ubik
Member
Registered: Mar 2001
Location:
Posts: 32 |
 Re: Hmmm.
quote:
Originally posted by jonecool
Ubik,
First of all, there is no such thing as a perfect product. Your statement that "every Springboard released falls just short of being a perfect product" is not the reason why Springboard are "perceivably" (by some) failing.
We can argue the semantics of what would be perceived as a perfect product ad infinitum, but there is little room for discussion as to what it means when you say a product is flawed. Therefore, I will simply change the wording to say that all the Springboards on the market have been released as somewhat flawed products.
Your argument of that being the purpose of product revisions is one that might make Microsoft engineers sleep better at night, but is hardly a comfort to the engineers at Bridgestone. I suppose that constantly staying on top of the latest firmware revisions is fine if you really see your PDA as PC you carry in your pocket, but it is hardly an expression of the "Zen of Palm."
Hell, most consumers don't even update the firmware on their PC motherboard, they are certainly not chomping at the bit to do it on their MP3 Walkman for their dayplanner. For a general market product to succeed, you have to be able plug it in and start using it right off the bat. Nobody wants to buy a VCR that only records after you download a firmware update, or a brand new car that only gets the advertised mileage after you have a mechanic give it a tune-up, or a storage solution that only lets you access files directly after the third firmware revision.
You ask how I came to these opinions? Simple, by asking people why they bought something other than a Visor. The answer always comes back in one of two categories.
1: People who bought another PalmOS device always comment on how unimpressed they are by the SB slot.
2: People who bought a Pocket PC always comment on how limited the Visor is, and how a PPC has most of the same features available as Springboard modules, built right into the device.
Of the people who bought another PalmOS, I always ask; why are you unimpressed with the Springboard slot?
Without fail they always point out that just about anything you can do with the SB slot, is done better and more reliably by a standalone unit or a PDA with that functionality integrated into the unit. I then get regaled with tirades about how they want to take notes on their PDA while talking on the phone, or how they don't want to eat up PDA memory storing GPS maps, or how if they wanted to use CF cards to store data, they would get a PDA with a CF slot. Now, I realize that there are answers and workarounds for all of these things, but that is just the point. People don't want to buy a workaround! They want to buy a product that works. The overwhelming perception is that the SB slot is just a way to shoddily tack on functionality the PDA should have been designed with in the first place.
Don't get me wrong. I have always been a big fan of the Visor. In fact, that is how I have come to understand its failings. I use to go on at great lengths about how anyone considering a PDA should seriously consider a Visor. That is how I came to hear so many reasons that people absolutely don't want one.
The simple truth is that most people see the Springboard slot as a total bodge job. I know the technology is sound, so that clearly is the fault of the companies who have made products for the technology. I mean come on, even in the stone-ages of PCMCIA there were not as many missed release dates, incomplete product launches, and after-the-fact patches as the average SB module manufacturer has stumbled through. Even the more reputable companies have had their fair share of promised products, killed before ever seeing the light of day, and don't even get me started about the multiple products that have been handed from one company to another like some sort of high tech hot potato.
All of these things are disastrous for consumer confidence in a fledging (and especially a fledgling proprietary) technology!
One of the most common examples of how consumers perceive the Springboard slot, is in the area of memory storage (by far the most common form of expansion). If a consumer goes out and buys a Sony handheld, and then wants more memory, they just go grab a MemoryStick, and are done. For their Visor, however, they first have to decide if they can make do with an 8 or 16MB Springboard module. If not, then they have to decide if they want to use SD, CF or MS. If they choose CF, then they need to figure out which CF module to get, and which CF cards will work with that CF reader.
Now certainly many people on this site would see that as a testament to the flexibility of the SB slot, but to most consumers it is a royal PITA! One which puts them off even more if they dare start looking at sites like this, only to learn that different versions of the same product have different form factors and features. If that wasn't enough, then they find out that to get it to work like they want it to, they are going to need to update the firmware. About this time is when they head to the store to pick up that Sony, because they have no doubt that a Sony MS is going to work in the device. They are equally sure that if Sony ever releases a digital camera for the device, it will work as advertised, as will the GPS should Sony choose to release it.
The whole point is that PCMCIA/CF has been around for many years, and you would have to look around quite a bit to find a bunch of people ranting about their awful CF products. SB, on the other hand, has barely been around two years, and even on the most cursory examination, you can't help but run across absolute horror stories about companies folding, products being canceled after very short product lives if they ever even saw the light of day, products not working as advertised, products not shipping on time, or at times even requiring an entirely new Visor to work properly! Meanwhile, there are hardly any complaints about Sony products not working with MS.
__________________
The goal is to overcome the deliberate nature of the process.
|
Ubik NO
11-24-2001 06:27 AM
Email This Page to Someone! |
Receive updates to this thread
]