usonian2001
Member
Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 58 |
quote:
Originally posted by imabug
Perhaps things have slowed down a bit here because things have slowed down in the PDA world in general.
That's more what it seems like to me; there are still plenty of posts made every day. The news and product reviews have slowed down, but the VC staff can't really be faulted if there's not much PDA news or many new Visor-related products to review.
It was about a year from the release of the original Visor Solo, Visor, and Visor Deluxe to the release of the Platinum and Prism last year. When the VPL & VPR hit the market, they were a lot more buzzworthy than the Neo & Pro; Sony and Handera had yet to do their high-resolution and soft-graffiti voodoo, and the Prism blew the Palm IIIc display out of the water. Sony's first Clie did have Memorystick expansion, but it was selling poorly. Palm had yet to incorporate SD or CF into its new lineup; the only new thing they had last fall was the m100. In a word, as far as VC was concerned, Handspring was still da bomb!
In the year since, other PDA's seem to have caught up with Handspring's expansion concept, and passed them in the display department. New Springboards are appearing with less frequency, and when they do they're things like Stepkeeper and those electro-massager and brain-wave modules I keep expecting to see on an infomercial.
I've been hanging around VC since January or so of 2000 (originally I was Usonian - I had to reregister because my old account stopped letting me post), and I think things seem slow because the hardcore supporters of Handspring's initial product line are feeling a little bit put out by the lackluster improvements offered by the Neo and Pro (16 mb RAM is nice, though), and worried about their Springboard investments with the news that the Treo has no Springboard slot.
I'll admit to being concerned myself... I love my Prism/Stowaway/Eyemodule/HS Modem/Matchbook/Backup Module/StarTAC/cables4pdas setup, but I don't see myself buying another 160x160 PalmOS device as an upgrade. I really want an Eyemodule 2, but I don't know if I should drop $200 on it if the next color Handspring is going to be a disappointment. (Aside from the fact that I can't afford it right now, anyway  )
And then there's the economy; As a personal example, I'm currently making less than I was two years ago, even though my skill set has multiplied several times over what it was back then. I had a great job at the beginning of this year, and enough income to blow on PDA peripherals. (yeah, yeah, I shoulda been saving it, not buying toys.) Like most of my friends of the last couple of years, I got laid off in February. I was fortunate enough to land a job within a couple of months, even though it meant a severe paycut; a lot of my former coworkers from Stan Lee Media are still looking for steady work.  My point is, it's hard to get as excited about the Next Big Thing when you know you won't be able to afford it anyway.
Anyway, just my few thoughts. Lots of online communities go through changes like this, and I think they also go through cycles. I've seen threads like this on some Usenet groups too. In the end, life always goes on. 
-Andy
__________________
<!--Now at greyledge.net:
<a href='http://greyledge.net' target='_blank'><img src='http://greyledge.net/lib/todaylabel.php4' border='0'></a>-->
|
10-21-2001 11:16 PM
). However, as far as PDA news slowing down due to the economy.... if you go to a few of the other palm related sites, no plugs here, but say Palminfocenter, there are multiple news stories daily. We can go a full week without much in the line of news. I think that is due to an editiorial slant towards Visors, but more visitors can be attracted mith more front page news. I think the discussion at other sites is horrible though. A lot of trolls, kneejerk reactions and schoolyard taunts.
Eagle is Here
Email This Page to Someone! |
Receive updates to this thread
]