Comments on: How to Do Everything with Your Palm-Powered Device Review

First of all, thanks for the compliment about the review. No villification being offered here, just a counterpoint and a clarifiction of my review methodology.

As you well know, past installments of most of these "How to Do" books have been dated and/or rendered obsolete as soon as they hit store shelves. If you'll recall, someone tried to release a print guide to Sony Clies back in the heady days of 2002-2003 amidst a flurry of new handheld releases . I would not want to be the author tasked with summarizing the various connector types/specs/quirks of each Clie, only to have a slew of new models released and the models adorning the cover of the book immediately discontinued. At that time I really questioned the value of publishers (and, to the consumer, the value of purchasing such a tome) even attempting to summarize an entire segment of the mobile computing industry within the pages of a single volume updated every 12 to 18 months.

That said, the facts are as follows: The TX and Z22 are on the cover of the latest HtDE guide. To date here are no indications any new handhelds are coming anytime soon from Palm. By simple virtue of the now-static status of Palm's remaining PDA models (E2 is 2 years old & Z22/TX are over 18 months old), the information presented in this book is still 100% up-to-date and extremely relevent (aside from Treos and the 3rd party services and apps mentioned within the books' text).

It is undisputable that Palm's PDA line is entering into something of a "holding pattern". I would like to humbly defend my position that since Palm's PDAs are, at best, entering a period of very infrequent updates or, at worst, have already reached their end, this book actually has ENHANCED value as a result. If anything can be called a a "definitive" guide to "modern" Palm OS devices, then I'd give this book that title.

While I could possibly have worded the excerpts you quoted a bit better, I think the nature of the Palm PDA line in 2006/2007 is much different than it was several years ago and, in this light, that brief bit of opinion does merit inclusion.

As you may have guessed, I'm not Ryan and my opinions do vary from time to time from his. PIC is HIS site--I'm just a contributor, not a professional journalist, and I'm always open to criticisms, compliments, suggestions etc. As always, Ryan and I welcome any and all guest reviews/contributions/editorials/prediction columns etc.

P.S.
David, don't forget that the article *is* a book review the inherent nature of any product-oriented review entails a lot of individual opinion of whomever is reviewing it. In my case, that's an experienced, somewhat jaded, and still fiercely POS-loyal "casual power user". There are many in the PIC audience who would think it a travesty to plunk down $20 for a book when a wealth of information is available online. Then there are others who wouldn't dare of buying a "Palm Pilot" without a companion book such as this one. Ultimately, due to so many uncertainties in the market and Palm's future plans, I'm more likely to recommend the 6th version of this book in 2007 than I would have been to recommend the 4th edition of the book in 2004 or 2005.

On a personal note, I'm going to sell or give away my older books in the series, and keep this one as "the" bible for Palm OS, no matter the direction or future plans of the company and the OS. I don't anticipate any additional entries in this series nor any future handhelds from Palm. I hope that I'm proven wrong and, as always, I'll be here with dollars and opionions alike if anything new appears on the horizon!

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

Since Palm has filled out the Treo line with a solid line-up this year it's pretty clear to the Palm faithful that the decks have been cleared for Palm to return their attention to their neglected PDA line in the coming year. This makes one wonder if it might be better to wait for the 2007 edition since you'll probably be playing with a shiny new Palm PDA soon.

I'm not saying you can't have opinions or that a review doesn't necessarily involve personal judgment, just that speculative opinions of this sort have their place, and this kind of review hasn't traditionally been it on PIC. Especially when those speculations are stated in a way where the author seems to assume everyone--or at least the "faithful"--share them. I presume you'd feel a little funny about the assumption above that the "Palm faithful" are more that "cautiously optimistic" about Palm's plans. I'm practically implying you're not "faithful" if you don't share these high expectations, right? Why do this?

Bah, I really don't want to detract any more from the review on account of a minor point that's admittedly my own opinion. And to underscore my compliment to you, I'd just like to say that it convinced me to buy a book I probably wouldn't otherwise have looked at all that seriously. So, again, kudos on a very informative review.

