Comments on: PalmSource Day 3: Keeping the Palm OS Competitive

At PalmSource this morning, there was a keynote speech from Michael Mace, PalmSource's Chief Competitive Officer, on how the new company plans to keep the Palm OS on top of the handheld market.

He said their primary plan is to create an operating system that can run on as many different types of handhelds as possible. As he pointed out, Intel is here demonstrating the multimedia possibilities of their processors while Motorola is showing off how small devices can be and still run OS 5 on its chips. As Mr. Mace said, "The killer application is diversity."

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Nice typo Ed :-)

mtg101 @ 2/7/2002 2:19:52 PM #
20 million developers eh? One per palm device sold? We'll assume you meant 200,000 developers :-)


Cheers
Russell


---
russ@russb.fsnet.co.uk

RE: Nice typo Ed :-)
druce @ 2/7/2002 2:24:07 PM #
..or 20,000 is still a healthy number.

RE: Nice typo Ed :-)
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 2:26:01 PM #
maybe 20,000... 20 million... naw, they only sold 21 million Palms in the first place. ;-)

RE: Nice typo Ed :-)
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 2:26:24 PM #
indeed...

RE: Nice typo Ed :-)
mtg101 @ 2/7/2002 2:45:41 PM #
21 million devices
200,000 developers

Cheers
Russell


---
russ@russb.fsnet.co.uk

RE: Nice typo Ed :-)
Ed @ 2/7/2002 2:50:02 PM #
Wishful thinking maybe. Sorry, I was thinking about the 20 million handhelds sold. Jet lag is killing me.

---
News Editor
RE: Nice typo Ed :-)
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 3:45:01 PM #
20,000 developers - are you on crack? This is probably the number of registrations on Palm's site, thats all.

According to Palm (http://www.palmos.com/platform/os5/palmvspocket.html) they have 13k software programs, as it always happens with marketing they probably count few versions of the same software separately, less than number of developers (and no, even best software for palm should not take more than 2-3 peple to develop)

RE: Nice typo Ed :-)
mtg101 @ 2/7/2002 5:18:59 PM #
200,000 registered developers. As in two hundred thousand. PalmSource claims that they've stripped out most of the inactive developers (think what you will of that).

Last news I saw was 14,000 released applications. The reason that doesn't add up with the much larger number of developers can be for many reasons. Firstly many applications are written by teams of people - so 20 developers may be responsible for a single application. Then maybe some are still working on apps that haven't ben released. But probably the bigest reason is that not all developers are writing apps that get released to the public. There will be many corporate developers who make apps and services in-house, but which never get released to the outside world, thus don't get included in the number of apps released.


Cheers
Russell


---
russ@russb.fsnet.co.uk

RE: Nice typo Ed :-)
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 7:58:20 PM #
Your having TOO MUCH FUN. Why AM I not there????

RE: Nice typo Ed :-)
mtg101 @ 2/7/2002 8:19:59 PM #
I won't mention all the free beer various companies are giving out then :-P

Cheers
Russell



---
russ@russb.fsnet.co.uk

Questions you'll prollly ask any way

Dearman @ 2/7/2002 2:19:33 PM #
With OS5 will we be able to emulate some higher end apps and networking. How are "hacks" going to be implemented into the OS. And can it do the dishes at night? (that last 1 is just a joke)

Noctrop_d@yahoo.com

"you can't build a reputation on what you are going to do". --Henry Ford

RE: Questions you'll prollly ask any way
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 2:30:32 PM #
Palm devices as for now, are quite weak on
expansion devices, like Wifi cards, etc.

As a developer, we have to go to PPC
whenever there is such problem.

SD and MS don't really have any expansion
devices other than memory.

I hope PalmSource will help solve this problem.

Also, BuiltIn BlueTooth will be great, but the
cost should be much less than $150. Adding
$50 or less to a Palm device will be acceptable
to many customers.

I think BuiltIn BlueTooth will open a whole new
application field as this offers
a totally new communication way.


RE: Questions you'll prollly ask any way
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 2:56:16 PM #
I have to disagree with Mace on games don't need
a high end machine.

A game machine needs color and good sound.
And Palm devices with these capabilities
belong to Palm's high end devices right now.

ted

RE: Questions you'll prollly ask any way
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 2:59:05 PM #
Right now, probably only Sony's color Palm devices
have the capabilities to be good game machines.
Good color and sound.

But they have very poor buttons, and the
betteries don't last long enough.

ted


RE: Questions you'll prollly ask any way
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 3:31:20 PM #
"Also, BuiltIn BlueTooth will be great, but the
cost should be much less than $150. "

You may be a bit behind the times. Mace doesn't work for a hardware company. There's not much PalmSource, as an OS company, can do aboiut hardware costs. That's up to Palm, Sony, etc.

Non-palm/phone type devices?

I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 2:26:26 PM #
Ask if there are any plans for non-palm or phone type devices with the new OS. Any other types of devices they hope to be supporting with the new OS.


RE: Non-palm/phone type devices?
bcombee @ 2/7/2002 2:46:02 PM #
Garmin is a Palm OS licensee. They primarily make GPS receivers, and its likely they will have a information-oriented PDA with GPS capabilities this year.

CodeWarrior for Palm OS technical lead
RE: Non-palm/phone type devices?
digichimp @ 2/9/2002 6:34:03 PM #
Let's just say PalmMap.

Comments

I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 2:29:08 PM #
I have more of a comment than a question. From everything I have read, OS 5 will basically be a port of OS 4.1 to the ARM processors with a few enhancements thrown in. I would really like to see Palmsource upgrade the built-in applications (calendar, phone list, to do, etc...). I think that pocket pc 2002 is rapidly catching up to palm in PIM applications (at least the ones that are built in). I want an email/calendar app that can show me everything that an outlook 2000 would.

I need to know who is invited to the 2pm meeting I'm attending.

I need to know at a glance what meetings I accepted and which ones I said tenative (by color).

I want to be able to sync email without the 8k limit per message. I want the ability to view and manage attachments in my mail messages (doc, xls, pdf, jpg, etc..)

I don't think I want much. Just upgrade the friggin' built in apps. My girlfriend has the original US robotics palm pilot and our PIM applications are essentially the same!

RE: Comments
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 2:55:50 PM #
I agree that this is a very important concern of mine. I want a NEXT GEN pda. I had the origional palm personal and more RAM for avante go and docs to go is the only reason I upgraded. I need the same kind of features that are mentioned here. And I want my e-mail and pim to be intergrated WITHOUT using a MS soultion on the desktop. It's great that Palm OS 5 is going to have all of these great advances but what about updating the desktop, AND don't forget the mac users. Palm desktop 4 for Mac OS X is great, but it's basicly just a port of the older version with no real new features. If I'm going to have email on my palm i want it in my palm desktop and not a seperate application.

RE: Comments
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 3:01:27 PM #
I absolutely agree. I would add to your list such improvements as an ability to assign more than one category to memos and to-dos, the ability to have more than 15 categories, the ability to assign categories to appointments (one of the primary reasons I have invested in Datebook4). In other words, enhance the built-in productivity applications. The bells and whistles of multimedia etc. are nice, but they don't improve the day to day usability of the device's core functions. (Sort of like releasing Windows XP, and not releasing a word processor better than Word 6).

RE: Comments
sford @ 2/7/2002 3:17:09 PM #
HERE-HERE!! I have been using a Palm device since my Palm Pilot Professional, and the basic PIM functionality is essentially the same. (That's why I've invested in ActionNames.) It's time to stop taking the small steps and to get going with some giant leaps. The fluff is nice, but we need some meat! So far, I see no reason to upgrade from my IIIc--not for $500, especially--and this should not be the case.

