Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 434

The real tragedy here is that Palm and the Palm OS development community may feel like they are off the hook. For example, some developers that I have contacted about improving their connectivity with desktop applications (specifically MS Word) have responded with a "Why would we want to do that?" Sad.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 28

I think what most ppl are forgeting and that is that the trend in todays market is for EXTREAMLY SIMPLE DEVICES!
hence look at apples Imac sales. main reason? most simple computer the connect to the internet with a simple interface(not a mac fan myself just quoting the general conception and sales points here)

then we have the #1 simplicity device palm. They are so simple in fact that whenever i show any of my palms to anyone instantly they can figer out how it works withing 5 taps. (beat that ppc!) learning curve is nill. kinda like a cell phone. only a moron needs 3 hours a day 7 days a week for a month to learn to use a phone! punch number hit talk/send. can't get any simpler? how about voice activatedphones that are a huge hit now.


the general public has had it with dificult to use devices and manuals that are thiker and wiegh more then the yellow pages just for a beginers guid. let alone the actual manual for the unit.

If you stop to take a look @ the trends you will see that ppl want simplicity and minimalizim.

look @ the hotest cars, civics, porches, etc. small, fast , simple. hardly anything to work on just drive. it's main intent.

i'm not saying that ppc crashes alot. probl palm crashes just as often(i've never had to deal with it except for hacks) but when you have to sit there and try to figer out for an hour how somethign wrks. forget it. i'll even pay more for something that is supost to simplify my life. not make it more complex. The general public agrees with this point and like my above examples prove it.

The only truly disapointing thing is that palm will Never see 1/2 of the features that ppc has out of the box, media player, mp3, etc(well maybe mp3 but i doubt it very much) etc. sure it may just be somethign kewl but it's entertaining for a while or when your in a line up.

i could think of quite a few uses for MP on a real colour palm/PDA

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

Until RAM and battery life become non-issues, I'm happy to see the Palm and the Visor remain spartan in their feature set. I really admire Hawkins for being able to look beyond the initial attraction of a particular feature and consider its consequences.

For instance, internal MP3 always sounds like a great thing to have in a PDA, but what happens? Think about it: if the average MP3 file is 4-6 mb, you'd clog up your PDA's main memory within minutes (even with the PPC's 32 mb), forcing you to buy compact flash cards -- at which point any advantage over a springboard module becomes negligible.

Palm's strategy to date has been to concentrate on the most essential feature set and leave the platform open to third-party solutions. I respect this approach much more than Microsoft's "we're everything to everybody" strategy, which winds up being nothing to nobody (hence WinCE/PPC's lackluster sales). Now that Palm appears to be leaving its Zen behind (voice activation, bluetooth, StrongARM, etc.), expect Handspring to germinate more innovation by allowing more opportunities for third party bells and whistles.

[This message has been edited by Gameboy70 (edited 05-08-2000).]