eBooks you can actually afford

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/about.html">http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/about.html</a><br /><br />Since eBooks first burst onto the scene, most of us have been complaining about the cost: if it's electronic, how come they're so expensive? Why doesn't anyone release cheap eBooks that are still valuable? Well, someone has been listening, and we have what we've been asking for. Topical, useful, and cheap eBooks that are a no-brainer to buy. No painful DRM5 restrictions, no sky-high price tags, and no cheap marketing fluff packaged as an eBook. And the list below is just the beginning - he looks like he'll be a busy guy, with <a href="http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/listings.html">four new books</a> already slated for a September release. If you want to learn more about your Pocket PC, or have a friend who just got one and needs some good 101 training, point them to the links below. These aren't books that an expert user will need or want - but if you're new to the Pocket PC, these look like excellent resources for you.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/wordsplash.jpg" /><br /><br /><br />• <a href="http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/theme.html">Dreamy Themes</a>: "Today Themes. Have you always wanted to change the look of your Pocket PC? Ever want to learn how to make your own custom themes, or find sites that have themes? In the eBook we show you how! This is the most detailed resource available!" Cost: <a href="http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&platformId=2&productType=2&catalog=0§ionId=0&productId=42692">$5.95</a> (affiliate link).<br /><br />• <a href="http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/im.html">Instant Messaging for the Pocket PC</a>: "Instant Messaging for the Pocket PC. AOL, MSN, ICQ....are all very popular for talking with coworkers and friends. Now learn about each one, where to get them, how to use them and more with the *most* comprehensive resource on Instant messaging for the Pocket PC!" Cost: <a href="http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&platformId=2&productType=2&catalog=0§ionId=0&productId=42691">$5.95</a> (affiliate link).<br /><br />• <a href="http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/word.html">Word Up</a>: "Pocket Word for the Pocket PC. This is the most comprehensive resource on how to get the most out of Pocket Word for the Pocket PC. From tips and tricks, conversion caveats, to using 3rd party applications, to step-by-step guides, this guide is what you've been looking for if you use Microsoft Word, a Pocket PC and Pocket Word!" Cost: <a href="http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&platformId=2&productType=2&catalog=0§ionId=0&productId=42689">$6.95</a> (affiliate link)<br /><br />And be sure to check out his wickedly funny <a href="http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/entertainment.html">pocket parodies.</a>

[Aceze]

I dont want to rain on anyone's parade, but are you kidding me?!
$5.95 for a book on how to create themes? ..on how to use Instant Messaging on a pocketpc? .. on how to use Word?!
Doing a simple search on Brighthand will net you tons of specific info for item 1. Ditto for finding an instant messaging client for item 2, and figuring out how to use it is as easy as reading the help text files! Heck, the actual instant messaging clients are typically FREE! How to use pocket word? Just go to pocketpc.com and grab the relevant info!

You've GOT to be kidding me here - $6 each for stuff you can find in 5 minutes or less (and I'd wager you this, if a reader here sees this article, they'd know about Brighthand already) for absolutely FREE info does NOT a healthy ebook market make. Heck, I'm fairly sure he just mined the same places to compile these "books".

Dont get me wrong, I'm all for people making a buck, but this is not much more than a cash grab using the same info people gave of freely.

Heck for roughly two of these "books" you can get a month's subscription at Baen.com for four full novels, with no DRM nothing (html files). Support the REAL ebook providers at the very least.

If you're a real friend, point him/her to brighthand. Trying to make a few bucks of saps is kinda low dontchathink?

Ugh!
Aceze

[pt]

I dont want to rain on anyone's parade, but are you kidding me?!
$5.95 for a book on how to create themes? ..on how to use Instant Messaging on a pocketpc? .. on how to use Word?!
Doing a simple search on Brighthand will net you tons of specific info for item 1. Ditto for finding an instant messaging client for item 2, and figuring out how to use it is as easy as reading the help text files! Heck, the actual instant messaging clients are typically FREE! How to use pocket word? Just go to pocketpc.com and grab the relevant info!
You've GOT to be kidding me here - $6 each for stuff you can find in 5 minutes or less (and I'd wager you this, if a reader here sees this article, they'd know about Brighthand already) for absolutely FREE info does NOT a healthy ebook market make. Heck, I'm fairly sure he just mined the same places to compile these "books".
Dont get me wrong, I'm all for people making a buck, but this is not much more than a cash grab using the same info people gave of freely.
Heck for roughly two of these "books" you can get a month's subscription at Baen.com for four full novels, with no DRM nothing (html files). Support the REAL ebook providers at the very least.
If you're a real friend, point him/her to brighthand. Trying to make a few bucks of saps is kinda low dontchathink?
Ugh!
Aceze


i wrote the ebooks, here's the deal...all the stuff on the web about word, themes and instant messaging kinda sucks, it's too short, it's not step by step. these ebooks are really long and cover everything.

but tellya what, i'll take you up on that that bet. i'll bet you $5 there are things in each ebook that you won't find anywhere on the web, print, or in the help files.

cheers,
pt

[Rob Alexander]

:( I hate to say it, since I'd like to support PPC Thoughts regulars in their ventures, but I have to agree with Aceze. This is nothing I would even consider buying. While these would be attractive prices for the latest Stephen King novel, they are not attractive prices for basic PPC info that you can find all over the Net. This hardly deserves a "finally, affordable ebooks" tag.

[pt]

:( I hate to say it, since I'd like to support PPC Thoughts regulars in their ventures, but I have to agree with Aceze. This is nothing I would even consider buying. While these would be attractive prices for the latest Stephen King novel, they are not attractive prices for basic PPC info that you can find all over the Net. This hardly deserves a "finally, affordable ebooks" tag.

-are you a pocket pc beginner?

-are you sure everything in the ebooks are on the web? they're not, i wrote them, i live on the web, this is all the stuff that you'll never find in one place or even all the the places put together.

cheers,
pt

[Paul P]

-are you a pocket pc beginner?

I am not a pocket pc beginner, but I was two years ago. typing google.com did the trick every time though.


-are you sure everything in the ebooks are on the web? they're not, i wrote them, i live on the web, this is all the stuff that you'll never find in one place or even all the the places put together.

can you just give me one example of what you mean? I am curious.

Available now! Instant Messaging for the Pocket PC. AOL, MSN, ICQ....are all very popular for talking with coworkers and friends. Now learn about each one, where to get them, how to use them and more with the *most* comprehensive resource on Instant messaging for the Pocket PC!

you mean where to get AIM, ICQ, or MSN is a mystery? it is as simple as putting .com on the end of each of those services. using AIM for your pocketpc is as simple as remembering your screenname and password (same for AOL).

I guess if someone doesn't mind spending the money, then this is a non-issue. but it's a different story when someone is led to believe that they 'need' to buy these ebooks in order to use these simple programs.

[daninnj]

A little off topic, but isn't AOL stopping the AIM service for Pocket PC?

DanInNJ

[pt]

I am not a pocket pc beginner, but I was two years ago. typing google.com did the trick every time though.

great these aren't for you...also, not everyone is a googler'. i'm not going to call them "pocket pc for dummies" but they are beginner ebooks, and they cover lots of advanced stuff too...

can you just give me one example of what you mean? I am curious.

sure. read the toc's..
http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/word.html
http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/theme.html
http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/im.html

if you find one spot on the web that covers all those topics in a way that non-experts (like you, me and most people here) can follow, please post here, i'll add those to my resource section.

you won't find all of this stuff all over, but again-- these aren't for people who want to spend 8 hours on google looking for nuggets of info on 5000 different sites.


you mean where to get AIM, ICQ, or MSN is a mystery? it is as simple as putting .com on the end of each of those services. using AIM for your pocketpc is as simple as remembering your screenname and password (same for AOL). I guess if someone doesn't mind spending the money, then this is a non-issue. but it's a different story when someone is led to believe that they 'need' to buy these ebooks in order to use these simple programs.

i answer about 500 messages a week in the newsgroups (or at least it seems that way) many people aren't getting what they need from the applications, the help files, the user manuals, and the web.

you may not need them, in fact, please don't buy them, these might be too basic for you. but there's a large population of people who just want to use their device and need a little help.

i've written lots of regular print books, and yah---most everything is on the web somewhere if you look long enough and hard enough, but for whatever reason people buy books.

cheers,
pt

[pt]

A little off topic, but isn't AOL stopping the AIM service for Pocket PC?
DanInNJ

that's yahoo (and covered in these ebooks :-] )

[Rob Alexander]

:( I hate to say it, since I'd like to support PPC Thoughts regulars in their ventures, but I have to agree with Aceze. This is nothing I would even consider buying. While these would be attractive prices for the latest Stephen King novel, they are not attractive prices for basic PPC info that you can find all over the Net. This hardly deserves a "finally, affordable ebooks" tag.

-are you a pocket pc beginner?

-are you sure everything in the ebooks are on the web? they're not, i wrote them, i live on the web, this is all the stuff that you'll never find in one place or even all the the places put together.

Hey, I'm not trying to get down on you, pt. I genuinely wish you the best of luck. I'm skeptical that there's any real market for this and I think the price is too high for what it is, but I hope I'm wrong and that you do very well with it. Nothing ventured nothing gained, eh? The site looks good, BTW.

[pt]

Hey, I'm not trying to get down on you, pt. I genuinely wish you the best of luck. I'm skeptical that there's any real market for this and I think the price is too high for what it is, but I hope I'm wrong and that you do very well with it. Nothing ventured nothing gained, eh? The site looks good, BTW.

there's a larger market for beginner help, than expert guides. go to the book store.

there are tons of people i run into who say "i'm skeptical", "no real market"...blah blah. i'd rather try new things, help folks along the way, find new markets, and when i do see something that a person has tried (against all odds) i think i'll cheer he / she on...risk taking is your friend. the people who are crazy enough to try new things, are usually the ones who manage to pull it off.

watch the parody part of the site :-]

cheers,
pt

[Jason Dunn]

I can't articulate how deeply disappointed I am in those that have responded to this posting so far. :cry: That's all I trust myself to say at the moment - every other post I start has the f-word too many times. :roll:

[Andy Sjostrom]

Great to finally see some good use of e-books.
I believe pt is right on target in two ways. First, the value of the info these books is significant. Second, I believe that while free community support through newsgroups etc will continue to thrive and expand (thanks to people like pt) it is important to open up ways to make money in this segment too. Charging for competence through e-books is brilliant.

[marlof]

I spend about one to two hours each day reading and posting on everything that is concerned with Pocket PCs. I know the ways of getting all kinds of info on everything Pocket PC. I know that if I spend time on Thoughts, the newsgroup or other sites, I'll find answers to my questions. And if not, I'll post them, and people will hopefully give the answers to me. For free. And I like to keep it that way.

But I'm not pt's target audience. That is the same group that buys computer related books in a bookstore like "Learn Word in 12 easy steps". Most of the time, all of those 12 steps can be found somewhere, sometimes even in the manual that comes with the product. Still people buy those books. Why? Because it's convenient for a beginning user not to dive off in the deep, and find the best steps in a sea of options. Others don't even know about the existence of newsgroups, discussion boards, etc, nor do they care about those. They just want to know how to use the product they've bought.

Before you put the idea in the trash, please stop thinking as a power user. Imagine yourself as someone like my gf, who has absolutely no idea how a computer or a Pocket PC works, but who just needs that thing as a tool. For some of the tasks that tool can help you with, pt has written a beginners manual.

And Aceze: no, I don't think charging for these is low. I think it's obvious that someone taking the time to collect info, add his own experiences, and offer the info in an easy format, should get paid for that. Nobody thinks twice if it's a paper book author doing the same thing, but now it's an ebook dealing with a subject that we like, and suddenly it would be a bad thing? I don't think so. As always the market will regulate itself. If the idea is bad, or if pt's book suck, people won't buy them. But I for one am pretty confident this might work out pretty well.

[schwuk]

I can't comment on the quality of the books as I've not read them, but based on all of pt's other work I'm sure they'll be of a high standard.

The ebook market - particularly technical content - is pretty dry at the moment so any new titles are welcome. I'm not planning on buying any these (except maybe word), but I will be pointing friends and newbies at them. Titles like these are even more useful since pocketpc.com stopped producing the good content. Jason, maybe you should pen a few?

To pt: well done, and I'm looking forward to your other titles.

To the naysayers: If you don't think you need them, don't buy them - there are plenty that will. If you think they are too expensive, write your own and than see what you think your time was worth.

Only slightly off-topic: As Microsoft created and markets their own e-book technology, why aren't the MSPress books available as e-books?

[Rirath]

I agree with everyone else, this is overpriced junk plain and simple. I don't care how glorious you think your own writings are. This doesn't deserve the massive ad on the main page. Pt and Jason, chill! No need to take everything personal. People have a right to be absolutely honest in these forums and that's why they work. Look, the article on the main page is /obviously/ skewed... so I click the forums to read the real deal from people who know.

[Rob Alexander]

I can't articulate how deeply disappointed I am in those that have responded to this posting so far. :cry: That's all I trust myself to say at the moment - every other post I start has the f-word too many times. :roll:

Then you definitely need to relax and regain a little perspective. 8) You're excited by the idea. So is pt. That's cool. Some of us aren't so excited. So what?!

For gosh sake, I haven't said anything bad about pt or suggested he doesn't have a right to produce something and be paid for it. I just expressed that I don't think the market is there. Big deal; what do I know? But if my opinion elicits responses from you that include the f-word, then you need to look inside yourself to ask why it upsets you so much. That would definitely be your problem, not mine.