RE: Comments
He||Raiser @ 2/7/2002 3:37:45 PM #
In addition to improving the PIM applications to better match the features in Outlook 2000, we need native support for synchronization with Outlook, other than Chapura's PocketMirror. It's a fine program, but I want some better/native solutions. I don't want to have to deal with duplicate entries or entries that get deleted without a trace.

RE: Comments
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 4:51:45 PM #
Honestly if palm doesn't improve these built-in apps in OS 5, I'm going to get an IPAQ 3870. My co worker has a ipaq 3600 with the 2002 upgrade (I have a Clie). He really doesn't use his ipaq for multi-media but, it was able to tell who was invited to our afternoon meeting. The sad thing is that it seem that Palm isn't even excelling at the things they claim to do best, PIM functions. I will say that Palms are still much easier to use but, they are confusing "Simply Palm" with "Simply Less Enhancements".


RE: Comments
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 5:16:49 PM #
Yes, Action Names is great. They are really bringing up new features. I'm very excited that they have integrated phone dialing support into their contact list, if you have an palm phone. Why does't palm think to add features like that.

RE: Comments
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 5:52:23 PM #
3rd Party apps are great in many cases, but frankly I would rather not shell out another $100 to get the functionality that Palm should include with its basic PIM apps.

Am I asking too much? No, I don't think so.

RE: Comments
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 6:14:08 PM #
Actually, I'd much rather not shell out even an extra $20 for functions I don't need and which are available from a 3rd party. There lies the way of Microsoft. Gooble up all functionality. Steal any good idea developed by a 3rd party. Build it all into your giant bloatware.

RE: Comments
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/8/2002 10:06:22 AM #
I completely disagree with your idea of upgrading the apps in the base OS. That's why we have third party software developers out there providing solutions for people that need more functionality than what the base apps supply.

Networking

I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 2:40:09 PM #
Please ask about what is on the horizon for bluetooth-enabled handhelds.

I would especially like to know if your PC/Mac with bluetooth would be able to work with your handheld as if they were two computers on a network, or if your handheld could act as a remote mouse or a second monitor...

RE: Networking
mtg101 @ 2/7/2002 2:51:59 PM #
The BT spec allows for LAN access connections over BT. Once you've set this up, you can use any networking app you want.


Cheers
Russell


---
russ@russb.fsnet.co.uk

RE: Networking
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 3:22:10 PM #
There is already software (PalmVNC, Win-Hand, Remote Commander, etc.) to do that kind of thing. Why you would want to do it (at least on any regular basis) is still beyond me though.

BLUETOOTH WIRELESS STANDARD LINKING LAPTOPS & OTHER PORTABLE
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/10/2002 4:59:55 AM #
BLUETOOTH WIRELESS STANDARD LINKING LAPTOPS AND OTHER PORTABLES

By Brendan O'Bryhim, Contributing Editor
CEE News, Jan 1, 2002

One day in the not-too-distant future a new wireless communication standard with a crazy name may allow your laptop, cellular phone and PDA to chat with each other without any language barriers.

Bluetooth, the wireless radio frequency technology named after a legendary Viking warrior, was developed to seamlessly link mobile devices at home and in the office. While it may not be as universally applicable as some would like it to be, industry experts say its longevity in the personal area network (PAN) market is secure.

more
http://industryclick.com/magazinearticle.asp?magazineid=26&releaseid=9842&magazinearticleid=140148&siteid=13

*Microsoft: Windows XP to support Bluetooth
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/ptech/12/13/xp.bluetooth.idg/index.html

Microsoft Launches Windows CE .NET
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 7, 2002

Windows CE .NET provides support for the latest wireless technology such as Bluetooth and 802.11.....

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020107/sfm169_1.html

**Behind the scenes they are working on the Bluetooth 1.2 spec, a 2-4Mbps spec (the cost for 2-4 mbps is power and die size.) and Bluetooth 2.0, as far as i know ;o)

ALL THESE WILL BE 100% BACKWARD COMPATIBLE TO THE CORE 1.1 SPEC.

Bluetooth info sites:
http://www.palowireless.com/bluetooth/
http://www.bluetoothweb.org

Bluetooth Products
by: angelseye2000 (31/M/LA) 02/08/02 12:41 pm
Msg: 24177 of 24213

-Access
Points
- Medical
Applications
-Online Retailers
for Bluetooth
-Automotive
Applications
-Mobile
Phones
Serial
-Port Adapters
-Cameras
-PC Cards
-Tagging &
Security
-Compact Flash Cards
-PCs, Laptops
& Notebooks
-Test
Equipment
-Headsets
-PDAs
-USB Dongles
-Industrial
Applications
-Printers
-Bluetooth
& WLAN
-Innovative
Products

http://www.bluetoothweb.org/Products/Products.htm

RE: The editor deleted my post
bradleyboy @ 2/7/2002 2:49:44 PM #
Are you sure you didn't post those comments under "Initial Sales of the i705 Strong"? I read remarks exactly like that over there, so maybe you are confused and have made an erroneous assumption about your posts being deleted.

Peace,

bradleyboy

UI Themes & Hacks

I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 2:47:22 PM #
Please try and get more details on the UI Themes - what are the elements that are going to be customizable?
Also, there have been hints that hacks might be allowed in the next release after 5. Any additional info on this?

RE: UI Themes & Hacks
mtg101 @ 2/7/2002 3:14:09 PM #
David Fedor of PalmSource just filled in some info on the themes - it's just being able to change colors of UI items, like Khroma does. It's not going to change the look&feel of UI objects (can't specify square buttons or 3D effects for example), and you won't be able to change fonts for UI objects with it. Just colors I'm afraid.


Cheers
Russell


---
russ@russb.fsnet.co.uk

RE: UI Themes & Hacks
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 3:32:47 PM #
Man theres a name from the past. I met Dave Fedor at MIT one night when he was demoing the Newton 2000 to the local Newton Group. Great that he's still around.

RE: UI Themes & Hacks
Ed @ 2/7/2002 3:36:41 PM #
Russell,

Want to meet up with me at 3 pm near the Palm Store?

-Ed

---
News Editor

RE: UI Themes & Hacks
mtg101 @ 2/7/2002 3:48:07 PM #
Ed - yeah - see you at 3pm.

Cheers
Russell


---
russ@russb.fsnet.co.uk

RE: UI Themes & Hacks
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 4:10:16 PM #
can i come too?

Mario

RE: UI Themes & Hacks
Ed @ 2/7/2002 4:23:37 PM #
Sure.

-Ed

---
News Editor

RE: UI Themes & Hacks
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/8/2002 2:32:55 PM #
I remember Dave Fedor from when he was at DEC in the early 90's. He was the main contributor to the Newton notesfile (a Notes precursor developed in DEC). I was a Newton user back then. Still have my MP100.

mike foley

Questions to Ask

I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 2:49:15 PM #
It would be interesting to ask him about native support in the OS for a virtual grifitti area, and as a result something like 320x480 resolution.

RE: Questions to Ask
mtg101 @ 2/7/2002 2:56:28 PM #
OS5 will indeed have support for screen resolutions other than 160x160. Apps will be able to take advantage of longer screens - but apps will have to make the effort to do so. Basically, there's no easy way to take an app that assumes a 160x160 screen and magically make it 160x240.

Cheers
Russell


---
russ@russb.fsnet.co.uk

My Questions to Ask
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 4:19:51 PM #
Question one: Palm has split (hardware & OS) and one part having nothing to do with the other anymore – where is Michael Mace acting?
For which part does he speak now?
Question two: If he works on the software part – when will we see a true native addressing of the Arm processor? (not emulation, workarounds or tricks)
A rough date please.
Question 3; if Michael works on the hardware side – how does he see to be able compete with Sony products?
From the point of product quality, marketing power and raw product feature – it seems the gap between Sony and Palm to widen. Sony going for the high end, where Palm wants to position itself then?

Boris


RE: Questions to Ask
Ed @ 2/7/2002 4:24:17 PM #
He works for PalmSource, the OS company.

---
News Editor
RE: Questions to Ask
digichimp @ 2/9/2002 6:37:41 PM #
Here's my best guesses:

Question two: when will we see a true native addressing of the Arm processor? (not emulation, workarounds or tricks)

spring-earlier summer to the licensees, then off to product...4-8 months. realistically I'd say Q1 2003. the 68k apps go through a compatibility layer before reaching the DAL. OS5 marks a break with OS2.0. They want to engender 85% of the apps out there but i think they will make the compatibility break after OS5.

Question 3; if Michael works on the hardware side – how does he see to be able compete with Sony products?
Sony going for the high end, where Palm wants to position itself then?
Sony churns product like tadpoles.
Good thing Mace is at PalmSource. He's great.
I think Palm is going for
Digital media content, wireless enterprise solutions (thinair apps server tech), pushing the SD, 802.11b and bluetooth standards (Bradley talking about PAN, LAN, and WAN thank you MAME) They'll probably have a wireless datacentric TI ARM by next year.
The latter part of this year will be exciting.

Either that or the market will bottom out and the celluar market will eat them for lunch. Other OS besides MS are a threat- Linux, Symbian and others. The reach is global. There are way other markets besides the US- Asia, Europe, Antartica.



Few people play games on Palm beacuse its crap for it

I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 3:42:41 PM #
I got a few games, but I rarely play them because they are crap -- thanks to crappy outdated hardware they use. This is hardly a proove that I would not play games if there were some really good ones for Palm.

Don't tell me to buy gameboy - I want games on GENERAL purpose device - think PC + games, not PS2

RE: Few people play games on Palm beacuse its crap for it
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 4:34:50 PM #
i like the game "tyranny", it's well done and quite fun, that's my opinion, other than that, i have trouble finding something that will keep my attention...

RE: Few people play games on Palm beacuse its crap for it
mtg101 @ 2/7/2002 5:25:13 PM #
There are some pretty advanced PalmOS games starting to appear now. Have you seen GTA, Serious Sam, Sim City, Race Fever? They're all pretty impressive IMHO. Check out PDArcade.com for info, they seem to track the impressive games better than any other sites I've found.

Cheers
Russell


---
russ@russb.fsnet.co.uk

RE: Few people play games on Palm beacuse its crap for it
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 5:32:48 PM #
I almost never have time to play games on my Palm at work. And when I go home, I don't want to look at a tiny screen for gameplaying. Although I enjoy the novelty of having one or two simple games on board for the rare moment of downtime at work, I can totally do without any games at all. It's a non-issue for me, as I suspect it is for a large portion of Palm users. I have no interest in games or MP3's. I just want more memory in a smaller handheld, preferably with an easy to read screen.

RE: Few people play games on Palm beacuse its crap for it
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 7:01:04 PM #
I agree, but I want a bigger screen too.

RE: Few people play games on Palm beacuse its crap for it
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 7:47:26 PM #
Rusell, I agree with you. But, you have to admit, having a full Quake port in a handheld format is also very cool. ;)

RE: Few people play games on Palm beacuse its crap for it
donpdonp @ 2/8/2002 7:45:53 PM #
Yes, look at the games on PDarcade.com. I look at them and think "what is this? an atari 2600 museum?". They are all dig-dug and ms. pacman class graphics and resolution. So these games have to compete on gameplay alone - which is why DrugWars has no graphics and its a great game. But IMHO the hardware is getting more and more desperately behind the times with each passing year. I cant believe the i705 the M515 and the M130 screens (from what I read) will STILL BE 160x160.

Don "Im in Rant Mode today" Park

Please ask how soft grafiti will be handled

I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 4:03:34 PM #
Have sony or palm claimed to be planning make a device with a soft grafiti area?

RE: Please ask how soft grafiti will be handled
Ed @ 2/7/2002 4:26:42 PM #
I haven't heard anyone even say the words "virtual Graffiti area" besides the HandEra people and they aren't giving any more details than they did in the QVGA release from last week.

---
News Editor
RE: Please ask how soft grafiti will be handled
BThomas @ 2/7/2002 5:07:15 PM #
Have you noticed the Symbol device mentioned at www.palmstation.com today that appears to be Color QVGA with soft grafiti? Aside from the ruggedized case that is typical symbol, I think it looks nice...

RE: Please ask how soft grafiti will be handled
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 6:58:43 PM #
The Symbol device has also been mentioned on PDABuzz.com and it sounds like quite a few people have seen it at PalmSource.

RE: Please ask how soft grafiti will be handled
Ed @ 2/7/2002 8:21:52 PM #
I'm one of them:
www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=2949

---
News Editor

TickTock?

I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 4:19:27 PM #
say nobody mentioned that cool demo of a Myst-looking game that was shown during Mace's talk. What the heck was that?

RE: TickTock?
Ed @ 2/7/2002 4:25:13 PM #
I was so busy being amazed by how great it looks, I missed the company name. 360 something. Anyone remember?

---
News Editor
RE: TickTock?
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 5:18:37 PM #
It was 668 software. Or http://www.rzanerutledge.com, after some searching...No screenshots there tho.

RE: TickTock?
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 5:24:17 PM #
ask Mace! ;-P

Sanity?

sandbuck @ 2/7/2002 4:34:17 PM #
I have no hesitation in calling Palm to the mat when they screw up. But so far it looks like they are laying a very postive foundation for a future of diverse, powerful Palm OS handhelds.

RE: Sanity?
donpdonp @ 2/8/2002 7:49:23 PM #
I nearly choked when I read someone thought the palm product line was diverse. The i705 "wireless wonder" is a palm VII with the same closed, proprietary wireless network with costs that killed the VII. The M500 is a Palm Vx with OS 4. The SD card slot is great. The new M515 and M130 will STILL BE 160x160. Palm os 1.0 devices were 160x160. Now we get grayscale instead of black and white. The PalmOS line hasnt changed much at all from the Palm III. People get choked up when a JPEG viewer comes out for PalmOS. Games slightly more advanced than PONG are leading edge, still well behind the original game boy.

I better stop while Im ahead.
Don "Im in Rant Mode" Park

Ask about how to gain mindshare

I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 4:12:20 PM #
We are already in an era, although most people don't know it, that the amount of features something has doesn't define it's usefulness. Obviously there must be a minimum set of features to meet one's needs, but the truth is that most products meet those needs.

The real question these days, or that Palm needs to drive home, is not "What does it do" (features), but "How does it do it" (is it simple yet powerful enough?). People are mostly afraid of technology these days because they *expect* problems with it, due to their past experience with other companies' products.

How will Palm drive home the idea that a Palm device will work nicely without problems, when a WinCE device will likely have similar problems as it's desktop component?

Ask...

I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 4:56:18 PM #
This may be too late, but ask if their existing handhelds will be upgraded to better models while keeping the poorer versions. (i.e. a Palm m100, 105, 125 with OS 5 yet one with a better processor and color screen maybe)

Palm's Graph

I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 5:23:30 PM #
Is it just me, or is the graph shown in the photograph ridiculously confusing. Notice how it visually suggests that "several times a day" is the most common response, since it's the highest bar. This is about the worst graphical presentation I've ever seen. An example of great Palm marketing?

RE: Palm's Graph
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 5:54:50 PM #
It's called how to pump-up investors with brilliant use of meaningless Corporate and Marketing jargon. Low signal to noise ratio.

Something Enron did well. And something that successful companies know very well.

It's obfuscation on purpose to mislead...

RE: Palm's Graph
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 8:44:37 PM #
That IS the worst bar graph I've ever seen. Why make the smallest value the highest bar? YES I know its slightly thicker but what idiot thought this up? And what does the length of the bar represent? I see no X and Y axis? JUST DUMB AND MISLEADING.

RE: Palm's Graph
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 9:48:23 PM #
Dimwits, the height represents how often games are played. The width represents the precentages.

RE: Palm's Graph
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/8/2002 12:04:43 AM #
"...YES I know its slightly thicker but what idiot thought this up? And what does the length of the bar represent? I see no X and Y axis? JUST DUMB AND MISLEADING"

What is it with some of you guys? Always rushing out to critise everything Palm does even before you've stopped to think about it!

Blabbing about a very common graphing technique really makes me wonder...are you just plain stupid or is someone sponsoring you to write these things?

RE: Palm's Graph
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/10/2002 8:48:41 AM #
say what you want, but that graph does suck.

Personal Area Networking Power

I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 5:35:51 PM #
Toshiba forges ahead with Bluetooth
By: Jørgen Sundgot, 07.02.02 08:31

In Toshiba's labs right now; a wireless 802.11b/Bluetooth server for the
home as well as Bluetooth-enabled fridges, washing machines and other BT
appliances are on their way.

Bluetooth is nowadays growing more popular by the week, after having
lingered in a state of limbo for the entire period of 2001. Major
manufacturers haven't missed out on that fact, and are now scrambling to get
their own Bluetooth-enabled products on the market; Toshiba is one of them,
and is right now working on a wireless server for use in the home that
combines 802.11b and Bluetooth technology, as well as several
Bluetooth-enabled home networking appliances.


http://www.infosync.no/show.php?id=1411

PocketPC's Latest Looker
Thu Feb 7,10:00 AM ET

No one knew it was even in development, but now Fujitsu-Siemens is close to proving yet again that the Pocket PC handhelds available in the U.S., with few exceptions, just aren't nearly as cool as those that are showing up in Europe.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/fo/20020207/bs_fo/pocketpc_s_latest_looker

motorola showing os 5?

jackie_bebe @ 2/7/2002 7:27:34 PM #
motorola showed os5 running? i read on pdabuzz that they were showing it running on a dragonball66 processor. and ed mentioned it in the article too... so is there hope for dragonball to actually run this thing?

RE: motorola showing os 5?
mtg101 @ 2/7/2002 8:22:44 PM #
Dragonball processors won't be running OS5, that's ARM only. However, there's still life in Dragonball yet, so expect to see faster OS4 based devices for some time yet.

Cheers
Russell



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russ@russb.fsnet.co.uk

RE: motorola showing os 5?
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/8/2002 7:08:23 AM #
"so expect to see faster OS4 based devices for some time yet"

Great.
My datebook and memopad will run even faster.

Colour QVGA from Symbol

I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 8:08:43 PM #
Colour QVGA from Symbol!
http://www.palmstation.com/view_article.py?article=5036&flat_mode=1

RE: Colour QVGA from Symbol
Ed @ 2/7/2002 8:20:18 PM #
Better yet, go here:
www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=2949

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News Editor

diversity and wishful thinking

mj6798 @ 2/7/2002 8:33:59 PM #
Maybe Palm wants a "diversity" of devices. But what they are delivering with OS5 is an OS full of 16bit limitations and without the ability to handle large screen sizes or even screen sizes that aren't multiples of 160x160. Both WinCE and Linux on PDAs are way ahead of Palm, and it doesn't look like Palm is catching up.

RE: diversity and wishful thinking
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/8/2002 1:36:34 AM #
> what they are delivering with OS5 is an OS full of 16bit limitations and
> without the ability to handle large screen sizes or even screen sizes that
> aren't multiples of 160x160.

OS 5 can handle 360 by 360 (larger than PPC) and it can handle non-square screens, too.

RE: diversity and wishful thinking
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/8/2002 1:38:34 AM #
Me again.

As soon as any Linux devices get released, we'll be able to tell what screen resolutions they can use. (The Yopi is coming when?)

RE: diversity and wishful thinking
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/8/2002 3:51:45 AM #
Sharp Zaurus uses linux

Is PalmOS 5 unicode based?

I.M. Anonymous @ 2/7/2002 9:42:39 PM #
Does anyone know?

RE: Is PalmOS 5 unicode based?
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/8/2002 2:22:01 AM #
No it isn't Unicode. PalmOS 5 is a modest versioning of OS 4.1 which includes support for ARM and emulation of 68K.


Typo?

I.M. Anonymous @ 2/8/2002 4:11:28 AM #
The last sentend would make a lot more sense if it read

"He also pointed out a statistic that hasn't gotten much attention: last year the number of handhelds sold not running NEITHER the Palm OS NOR the PPC outnumbers the total of PPC sales. "

Good reports though ed!

Regards

Nick

RE: Typo?
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/8/2002 2:25:39 PM #
I'd check again if i were you...you can use the following:

Not running either xxx or xxx

Or you could use...

Running neither xxx nor xxx

Back in the game?

I.M. Anonymous @ 2/8/2002 5:36:55 AM #
I know that PalmSource is PalmOSs big chance to shine...but I really do get the feeling that far from being a spent force, Palm (both Inc and OS) are serious and seriously back in the game...

Please check this out!!! SONY CLIE high res issues.

I.M. Anonymous @ 2/8/2002 9:33:54 AM #
http://discussion.brighthand.com/palmhandhelds/showthread.php?threadid=4337

Sorry to send people away from this site but this guy has tons of relevant info regarding OS 5 and high res screens and what it means to current Sony Clie users...

You people make me laugh!

ssummer @ 2/8/2002 2:20:52 PM #
All you people who think Palm should "improve" their built-in apps are such hypocrites. Aren't you asking Palm to do exactly what you hate Microsoft for doing, basically waiting for other people to innovate then stealing the idea and making it their own?

All the features you guys want in the built-in apps are readily available in 3rd party software, so by Palm incorporating any of those features, Palm would basically be stealing ideas from those 3rd party developers and making it their own. Where does that leave us? Better built-in apps but one less talented 3rd party developer. Can't have your cake and eat it too...

RE: You people make me laugh!
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/8/2002 2:29:38 PM #
Of course you can have your cake and eat it....that's what a capitalist/greed system is based on!

You make ME laugh if you think Palm users hate Microsoft! I imagine over 90% of Palm users connect up to their PC's running Windows and are quite happy. I love Palm for my handheld and love Windows for my PC.

What's this stealing crap? Do you wear shoes? Are they made by the company that made the first ever pair of shoes? No? THIEF!

RE: You people make me laugh!
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/8/2002 3:48:05 PM #
Companies didn't make shoes first, individual people did, by hand.

RE: You people make me laugh!
ssummer @ 2/8/2002 7:06:13 PM #
Hey, if you don't think people can hate Microsoft and still have Windows on their desktop at the same time, I actually feel sorry for your lack of logical thought. Millions of people use 56K dial-up internet access, doesn't mean they are actually happy with it. I hate the highway I have to drive on to get to work, it doesn't mean I'm going to stop driving.

I personally don't really care about MS but it seems like the Justice Department, dozens of states attorney generals and thousands of other petitioners think that what MS did (especially with IE), and what you people are suggesting Palm, Inc. do, is actually against the law.

Stand up all you MS haters.

Amazing
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/9/2002 2:39:23 AM #
Isn't it strange that, despite all the hype about PPC burying Palm, PPC sales are less than "other". The suits at M$ would not be very pleased by that.

Keeping it competitive? That's easy.

I.M. Anonymous @ 2/9/2002 9:30:15 AM #
Give the OS protected-mode 32bit addressing. Add the ability to handle screens of arbitrary size, not multiples of 160x160. And replace the unportable, slow, and limited database format with something more modern and general purpose. Add Unicode support if you want to go into the international market.

Won't that turn PalmOS into WinCE? No. WinCE is bloated and slow because of Windows compatibility. A protected mode 32bit operating system with a decent graphics library, OTOH, doesn't have to be very big or complex.

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