Palm Demoing Desktop for OS X

Since Apple released OS X, which requires applications to be re-written or run in a special 'classic' environment, Mac users have been asking for a version of the Palm Desktop that will run under the new OS. Palm Inc. is aware that a good percentage of Palm users are also Macintosh users and has been promising for months that they would release one eventually.

Progress appears to be slow because Palm is only demonstrating an alpha version of the application this week at the Macworld Expo. It is on display in the Business Solutions Center. The company still isn't committing to an exact release date, just saying that it will be available by the end of the year.

The current version of the Palm Desktop will run in the Classic environment but HotSyncing is a slow process.

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Commitment??

I.M. Anonymous @ 7/20/2001 12:32:21 PM #
I am not an Apple user.... But this much I will say.. Knowing how much I use my PDA.... and knowing how much in need I am of having to sync up almost everyday, and to tell me that this software will come out by the end of the year??? Is a bunch of bull..and totally not acceptable. Yes I know It takes time to write apps..but this long? What gives? A big selling point of most PDA is the ability to be able to sync up our PIM information from our desktop PCs. To not be able to do this is ridiculous. Gosh..Even the Pocket PC supposedly has software in the works from a third party independent software company which is epected to have software which will link with Apple's OS before the end of the year.

Where's Palm's commitment here??

RE: Commitment??
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/20/2001 1:04:36 PM #
Actually, this article makes an incorrect statement about OS X.

You can run any ol' Mac OS 9 app in OS X without modification. To make it run as a *native* application and take advantage of all the wonderful new features, you have to do some work on your application.

Until I upgraded from a Handspring Visor Deluxe to a Palm m505, I had no complaints about this. For some reason, it's not possible to HotSync the 505 while booted up in OS X, I have to restart my computer under OS 9 and sync there.

I'm really looking forward to the native app and all the improvements it'll bring. Hopefully, it'll match the Windows version of Palm desktop feature-wise.

RE: Commitment??
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/20/2001 4:12:31 PM #
hell will freeze over before Microsoft will have official mac support for PocketPC. Palm already supports the mac-just not mac OS X. But you can still use classic mode.
AriB

RE: Commitment??
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/20/2001 4:53:32 PM #
"But you can still use classic mode."

IF you're on a Mac with a USB port. OSX doesn't yet support (and probably never will support) the ADB connectors on G3 macs like the PowerBook WallStreet and the 266MHz (Beige) MiniTower. You can run X on them, but you can't Hotsync at all without rebooting to OS9. Since I Hotsync every day, this has seriously hampered my OSX experience.

I, for one, think Palm is way off the ball with this one. Windows 2000 support came in a few weeks. Mac OSX users have been waiting since March (and now probably will for another four months, at least). If programs like Freehand are done already, Palm has no excuse (except that they generally do everything at a snail's pace).

RE: Commitment??
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/20/2001 8:08:43 PM #
I know for a fact that Palm was working on a OS X desktop back when X was in beta, it's a shame. I personally hope a Pocket PC sync conduit is developed for OS X, it would at least give Mac users a choice, and Palm some serious incentive. If I could skin Pocket PC in Aqua, I'd forget it was Windows almost. Palm is losing ground fast.

RE: Commitment??
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/20/2001 8:58:56 PM #
Exactly. At least Palm should have released a carbonized version of Palm Desktop 2.6.3 with no new features while they were working on a brand new version which is long overdue. Like you said, they've been working on this for months and it should be out by now.

RE: Commitment??
RoofusPennymore @ 7/21/2001 12:10:33 AM #
A few corrections.
1) M$ is not comming out with PocketPC software for the Mac. It's being done by a 3rd party.
2) ADB? No version of a Palm uses ADB connectors. Maybe you mean Serial, in which case you will have to use a USB->serial port connector.
3) You can sync a your Palm under OSX in classic mode. It works somewhat well.

