At 03:15 AM 2/25/2006, Ingbert Grimpe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Just my two cents (and playing advocatus diaboli a bit):
( I normally don't join these conversations
(future of Palm OS, etc.), especially when I
don't have any real insight, but I just had a
spare 2 cents of my own lying around, and, well... :-) )
I'm really not a very good programmer. I'm using Appforge and the only
reason to dig deeper into PalmOS was the need to add some stuff that is
not supported by AF. For the same reason I needed to check into Windows
Mobile (or PocketPC or whatever MS's marketing machine wants to call it
now).
What is a good programmer? Sounds like you are
able to execute using the tools available to
you. Making things work is the real crux of the matter, isn't it?
My feeling: PalmOS is really the superior OS for devices with limited
resources (read: CPU and RAM). Even for a novice it's easy to see that
PalmOS was developed for small devices with options to 'grow'.
WinCE/Mobile/whatever clearly was something that was originally made for
'real' computers and later reduced to allow it to run on small machines.
True.
But that's history.
Not yet.
Today we are seeing CPUs with > 600 MHz clock and RAM > 256 MB. That's
desktop power from less then 7 years ago. And (if we are honest) a
desktop PC with that parameters would really be sufficient for most
users' normal requirements (write email, letters and surf I-Net).
True
Why did people buy Win PDAs even when they really sucked? Bc it was Windows!
Why should people buy a PDA with 'not-Windows-OS'? They will not. Esp
not, when the device is performant enough for everyday use (see above
and add MP3 playing and GPS navigation).
Actually, until the last several years people
didn't buy Win PDA's all that much. It was a
convergence of good PDA design and data
connectivity/wireless (the early iPaq's were
really good designs - I still have one of them,
don't use it much, it has a sleeve that allowed
me to add in my PCMCIA wireless card and connect
to the corporate network, which made it usable
for enterprise applications - that was a big selling point.).
(And, if you want to really pick nits, it isn't
Windows OS that is selling into corporations -
it's Blackberry. I hardly see Windows OS devices
in corporations, but I do see a ton of
Blackberries and then Treos and Nokia Series 60
(Symbian) devices. The Windows-based Smartphones
are roundoff error at best. The Treo 700w might
change that, but we have to see how it plays out.)
PalmOS is dead in the long run. There's MS outside and there's Symbian
outside. Linux is really cool and obviously a mature OS for professional
use, still it has not conquered the desktop of Joe Average. Same for
mobile devices for the masses.
This is a very US/European centric statement. In
Asia there is a lot of interest in Linux-based
devices, especially smartphones. PalmSource is
now a Chinese/US/European OS arm of a Japanese
company. The Linux challenges for devices are
the boot-up time and (IMHO) having an attractive
UI that is easy to program to and appeals to the
masses. That's the nut that PalmSource is trying
to crack. I'm glad to see that they are taking
MAX in the Protein UI direction as that will ease
the porting of applications for us developers
(while also focusing on non-touchscreen devices -
that's a place where Palm OS sorely needs to
reach out so that they can get into a cheaper category of smartphone device).
Palm is a company that needs to make money. Give me a reason why they
should not choose Windows? And hey, don't forget: Apple now has 'Intel
Inside' ...
Palm is the hardware company, they don't have an
OS (well, actually, for all intents and purposes
they have their own version of Palm OS Garnet
that they enhance for their devices, but that's a nit).
And Palm has had 'Intel Inside' for years - the
Intel StrongArm chips (but, hey, they're still Intel).
Palm OS is not going away. It is evolving. The
problem is that there was it got lost during the
Cobalt era (yet another OS for device
manufacturers). I really like the ALP direction
a whole lot more. I doubt it will start out in
the US/Europe first (it might but I expect a more Asia-specific play here).
Again, IMHO.
----
Tom Frauenhofer, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Palm OS® Certified Developer
http://www.beret.com
My Blog: http://tomfrauen.blogspot.com
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