1. The RimOS isn't better than the PalmOS. On the other hand, it's really
not that hard to code for. It's biggest problem is that the company has a
poor 3rd party developer program an anemic installed base, so there aren't
alot of places to turn to for documentation of the quirks. I actually like
that the UI libraries in the RIM are C++ based -- it makes for clean gui
construction and architecture. If you use 3rd party communication software,
like NetTech, you can send multi-k messages without resorting to the Radio
API, which isn't great.
2. I _am_ saying that the Palm VII wireless architecture makes sense only
for a very small portion of what we're going to want to do with wireless.
Ok, it lets us query the web for information. But it doesn't let us send
important breaking information to the user. (How do I know to query for a
"server is down!" message? It also doesn't let us create an interactive
2-way dialog with the wireless user (eg, a chat application or a networked
game.) The RIM, which has its own problems, _does_ allow this stuff and I
hope Palm learns from it. Since Palm and RIM use the same wireless network,
it shouldn't be that difficult a switch.
3. There are 2 things that the Palm VII is lacking.
A. The ability to push data to the Pilot, from the server. This is
necessary to save bandwidth and to increase performance on _interactive_
networked applications.
B. The "Pager" ability to turn on in response to an incoming
message and run the appropriate application. For many, many vertical market
applications, this is the whole point. (I'll look into the Alert hack
below, but it should really be a feature, not a workaround.)
Palm could easily create a Palm VIIx with an altered version of the
Palm.net service that could do this stuff. They just need to hear from us
that we need it.
BTW, even after the NASDAQ slide, RIMM is valued at ~2.7 billion dollars.
It's not a teeny company. :-)
I'm glad this discussion is happening. Who knows? Maybe we can help Palm
win the wireless game. Even if Palm doesn't listen, maybe we can get what
we need from Handspring modules (someday.)
At 09:42 PM 4/19/00 -0700, you wrote:
>If you are really hard up for a pull like application, here is how I would
>implement it on a Palm VII.
>
>Have an application that patches the alarm API so a ping to some server
>via Palm.net is hit by the device.
>If the ping to the server notes there is new data, launch the app and
>notify the user that something is coming in.
>Have the app do the grabbing and storage of the data.
>This allows the end user to disable the "push" and even delay the incoming
>data if something is being done by the user.
>
>As for the RIM Blackberry, I'm not impressed. Why? Their OS is very
>poorly featured and the company has a poor history of
>supporting third party developers like us. They should have licensed the
>PalmOS and built their wireless technology inside. I'm
>sure there is a business plan out there with this being passed around in
>some form. $100K is not much for a company that size.
>Also, the keyboard they have at the bottom of the device would make a very
>nice keyboard plugged into the serial port like a modem.
>
>Most of all, guys in the field love to screw around and play games on
>their "professional" Palm devices to make it more intimate of
>a machine. I know how these devices are _really_ used out in the
>field. These truckers and factory workers are a lot smarter than
>the line or plant owners believe. In most cases, they just can't
>communicate to them right.
>
>Steve
>
>Vineel Shah wrote:
>
> > Agreed. Also, the BellSouth Mobitex network that the Palm VII uses _is_ a
> > 2-way, radio-based, pager network. It's used in the RIM Blackberry 950
> > pagers. It's insanely expensive ($0.15-0.35/k) and not too fast, but it
> > allows connectionless push-pull data exchange that is beautiful. The Palm
> > VII is constrained by the designers, not by the infrastructure.
>
>
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