Palm vs other smart phones/PDAs

[Ben Scott]

On Fri, May 9, 2008 at 7:33 PM, Tom Buskey <tom at buskey.name> wrote:
>> They're still essentially shipping
>> the same code they were in 2004, with only very minor updates.  Their
>> "Palm Desktop" software still isn't "enterprise friendly", and also
>
> I haven't used it in years.  I sync to Outlook, jpilot, Yahoo.

  The HotSync software that I assume you're using to sync with Outlook
is part of Palm Desktop.  It isn't multi-user aware; it has to be
installed as the user who will run it.  So the only way to install it
is to temporarily give the user admin rights on their PC, install it,
and then revoke those rights.  It resists scripting.  And it needs to
be able to write to a few system locations that should be read-only
for users.  These problems have been apparent since at least 2002, and
they've been claiming they'll be fixed Real Soon Now ever since.  They
just got it working with Vista recently, and only for the latest
handhelds.

>> As near as I can tell, Palm is dead, they just
>> seem to be really slow to realize it.
>
> I think they'll come down to the Wizards.

  I don't understand.

>> But try and find a decent web browser or SSH client.
>> (There's stuff out there, but it's old, slow, crashes a lot
>> (and on Palm, crash == reboot), and (for the browsers) has trouble
>> with modern sites.)
>
> Well, try finding WiFi in a Palm.

  My Clie has a Memory Stick slot which can accept a wifi adapter,
which I have.  I gave up on it, because the app software all sucks so
much.

-- Ben