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog

Reviews like yours are exactly the reason why I keep coming to PIC. From your signature, I can see that you pretty much have owned every single product produced by Palm. You went the extra mile and bought the book yourself. That is exactly the kind of reviews I read before spending my money. I see your comments about the PDA line as an educated guess from an experienced loyal customer. I see no problem with an author giving his personal insight about the future of a product line relevant to the review. This is done pretty much everywhere in the technology industry.

If I wanted to see only one side of the coin, I would just visit the product website directly.

I always read your reviews carefully. Please keep them coming.

Reviews are by their very nature subjective and I hope you don't allow pathetic complaints from Beersy to badger you into toeing the Palm company line. Say it like you want to - people are smart enough to spot B.S. artists (like our "friend" you-know-who) a mile away.

If Beersy doesn't like the tone of your reviews maybe he should get off his fat a$$ and write something for Ryan to publish. Then we can all sit around and rip his efforts to shreds.

TVoR

Sigh....stop being pedantical ;-)

I forgot to put a ~ in front of those dates. I too purchased my TX in October '05. And the E2 has gone through three packaging designs, a change of branding, and had at least two "essentials" bundles in those not-quite-two years.

At any rate, Palm's devices are having longer lifespans than they used to. Everyone knows how long the Treo 650 lasted--launched in Oct '04 and still being sold new in many places. The E2 and LifeDrive are *approaching* two years of age with no replacements in sight nor an official EOL announcement.

But look how different things were just a few years ago: Sony's barrage of new Clies every few months from '01 to '03, the now-mythical T3 barely lasting a year before the T5's arrival, and then the TX replacing the T5 exactly a year later. The T|T didn't even make it to 10 months before the T2 came out.

Voice;

42 reviews since April of '06. ;-)
And every one of them was actually "reviewed", not just a regurgitated press release or a handful of screenshots taken from the web.
You don't have to worry about me being in Palm's--or anyone else's--pocket. Palm wouldn't even give me a press/reviewer discount on the GPA Navigator kit I reviewed a few months back. After sending the review unit back, I ended up having to buy the damm thing for myself at full price simply because I think it's a solid product and, all things considered, a good bundle for the price. With the exception of the microphone modules from TCL, every bit of hardware (and much of the software) reviewed on PIC has been purchased with my own money.

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

Actually Beersy, Ryan has "published" several articles by TVoR (under various noms de plume) over the past 6 or 7 years. In fact, at one point if you typed "Palminfocenter" into Google and did a search, the first hit was a TVoR-sourced article here. So if you wanna get into a pi$$ing match about credibility, you're gonna get yor a$$ whooped, Son.

Stick with what you do best, Beersy: BROWNNOSING every Palm/PalmSource employee on the face of the Earth and making pathetic excuses for the interminable
Palm Company SNAFUs. You're damned good at that.

As for me, you're right, Voice: it's probably time for me to write another article myself.

Can't wait. YAWN.

TVoR

But since you didn't provide a date (1998?) or a link to any of these "famous" articles and admitted that you wouldn't publish one under your real name even if Ryan did find one acceptable, I take that as an admission that I was right.

As for "brown-nosing," since you define that as any statement that points out you are missing a clue or even flat-out intentionally wrong, then I'll gladly wear that epithet. You give me endless opportunities!

Have a nice day. Hope you enjoyed the attention. :-)

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog

That's fine, Ryan. I won't be submitting any further articles to Palminfocenter since this is your new policy.

I hope you don't let people like Beersy wreck your site by badgering you into catering to their own (not-so) hidden agendas. Take care.

TVoR

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and Eric Arthur Blair...

It's a shame, really. The guy is capable of writing some decent stuff with a critical light on the topics that PIC covers. He obviously has a decent mind, loads of energy and boundless humor. Imagine what PIC could be like if he applied them in the interest of sincere critique instead of infantile self-aggrandizement, paranoid delusion and scatological personal attack.

Personally, I don't have anything against Ryan publishing a well-written article by the guy. Maybe it would be encouragement to clean up his sorry act. And, golly, I wouldn't want Ryan to "wreck the site." :-o

;-)

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog