Open Source vs. Closed Source

[Fred]

On Saturday 14 January 2006 16:33, Christopher Schmidt wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 14, 2006 at 03:39:41PM -0500, Bruce Dawson wrote:
...
> > A lot of software for PDA's is a pain to build and download to the
> > device. I'm willing to pay for a service/product that gives me that
> > convenience (and the original source).
>
> Not an option in this case, since the source code can be shipped over to
> the phone and run just as easily: if you have a .py (which is the heart
> of this code), you can send it to the phone, and opening the message in
> which its recieved automatically installs it as a program choice in the
> Python interpreter (where all the Python apps run).
>
> So, although that would be a good idea, it's not one that I can follow
> up on in this situation.
>
> The other languages that run on the phone -- Java and C++ -- would allow
> this to be an option, but both make coding much more difficult, and it's
> way out of my realm of possibilities for this reason :) I don't know
> either Java or C++, and the idea of doing bluetooth socket programming
> in either scares me.

I know Java, C++, and Python (and a score of other languages to boot), but I 
would prefer using only one language and API that would work across *all* 
PDAs. Python is very appealing, but is there a consistent API to work on 
Palm, Blackberry, and (ugh) Windows CE-based PDAs?

And while we are on the subject -- some PDA "smart phones" come equipped with 
their own GPS chip, but it seems this is never made use of by mapping 
software, forcing one to buy a separate GPS device anyway. Is there a way to 
access the built-in GPS chip for application use? Or are the manufactures 
deliberately closing off or restricting access to it?

Yes, I would prefer not to have to drop another $500 or so for a separate GPS 
device and the associated software. Besides, kinda bulky to have to carry 
all that mess around everywhere, and defeats my push to have *one* device do 
everything.

Still loving my Treo 650.

-Fred