At 7:21 AM -0800 2/6/02, Max Bian wrote: >From what I have read, the devices based on OS5 will be more >diverse. More processors and other hardware choices. This brings me >a question: Will it be more difficult to develop apps that run on >all or most OS 5 devices? > >Now, it is relatively easy to have an app run on handspring, palm, >sony, handera, ... > >Will OS 5 make it hard? If there is really a need to test app on >each of those hardwares, it will dramatically increases the >development costs. That will be really hard for small developers.
While what you say is somewhat true, it's hardly new. There are tons of different PC vendors out there, all with slightly different PCs. And on those PCs are Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000, XP, RedHat Linux, Mandrake Linux, SuSe Linux, Debian Unix, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and so on. There are different versions of all of those, different development tools, and different ways in which all of those can be configured. Desktop application developers have to deal with that all the time. Fortunately, tools like the Palm OS Emulator which give you access to all of our devices (for free!) goes a long way in allowing you to test on a wide range of environments. And tools like the Palm Simulator give you a platform so completely different from any actual hardware that it will be difficult for you to accidentally incorporate any platform-specific dependencies that would prohibit you from running on a subset of devices. -- -- Keith Rollin -- Palm OS Emulator engineer -- For information on using the Palm Developer Forums, or to unsubscribe, please see http://www.palmos.com/dev/tech/support/forums/
