One thing I haven't seen mentioned about these instabilities -- bugs in software and hardware can vary dramatically depending on the *exact* ways in which a person operates them.
As an abstract example, let's say there's a program with a bug in the code for one of the menu shortcuts. The bug doesn't cause any harm UNLESS the available memory is low AND an SD memory card has recently been removed or inserted. (And of course, only if you happen to use the menu shortcut!) This kind of thing happens everywhere. As you can imagine, you could have a bunch of people with the exact same setup, with only one of them experiencing the frequent crashes that occur because their pattern of use involves the exact steps that set off the bug. Or a real example I ran into recently with my Treo650 -- ( as posted at http://triple-entendre.livejournal.com/205828.html ) "If you power down the Treo 650's wireless radio (that's the part of it that's a cell phone) while you are roaming (which is rare, since most everywhere I go has coverage), and you power it back on in an area with normal signal coverage, AND you have the option set that obtains the local time from the cellular provider's network, the phone will crash and reset itself once it obtains a signal. (This may be fixed in a more recent software update, mine's out of date). The fix is to deselect that option, power up the wireless radio, and now it's back to normal." Computers tend to crash a lot when I use them, even when they work fine for others. I surmise that I use them a lot differently than the programmers (despite being one myself). :) Having said all that, it *would* be nice if PalmOS was more resilient and could keep going even when a serious bug occurs (instead of just resetting). I want Palm to make cool new stuff, but there isn't anything better out there yet -- for my purposes. Trip On Thursday, 2007-08-30 10:28:22, Jeff Fort wrote: > I agree, Craig. Treo still does things that I require and that > iPhone does not -- voice dialing and GPS/TomTom -- and I like having > a removable memory card and battery (although those are not > determinative for me). But I am getting fed up with all the quirky > behavior -- reseting to allow BT to work, slowness, unexplained > battery draws, etc. In its current status, Treo is not for users who > just want to use it. It takes more work and investigation that most > are willing to put up with. Whether brought on by third party > software or not doesn't matter. The article was accurate regarding > Apple's impact on the PC market in the late 80's. Would we still be > doing DOS? What it has done for music, photos, etc., has benefitted > everyone regardless of platform. I hope it has the same impact on > Palm and smart phones in general. If Palm does not improve its > product, I am afraid that the market will pass it by. > > On Aug 30, 2007, at 12:48 AM, Craig Froehle wrote: > > > I don't dislike the iPhone...it's just not the best device for me. > > But I totally agree that Palm needs some serious innovation in a hurry > > if it's going to be around in 5 years. > > > > On 8/29/07, john.messeder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I finally read at least a large part of the report and was struck > > by two > > > things: > > > a= It was, as indicated by the URL (www.appleinsider.com) a > > thoroughly > > > biased report. What's to be expected? The URL did not, after all, > > say > > > www.consumersmartphones.com. > > > b= Beginning in the first paragraph, and thereafter mentally > > deleting > > > the obviously "I-Love-Apple" smarm, the piece said a lot of > > things we > > > Treo owners have been saying right along: even the new Treos are > > pretty > > > much the old Treos, and it Palm doesn't come up with some > > innovation, > > > many of us are going to be looking seriously at switching platforms. > > > A lot of what has been written the past few days has been similar > > to the > > > response we might have if a sibling we otherwise at least > > disliked were > > > being attacked by an outsider. > > > I can think of no stronger message for Palm to receive than that > > a main > > > reason we dislike iPhone (not counting its forced connection to > > AT&T) is > > > because we love Treo and we're getting pretty darned upset that > > we're > > > getting some distinct messages that our affections may, in the > > not very > > > distant future, turn out to have been misdirected. > > > I for one am becoming very unhappy a growing feeling within me > > like when > > > I'm watching a movie I came to see because of a few names on the > > marquee > > > and it's at best OK and the name stars are only cameos and I stick > > > around hoping it will get better simply because I can't get a > > refund for > > > the ticket. > > > > > > Leland Cox wrote: > > > > I found this to be a really biased comparison! The 650 is as thick > > > > as a laptop!!!! I wish my laptop was as thin as a 650! > > > > > > > > Why didn't he compare the I phone with a Treo 750 or 755? At least > > > > something newer than the 650. > > > > > > -- > > > > > > /"Thirty-five million deaths leave an empty place at only one family > > > table." / > > > (News commentator Eric Severied in a radio essay on the 25th > > anniversary > > > of the start of World War Two. 8/31/64) > > > > > > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > http://www.GearBits.com -- Tech. Culture. Ideas. Opinions. > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > >
