On Wed, May 10, 2000 at 03:42:05PM -0700, Michael S. Davis wrote:
> On Wed, 10 May 2000, Tom Zerucha wrote:
>
> > I don't think it would be unfair, but the hardware is still costly.
> > The "entry" pocket PC is a large percentage of the cost of a real
> > laptop, and you aren't going to like working with excel on the small
> > screen (and it simultaneously kills anything like Quicksheet - a PDA
> > optimized spreadsheet).
>
> It is no more expensive than a PalmIIIc. Probably the #1 application
> for the Palm, is an Excel compatible spreadsheet. So I think that is a
> myth.
You missed my point. Because Microsoft already provides Pocket Excel,
NO THIRD PARTY spreadsheet will appear. Palm has 3 spreadsheets each
with slightly different features but all work well in a PDA format.
I like the "Zen of Palm" concept - but am a heretic to the point that
I would love a pocket multimedia, wireless, everything and the kitchen
sink device using the Zimple interface of Palm instead of the usual
Microsoft interface.
The Palm PDA spreadsheets don't try to duplicate all the fancy formatting
and fonts of Excel - they are closer to the original VisiCalc which is a
Good Thing. A Zen of Palm thing. They just work and I use them all the
time for pocket calculations without an external Excel spreadsheet (though
the linkage is/would be convienient).
> > HP is good, but they won't be able to squeeze the Pocket PC into the
> > Palm V size/weight, nor the IIIe cost factor.
>
> It's close now. There is NOTHING that technically prevents that. If
> palm can do it, so can HP, who has made a career of doing just
> that. However I agree with your intent.
Yes there is. If you need 8Meg instead of 2Meg to hold the OS, it will
require bigger or more expensive chips. If you have to execute 10x the
number of instructions, it will require a faster, more expensive processor.
I think you are right that they could get a PalmV sized Jornada, but it
would cost more than most laptops (a Pocket PC ASIC?). Note that if HP
could do that, Palm could put everything on the LCD glass and have a thick
credit card sized Palm. There is a suprising amount of space in the Palm
V. If you have less to squeeze the result will be smaller.
Even Palm couldn't simply add color for no more than 16 level greyscale.
The IIIc sells for more than the IIIe because the innards cost more. And
HP has even more costly innards.
> I have owned just about every handheld device, that offered programming,
> that has come along for the past 15+ years. I consider myself pretty
> knowlegable about what will and what will not take. The #1 thing that
> works against these palm-type devices is size.
Size is the key factor, but the question is what you can pack into that
size and how much does it cost. You also need battery life to keep it
with you all the time, and it has to have enough apps. But all these
factors work against each other. Adding extensive sound requires a good
speaker and connector jacks. More battery life requires more volume for
the battery.
Palm (if the history I have read is accurate) started with the box size
and battery life and wedged functions into those constraints. The box
shrank and the functions expanded but keeping the balance right.
Microsoft (HP/Casio/Compaq) maintain the functions and keep wedging them
into successively smaller boxes as technology improves. They are
converging on Palm, but it keeps taking redesigns (and will take one or
two more to arrive).
> around for 15 years. The problem was they were not quite small enough
> and you could not easily program them (ie. get 3rd party apps).
There were small devices that were easy to program (HP41CV?) but they
had limited capability. Others had capability but were hard to program.
The ones that were easy to program for and capable were big.
Palm was the first one to strike the balance. And I think that is what
the Zen of Palm is at its most basic level. Zen is not so much about
nihilistic simplicity, but about harmony and balance.
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