I round up or round down?" Priceless!

LuisCa

Comments

  • Anonymous
    August 02, 2006
    I do not see hints in IE7 :(

  • Anonymous
    August 02, 2006
    I don't see the hint either.  Not in IE7 (beta 3) or FireFox 1.5.0.5

  • Anonymous
    August 03, 2006
    Either he's smart, or he's read The DaVinci Code one too many times :)

  • Anonymous
    August 03, 2006
    PI is a irrational number, so how could the second PIN be the last 4 of PI? The first 4 would be possible, though trivial, but the last is impossible as there is no last to something of infinite length.

  • Anonymous
    August 03, 2006
    Matthew: I think you're missing the humour here...sense the sarcasm in Mel's post. Everything posted here doesn't necessarily have to be serious :)

  • Anonymous
    August 03, 2006
    my guess, the pin was 0112 and was changed to 2795, am i right?

  • Anonymous
    August 07, 2006
    Hahahahaa, priceless...

    Nice one :)

  • Anonymous
    August 23, 2006
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    August 23, 2006
    Sorry for posting again on this off-topic, but I have made a couple of further tests and have realized that this is positively related to emergency numbers: if I type 911 at the password prompt (the US equivalent to our 112), the same effect happens. Asterisks change to plain numbers and it is not treated as a password.

    Someone should phone those guys at Qtek.

  • Anonymous
    August 23, 2006
    Manuel,
    this is a bug on the Windows Mobile side that as you mention has to do with emergency numbers. (if you had pressed the "Talk" button. -- the emergency number would actually have been dialed).

    Could you unlock your device through ActiveSync and then change the password to something that does not have an emergency number substring?

    Thanks,
    -Luis, the guy Mel and Juan were teasing.

  • Anonymous
    August 23, 2006
    Dear Luis,

    Thank you so much for your fast response.

    Yes, I noticed that it was possible to dial the number once it was displayed in plain text. The same happens with 999 and 911.

    I am afraid I do not know how to change the password via Activesync. There doesn't seem to exist such an option (v4.1.0). I have searched for an utility and found a few, but they are focused on unlocking the SIM card, not the password.

    Can you please share with me what the best method is to change the password via Activesync?

    By the way, I did not mention it is not possible to do a hard reset on the device. Following the manufacturer's instructions, only a soft reset is performed.

  • Anonymous
    August 24, 2006
    Manuel,

    There is no way to change your password through ActiveSync. I was just wondering if your device actually got unlocked when you entered the password on the desktop. I guess it did not.

    So I am afraid there is no solution to your problem. It is a bug that I believe has been fixed in later versions. I will make sure to talk to the dev that owns this feature.

    Thanks,
    -Luis.

  • Anonymous
    August 24, 2006
    I need to clarify what's going on here.  This is an insidious bug that actually caused me to reformat my device once, so I definitely feel your pain.

    First what's happening:
    We have a requirement that we endable dialing emergency numbers when the device is locked.
    We have a further requirement that we support international emergency numbers as well. It's 911 in the US, but other places do 999, 112, etc.  I believe the reasoning for this is that you might fall over and have a heart attack, and have an international tourist pick up your phone and dial an emergency number for you.  But that tourist might not know the local number to dial, so we support all of them.  Yes, it seems far fetched to me too...

    Now, the bug:
    When you have a pin with an emergency number, the UI misbehaves.  For instance, if your PIN is 1911, when you enter 191 you'll get three asterisks.  But when you hit the last 1, it'll show 911_ as though you've only typed 911.  

    The reality of the situation is that you've entered the correct 1911 and if you hit OK now, the phone will unlock.  The bug is that the UI seems to be doing everything it can to make you believe you typed the wrong thing.  (If I had designed it, I would have had it show *911 rather than 911_.)  

    Anyway, once you know that you're safe just hitting enter to unlock the phone, even though the UI says you're not, the problem "goes away".  Still, I don't know how anyone could have figured that out on their own.  

    Mike

  • Anonymous
    August 24, 2006
    Mike,

    Thank you so much for your help. I am not able to do as you suggest right now, as I left the Qtek at the office (I am using my good old Motorola V3x instead). Tomorrow, I'll check that and will let you know the results, although I reckon your method will work.

    Although this situation has really disturbed me, I still love this platform. Now, I feel much reassured knowing that if I ever have a heart attack near a Japanese tourist opposite the Prado Museum, he'll manage to call for assistance using my phone. ;-)

    I guess this is just an example of the kind of constraints you guys usually find when working in such a global environment, dealing with an infinite amount of different OEMs, regulatory bodies, etc.

    Best wishes,

    Manuel Delgado

  • Anonymous
    August 24, 2006
    Luis,

    Thank you so much for your help as well.

    No, Activesync did not unlock it, although it was possible to access the phone's contents and save all that needed to be saved.

    I hope this gets fixed in a future version or a patch be realeased, or whatever.

    Best wishes,

    Manuel

  • Anonymous
    August 24, 2006
    Well, eventually, my Qtek is working again. Thank you so much for your help, Mel & Luis. Clicking the OK button worked fine.

    Don't you think it would be good to create a KB article about this stuff?

    Best regards,

    Manuel Delgado

  • Anonymous
    August 25, 2006
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    May 24, 2007
    At work I am not allowed a mobile phone, so I keep it in my trouser pocket. Iv'e noticed sometimes that an emergency number has been entered and is on the verge of dialling. Actually it has done twice. Iv'e always had the phone lock activate after 5 minutes, and always set the keypad lock before I put it in my pocket. One thing iv'e noticed is with the keylock activated it seems to be fine ie. emergency numbers just show keypad is locked. But as soon as the phone lock kicks in after 5 minutes, thats when emergency numbers can be dialled by accident. Is there anyway this can be cancelled?

  • Anonymous
    May 25, 2007
    Hi Colin, We're not allowed to make it any more difficult to dial emergency numbers. See Clare's and Mike's posts above for more details.

  • Anonymous
    August 15, 2007
    OT: Is there some way that I can see password digits as I enter them?  My new WM6 device merely shows asterisks etc.  This is really annoying - I want to see that I have entered the digits right as I go.

  • Anonymous
    November 27, 2007
    Is there anyway to show the phone keypad on a locked device when on a call?  

  • Anonymous
    January 31, 2008
    I lock my phone,but i can't remember my pasword...HELP ME!!!

  • Anonymous
    January 31, 2008
    I lock my phone,but i can't remember my pasword...HELP ME!!!