Uptake in general of OS-X?
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/22/2001 12:24:54 AM #
A question (NOT FLAMEBAIT - I really don't know.) How does Palm's delivery time compare to the actions taken by the Mac software producers? Have Quark/Photoshop/Office/whatever been ported over fully yet?

A friend of mine has OS-X installed, and has mentioned several times that he thinks there's no compelling reason to run it yet.


RE: Commitment??
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/22/2001 8:50:45 AM #
Good point. I don't know the time frame to build OS X versions of Office/Photoshop but I believe these applications are huge compared to Palm Desktop but I could be wrong. At least Office has been given a release date of "fall 2001" where Palm has kept silent as far as I know.

RE: Commitment I/O-Kit problems
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/24/2001 7:11:47 AM #
As it seems, several companies which have hardware related products are having trouble coming along with their software. There are indications that the required driver/development environment (which is called I/O-Kit) is not yet completed. Since Palm needs to access the serial port and the USB port.

Haev a look around. There are numerous hw products for the Mac, for which no X drivers are available yet. It might well be that the problem is not so much with Palm, but with Apple.

If Palm has choosen the easy way and ported to Carbon (instead of a re-write to Cocoa, which I would favour), that alone should have taken only a matter of weeks. Hence, it must be asumed that there is soething wrong with the hw related stuff.

Thyl Engelhardt

Not palm's fault

I.M. Anonymous @ 7/20/2001 11:12:07 PM #
How does apple get away with requiring every developer to rewrite their programs? If microsoft did that the government would shut them down in a minute. It takes time for programmers to re-write a program, especially on a new OS they are not familiar with.
Get a PC and stop complaining. :)
RE: Not palm's fault
RoofusPennymore @ 7/21/2001 12:16:16 AM #
Sounds like you know all about MacOSX and programming. It has taken Palm a really long time to write this and they have said very little. Heck, they are slow in fixing problems with the software they already have out.

And the Government has been really good with stoping M$ from doing things, so I'm sure they will glady shut them down for making programmers their jobs.

RE: Not palm's fault
alexroet @ 7/21/2001 3:33:23 AM #
"if microsoft did that the govt would shut them down in a minute"???

Huh?

What do you call MS Office XP? Or MS Office X, (for the mac), for that matter, less than a year after making people shell out $200-400 for Office 2001??

Sure, you don't HAVE to buy the new upgrades if you get a new OS, but you also don't HAVE to have a new version of palm desktop if you upgrade to OSX.

I do agree that palm is taking way too long to come out with the OSX version, but don't try to say that Microsoft doesn't try to make you buy all new software every time they change windows.

And as far as "just get a pc and stop complaining" goes-
I don't think is the time nor place to start a mac/pc flame war...

RE: Not palm's fault
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/19/2001 10:06:50 AM #
Hey ! do you really think developers need to start again from scratch when writing apps for X?
I guess you have to know a bit more about the APIs of this OS. Apple is not to blame here. -> collect more infos before writing comments like this.

Deja Vu

I.M. Anonymous @ 7/21/2001 4:11:17 AM #
Last year I finally tired of waiting for Psion to update their Mac connectivity software (which was always "coming real soon") and bought a Palm. Palm's relative neglect of Mac users (can I HotSync with MyPalm yet? I've given up going to check) is beginning to feel really familiar: let's just hope that Palm doesn't end up emulating Psion in other ways too...

RE: Deja Vu
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/3/2002 4:42:51 AM #
I agree completely. I have a Psion 5 mx. I am REALLY annoyed that Psion does not have any software like PsiWin for Mac. I have MacConnect but that is not the same as PsiWin and it does NOT work for OS X. I really like my Psion but am seriosuly thinking of binning it and getting something else if they don't come up with some OS X backup and synchronising software soon.

[ No Subject ]

Shane @ 7/24/2001 12:45:57 PM #
Let's hope they include pre-OS X versions in a major update as well.
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