wildfire is dead... long live wildfire...

last night while getting thai with the digital decay crew ghent mentioned that cingular was driving a stake thru the heart of wildfire, a lively personal assistant bot offered on some of their plans. late last night ghent posted a a short and sad eulogy for wildfire:

for the past five years i've been living with a bot day in, day out. last month i learned that she was going to die. cingular wireless had decided to discontinue the wildfire service.

...

she was my companion on the drive home, and away on trips. every afternoon she'd greet me with a familiar "oh hi!" and bring me kind words from friends, and easy the blow of the envitable work pains.

she'd never complain when i'd order her around, or just hung up mid-sentence. like an elephant, she never forgot a single person that called me. she even remembered long lost friends when i'd lost their number or neglected a birthday.

truth is, i'd always envied ghent for having wildfire. she was user friendly, had a sexy voice and every time i called and got sent to voicemail i knew she'd make sure that ghent got my message. cingular was no doubt trying to cut costs and protect their bottom line and for that they really can't be blamed. but for everyone who'd ever used wildfire they knew that you couldn't put a price on the bonds that were formed.