On Wed, 2004-04-07 at 16:38, James Gray wrote:
> Anyone ever used a Blackberry with Linux?
Certainly the conduit and initialization software is all Windows based.
RIM's website doesn't mention Linux anywhere.
Note that the software ("redirector") needs to be running in order for
your (Windows) mail client to notice that you've received a message and
to forward it onwards to RIM's network. You can avoid this if the
Redirector is plugged into a corporate Exchange server if you've got the
enterprise version (which most firms do).
There were a few third party webmail type providers who do the webmail
box + redirector thing. If something like that is available here in Aus
you might have the best luck there. You'll still probably need a Windows
machine somewhere to sync + configure the RIM.
> Looks like I might be
> getting one so work can more efficient sabotage my weekends and days off
> (lol - days off? wtf was I thinking?!).
Is it too late to change your mind and give it back?
I lived with one for 3 years. Our subjective opinion was that for our
firm it led to a drop in productivity - largely because of the fact that
it is very difficult to compose substantive replies - not to mention the
fact that it severely impinges your ability to get any separation
between work and the rest of your life. I believe some quantitative
studies by NY based investment banks showed similar results.
It *was* very useful for sales types and senior executives who were
never in the office, but even so, getting one liner replies from people
who didn't bother to read a whole email gets a bit thin after a while.
Also, senior execs have executive assistants who read their email - so
that when the exec actually has a moment to call in their assistant can
focus them on the matter at hand, rather than them having to wade
through an inbox fighting signal-to-noise problems.
<shrug> Blackberries are very nifty toys, to be sure, but they have a
significant impact on work habits.
> Just curious as to if there is any Linux support (Evolution, Mozilla,
> KDE PIM?).
There doesn't appear to be; certainly RIM's development platform is very
Microsoft Visual centric (although the newer models are Java based, not
C++ based, they still list Windows 2000 as a requirement - presumably
for the conduit / sync software needed to actually talk to it).
AfC
Sydney
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Andrew Frederick Cowie
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