I can understand pt being a bit sensitive; this is his hard work that's being discussed. He's put a part of himself out there for all to see and it's natural for him to dislike any criticism that comes along. He'll get used to it.

But why are you angry? :?

[Rob Alexander]

I agree with everyone else, this is overpriced junk plain and simple. I don't care how glorious you think your own writings are. This doesn't deserve the massive ad on the main page.

8O Whoa, don't lump me into any group of 'everyone' saying what you've just said. I have no reason to think these books are junk. My experience is that pt is quite knowledgeable and my guess would be that the books will be well done. The concerns I've expressed about the market and the price are purely an expression of how I think other people are likely to respond. I don't question pt's motives or his right to do this and I hope I turn out to be wrong. As for the announcement, it's Jason's site and he can post whatever he pleases. I like what he and the others post here. That's why I come back every day.

[marlof]

This doesn't deserve the massive ad on the main page.

Maybe *we* like the idea. Maybe it's *our* site where *we* write about what *we* like. Maybe *we* don't agree with *you*. That doesn't give *you* the right to decide what deserves to be on the front page of *our* site. If *you* want to read a site where *you* get to decide what's on the front page, *you* create *your* own site. On *our* site *you* will have to put up with what *we* write there, and *you* are even free to comment on that. But please keep it civil.

[rlobrecht]

Only slightly off-topic: As Microsoft created and markets their own e-book technology, why aren't the MSPress books available as e-books?

At one point MS Press had an interesting service where you could purchase chapters of their books as MS Reader files, but they were DRM5 and PPC2000 was still all that was out there, so I never tried it. The last time I went looking for it, I couldn't find the service anymore. I really wish I could purchase MSPress books in Reader format. It would make preparing for my MCSE much easier than carrying around those gigantic books.

[Brad Adrian]

I agree with everyone else, this is overpriced junk plain and simple...

Oh. So you've already read them?

Two years ago, my favorite book of all time was "How To Do Anything With Your Pocket PC." I wore that book out. Had it been in an e-book format, I would have LOVED it.

I think this is an anologous situation.

[shaklee3]

I can't articulate how deeply disappointed I am in those that have responded to this posting so far. :cry: That's all I trust myself to say at the moment - every other post I start has the f-word too many times. :roll:

you are mad because people are telling the truth? They are right, there is absolutely no use for ebooks on this subjects. You can find comprehensive tutorials on how to create themes right on the dashboard site, and word is very limited in what it can do. Maybe if it was written on word for desktop I would be a little more interested, but sorry to say, these books are not useful.

by the way, how much did he pay to get that huge ad on the front of the site?

[markcrump]

I don't think these are a bad idea. I wouldn't buy them, but for the n00b, they might work. Sure 90% of this you would find a google search, but what's $6 to have it in an easy to use format? In fact the video one could be interesting since that's a big subject, and is frequently asked about on the boards.

The problem is. most of us are technical, and most of us know the PPC real well, so this is like marketing "how to flip burgers" on the "sous (sp) chef" forums. I personally think that the technical headaches of getting the lans, wireless connections, and cell phone hookups probably mean you can get the instant messenging portion worked out. In a year or so, as more devices like Smart Phones become mainstream, I can see a book like being worthwhile.

[rcecme]

I immediately clicked to look at what pt had to offer. Although I saw nothing I want at the time, I came back and clicked the thread to see if anyone else had discovered something the PPC Thoughts guys had not seen yet.

To my dismay, the threads were a back and forth fruit toss.

Thanks, Jason for the post on new technical ebooks. Thanks pt for your efforts to bring some technical releases to ebooks. Keep up the good work. Maybe at some point in the future you will have one that I am looking for.

BTW, the price did not scare me since new releases on peanutpress.com cost basically the same as the print version and older releases on peanutpress.com run you about what a printed copy would.

[DoorKnob]

Had to chime in and give my 2 cents. Some of you people need to relax. What I find really funny is that half of you that are slamming pt for his efforts would download his information in a heartbeat if it was Freeware. You would not do it because you found it useful or because you needed the information, you would do it because it was free and I've noticed that more and more readers want something for nothing. I like what pt has done. It may not be something I need, but I along with a lot of people I have been using PPC's for a while. This is not the case with all readers. There are new members everyday and some are just starting out.

Note to pt. - Nice job and I hope it your efforts are appreciated in the form of many downloads. 8)

[Jimmy Dodd]

My two cents:

1. There is a market for these type of hand-holding, step-by-step books. A trip to any book store will show a number of them and simply skimming through them will show that they are merely repackaged and expanded versions of the manuals.

2. I don't know what the level of expertise of regular readers on this web page is, but I'd venture to guess that it is a lot lower than most posters would expect. Most of the regular posters appear to have a high level of experience, but the number of lurkers who come out of the shadows to sign up for a contest means it's anybody's guess.

3. I think PPCT should be commended for supporting pt's efforts and celebrating his new site. After all, any site that can help people get over this "buy a Palm, PPC's are too complicated" mentality is a positive thing in my view.

And finally,

4. Good luck to pt in his endeavor.

[schwuk]

I really wish I could purchase MSPress books in Reader format. It would make preparing for my MCSE much easier than carrying around those gigantic books.

That's the reason I want them as well. I've got the dead tree versions, and the .chm versions that come on the CD, but I don't like reading on a laptop. Does anyone know an easy way of converting .chm to .lit?

[adamz]

"Word to your mother" ???
That was passe as soon as Vanilla Ice hit the stage!

i answer about 500 messages a week in the newsgroups (or at least it seems that way) many people aren't getting what they need from the applications, the help files, the user manuals, and the web.

Except most of your posts are just advertisements or links to your website with pictures of your PDA. :)

you may not need them, in fact, please don't buy them, these might be too basic for you.

This is a great attitude for marketing products, isn't it!?

But anyway, getting back to reality... How many beginner pocket PC users, which is obviously your target market, are going to be able to figure out how to open an eBook on a Pocket PC.. but NOT be able to figure out how to use Pocket Word or Instant Messaging? Furthermore, if they're reading an eBook on the Pocket PC, then they can't actually use Pocket Word while they're reading the eBook. People often use instrunctional books to help them learn the application.. while they're using/doing it. Maybe some one should write an eBook on how to use the eBook reader. :)

[Jason Dunn]

Look, the article on the main page is /obviously/ skewed... so I click the forums to read the real deal from people who know.

Skewed? How so? Skewed because I think it's a great idea for newbie Pocket PC users? How is me posting my opinion on my site "skewed"? :?

And it's pretty sad that you're getting the "real deal" from people who haven't contributed anything to the Pocket PC world (or any other world from what I can tell) and have no concept of what content creation really entails (I don't lump Rob in here though - he's worked on a book and may understand that).

:arrow: Rirath - I see that on your own site you've started using Amazon.com affiliate links - why is that? Why can't you do everything for free, 100% of the time, with people taking and giving you back nothing? Come on - I know you understand what it's like to put in a lot of hard work on something and hope you get a few bucks for it. There's nothing wrong with that - we have bills to pay and food to buy. Is this any different?

I remain in complete awe of the lack of intellectual ability that some people have to understand the words "target market". If you're not in that target market, if the product isn't aimed at you and your needs, why criticize it? Do you walk by books in the computer section and scream at all the "For Dummies" books because they're on the shelf? I hope not! You keep walking because they're not the books for your - for your level. So why is it that on-line people can't do the same thing?

Here's a clue to some of you in this thread: having an opinion doesn't mean you ALWAYS need to express it. If your opinion is going to result in you hurting someone else, why not stay silent? Why do you NEED to hurt them?

I'm sometimes ashamed at giving people a platform like this to say the things they do. This thread is a prime example.

Why can't we all support people who are working for the good of the Pocket PC community? Why can't we simply say "This isn't the ebook/software/hardware/whatever for me, but others might like it, so way to go! Thanks for contributing to the betterment of the Pocket PC platform!"

Some days I hate running this site. :cry:

[pt]

I can understand pt being a bit sensitive; this is his hard work that's being discussed. He's put a part of himself out there for all to see and it's natural for him to dislike any criticism that comes along. He'll get used to it.

haha, ya know, i actually don't care, at all, about anything posted here, ever- positive or negative. it doesn't matter what is discussed, as long as it's about me ;-]

cheers,
pt

[Jason Dunn]

They are right, there is absolutely no use for ebooks on this subjects.

If even one of those books sells, you have been proven wrong. Try to understand that your needs for information are not the same as everyone else's. There's a reason why 70% of the books in the computer section are all "Dummie" books or very basic. People need this stuff. :D

by the way, how much did he pay to get that huge ad on the front of the site?

The same amount you paid me to read this site and post on it. :wink:

[pt]

They are right, there is absolutely no use for ebooks on this subjects. You can find comprehensive tutorials on how to create themes right on the dashboard site, and word is very limited in what it can do. Maybe if it was written on word for desktop I would be a little more interested, but sorry to say, these books are not useful. by the way, how much did he pay to get that huge ad on the front of the site?

there isn't a resource on the web that goes step by step for beginners for THEMES, and it's not a product manual for the very cool snoopsoft dashboard (an add on and commerical product)...can you please post the "comprehensive tutorials on how to create themes right on the dashboard site" i don't see it.

http://www.snoopsoft.com/dashboard/index.html

as far as pocket word goes, it's actually a great program, most people don't know how to use it, that's why i wrote the ebook. if you can find ANY place on the web / google / etc... that has ALL this information, in step by step form, please let me know.

http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/word.html

lastly, jason covered this as news, it wasn't an ad or anything.

cheers,
pt

[Dell Dude]

Dude! Why is everyone getting so uptight about this? Chill dudes, chill. If you don't want the dude's ebooks, don't buy em right? But don't be mean to the dude who wrote the books! If someone doesn't want to buy a Dell from moi, that's totally ok, but it would suck if they started, like, getting' all pissy with me about why they didn't want a Dell. Why are you dudes so harsh? Buy a Dell, it will make you happy...

[pt]

"Word to your mother" ???That was passé as soon as Vanilla Ice hit the stage!

see, that's the humor part. some call it "the funny". by using something passé (like Alf, or mr.t) some marketers can grab attention. it worked, you read it, you're talking about it, marketing works.

booya.

that's passé too. me so funny.


Except most of your posts are just advertisements or links to your website with pictures of your PDA. :)

no, most of them are answer questions. if you'd like i can send all of them and you can check it out. i do post pics of the new hardware i get, most people really like that, as their the most popular areas on my site.

what advertisements are you talking about?


This is a great attitude for marketing products, isn't it!?

it is, if your an expert, don't buy these. check the toc's though there are expert level topics int here too.

But anyway, getting back to reality... How many beginner pocket PC users, which is obviously your target market, are going to be able to figure out how to open an eBook on a Pocket PC.. but NOT be able to figure out how to use Pocket Word or Instant Messaging? Furthermore, if they're reading an eBook on the Pocket PC, then they can't actually use Pocket Word while they're reading the eBook. People often use instrunctional books to help them learn the application.. while they're using/doing it. Maybe some one should write an eBook on how to use the eBook reader.

so if you've read the site, and / or got the ebooks, you get 2 .lit versions, one for desktop, one for device and a pdf. we suggest most people read the ebooks as a pdf or lit on the desktop and / or print them out. some people would like to read some of these on the go, so we had a device version as well. if i didn't have a device version, you would post "how can there be ebooks about the pocket pc and not have a pocket pc version".

yes, i'm working on a "how to use, create and share ebooks" for the pocket pc ebook too. so start thinking of clever things to post here, and keep google'ing.

cheers,
pt

[Scytale]

I actually took the time to register just to reply to this post. I was 'taken in' by the first few lines of the post: "we have what we've been asking for. Topical, useful, and cheap eBooks that are a no-brainer to buy. No painful DRM5 restrictions, no sky-high price tags, and no cheap marketing fluff packaged as an eBook." That had me clicking the link at full speed, only to discover it has nothing to do with reasonably priced versions of novels. Oh well, but I did wonder why the post was so huge for something that was uninteresting for (what I think is) the bulk of this site's readers, and so I clicked the comments section.

Wow, Jason, you are a complete hippocrite. It is your site and you are welcome to post whatever the hell you want in whatever way you want. But if you give people an open forum to comment, they will also post what they think about your news items. So if you can post your opinion why do you think everyone else should squelch theirs?

Here's a clue for you: If you can't take some criticism, don't post your pet projects with an open comments link. Just gray it out for your stuff.

Don't get me wrong, I love this site and check it every day, but I'm surprised you've been running a site this long and haven't figured out the basics about how internet forums work.

Scytale

Look, the article on the main page is /obviously/ skewed... so I click the forums to read the real deal from people who know.

Skewed? How so? Skewed because I think it's a great idea for newbie Pocket PC users? How is me posting my opinion on my site "skewed"? :?

And it's pretty sad that you're getting the "real deal" from people who haven't contributed anything to the Pocket PC world (or any other world from what I can tell) and have no concept of what content creation really entails (I don't lump Rob in here though - he's worked on a book and may understand that).

:arrow: Rirath - I see that on your own site you've started using Amazon.com affiliate links - why is that? Why can't you do everything for free, 100% of the time, with people taking and giving you back nothing? Come on - I know you understand what it's like to put in a lot of hard work on something and hope you get a few bucks for it. There's nothing wrong with that - we have bills to pay and food to buy. Is this any different?

I remain in complete awe of the lack of intellectual ability that some people have to understand the words "target market". If you're not in that target market, if the product isn't aimed at you and your needs, why criticize it? Do you walk by books in the computer section and scream at all the "For Dummies" books because they're on the shelf? I hope not! You keep walking because they're not the books for your - for your level. So why is it that on-line people can't do the same thing?

Here's a clue to some of you in this thread: having an opinion doesn't mean you ALWAYS need to express it. If your opinion is going to result in you hurting someone else, why not stay silent? Why do you NEED to hurt them?

I'm sometimes ashamed at giving people a platform like this to say the things they do. This thread is a prime example.

Why can't we all support people who are working for the good of the Pocket PC community? Why can't we simply say "This isn't the ebook/software/hardware/whatever for me, but others might like it, so way to go! Thanks for contributing to the betterment of the Pocket PC platform!"

Some days I hate running this site. :cry:

[Jason Dunn]

So if you can post your opinion why do you think everyone else should squelch theirs?

Expressing opinions can be done in an encouraging way or a discouraging way. You can either create or destroy.

When I post on an application or something I found, even if I don't think it's useful myself, I'm not going to say "This is stupid, why did anyone release this application?" or "Your web site sucks, I'm never going to visit it, so why should I tell others about it?". I try to always be encouraging about the Pocket PC things I post on - I want to see this community grow and flourish. It's not my place to judge the value of everything I see for others - I can judge the value for myself, and chose to visit/not visit, buy or not buy.

The people complaining here are being discouraging and negative. They're being mean-spirited and are complaining about a product that no one asked them to buy. That's what I don't understand. If you don't want to buy the book, that's totally cool. But why be mean and tear down what someone else has created?

But you're right, I should know better by now. I keep hoping that people will learn that it's better to build someone up than to tear them down, but human nature will always be an ugly thing. It's easier to destroy than to create, and I don't like to see people destroy things that others have created - it's that simple.

PS: eBooks are "electronic books", and books are more than simply novels. I never said the word "novels" in the post. You've been to a book store, yes? There are a lot of books out there in the world. :wink:

PPS: If you're going to call me a hypocrite, at least learn to spell it correctly. 8)

PPPS: If I was going to "squelch" opinions, I would delete the posts. I didn't - they're all still there. I was simply saying I was disappointed in the people who felt it was better to be negative than positive about this.

[pt]

Don't get me wrong, I love this site and check it every day, but I'm surprised you've been running a site this long and haven't figured out the basics about how internet forums work.

i'm speaking for myself here. but, i approach internet forums a little differently. since i speak and attend lots of conferences, i pretty much assume that i'm talking to a real person here, in person, since at some point, i just might need to, or someone might come along and scoop my comments and use it for a quote or something on another page...now i supposed that's a bizarre way to look at it, but i'm not going to post things i wouldn't say in person to you, many of the comments you might see in the newsgroups or forums are overly harsh, unfair, flames, etc..mostly because people tend to act differently in person than posting. at least that's been my experience.

for the people who are about to fire up their posts and say "pt! i'd say this to you or jason or anyone in real life-- i'm mean in real life too!" please send me a note and let me know, i'll give you my phone number and you can call me and leave a message on my voicemail, i'll most likely post it on www.pocketpcmagic.com and here though, cause' it would be really really funny.

cheers,
pt

[/dev/niall]

i'm not going to post things i wouldn't say in person to you, many of the comments you might see in the newsgroups or forums are overly harsh, unfair, flames, etc..mostly because people tend to act differently in person than posting. at least that's been my experience.


Okay... here goes ;)

Not being a new Pocket PC user I don't think I'd find your ebooks useful.

Regardless, I think they are overpriced for the content provided (I'm obviously going on quantity here, and not quality, since I have not read them). Mucking around on Fictionwise I can see that full length novels go for about the same price. I realize technical books often cost more than novels, but these seem to have too narrow a focus to warrant the price difference. It's entirely possible the content is so good the price is justified, but as an impartial consumer I see nothing to indicate this.

I also find your lack of capitalization distracting and a little ostentatious.

Lest anyone think I'm out to highlight negatives, I think http://www.flashenabled.com/mobile/ is really cool, and I think you've done a great job in the microsoft.pocketpc* newsgroups answering questions.

If you're ever in the Boston area I'd be happy to buy you a beer and say any or all of these things to your face. ;) I'd probably end up picking your brain on Flash development though.

[robwoomer]

This whole thing is really quite interesting. I, too, was disappointed by the text following the headline because I love to read and have been waiting for ebook publishers to realize (like the music industry is slowly doing) that we won't pay the same, or close to the same, price for something much less tangible than we could buy in the store.

BUT, C'MON PEOPLE! I think people have been very immature about this whole thing. Why would you take your frustration out on Jason or pt (or anyone else for that matter)? I would think most of us are fairly well on the way to being grown-ups. Do you feel the need to flame Starbucks because you pay $2.75 for something that "should" cost maybe $1.00? Grow up...if you don't like something your read, the polite, mature thing to do is ignore it and move on (feel free to do so with this post, as well).

[/dev/niall]

Do you feel the need to flame Starbucks because you pay $2.75 for something that "should" cost maybe $1.00?

Reminds me of a Colin Quinn quip during a SNL news update about a guy who was suing Starbucks for $4 million after being burned by coffee or something. Why $4 million? "I just wanted my money back."

[MobiliT]

Today I posted a discount code in the Pocket Informant thread.
http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3122

You save $5. After you purchase it (using the affiliate link in the article to support this site, right Jason? :wink:) you will then be able to apply your savings to the PT eBook of your choice, which you can now feel you bought for only $0.95 or $1.95.

Then everyone's happy: Alex Kac for purchasing Pocket Informant, Handango for using their website, Jason for the affiliate support, and PT for supporting his content. You win too as these people will continue to be able to provide Pocket PC services in the future.

Sorry guys... there are some legitimate discussions here, but I'm just trying to apply some positives. This hobby is too much fun to be spoiling it with unconstructive comments, right? If the eBooks are not for you, suggest how they could be instead of just criticizing. Just let me know which eBooks you'd be willing to pay $100 for so that I can write them first. :wink:

[pt]

Not being a new Pocket PC user I don't think I'd find your ebooks useful.

dev-- these are not for you. as you said -you-are-not-new-to-the-pocket-pc.

Regardless, I think they are overpriced for the content provided (I'm obviously going on quantity here, and not quality, since I have not read them). Mucking around on Fictionwise I can see that full length novels go for about the same price. I realize technical books often cost more than novels, but these seem to have too narrow a focus to warrant the price difference. It's entirely possible the content is so good the price is justified, but as an impartial consumer I see nothing to indicate this.

um..you haven't read them. but do look at the listings, and the table of contents, there isn't a resource that covers these topics, this deep, in one place. you're not an impartial consumer, there is nothing to indicate that. you post said you're not a beginner, that's where you need to stop, these are not for you. impartial would mean something different in this case, they're not novels, they're big beginner books.


I also find your lack of capitalization distracting and a little ostentatious.

the ebooks use captial letters, so does the entire www.pocketpcmagic.com site. can you elaborate a little on how lack of captial letters in my posts -here- is ostentatious? just curious.


Lest anyone think I'm out to highlight negatives, I think http://www.flashenabled.com/mobile/ is really cool, and I think you've done a great job in the microsoft.pocketpc* newsgroups answering questions.

thanks.


If you're ever in the Boston area I'd be happy to buy you a beer and say any or all of these things to your face. ;) I'd probably end up picking your brain on Flash development though.

so you won't call my voicemail and leave a message?

cheers,
pt

[Brad Adrian]

I also find your lack of capitalization distracting and a little ostentatious.

but think of all the time and energy that's being saved by not having to press down the shift key! if it was good enough for e.e. cummings, why not for pt? :wink:

seriously, i wish all of you knew pt. if you did, the very *last* word you would use to describe him is "ostentatious." and if you go back and read his comments, you'll realize that his replies are explanations, not arguments or criticisms.

i think this thread has about run its course...

[pt]

but think of all the time and energy that's being saved by not having to press down the shift key! if it was good enough for e.e. cummings, why not for pt? :seriously, i wish all of you knew pt. if you did, the very *last* word you would use to describe him is "ostentatious." and if you go back and read his comments, you'll realize that his replies are explanations, not arguments or criticisms. i think this thread has about run its course...

thanks brad. this has all been great info for the "experiment (that's what is folks, all of this) it speaks volumes, it's stuff that money could never buy.

i do wish there were more suggestions on pricing, content, etc...most of it is people posting something negative and then never coming back.

and no one has called my voicemail and told me any of this "in real life" so i can post it on my site.

chickens.

brock. brock.

cheers,
pt

[Mark from Canada]

There seem to be several issues:

1) The introduction of the books in the posting made me (as it seems like others too) hope for a large library of different categories, not three books for PPC beginners :(. Maybe that started to get emotions up in the first place?

2) Are these books overpriced? As with everything there is a target market for books. It is partly defined by content, medium, price and convenience.
Or: How much are you willing to pay to get something presented in a special manner and save you time - and do you have the knowledge to get it otherwise?
For many beginners it is easier to just buy something that puts everything together than spend hours trying to find it on the net. And let's be honest: many things are written in geek, which not everyone understands. Everyone can decide how much it is worth to them.
To go Starbucks here: Do you get your cooled coffee from Starbucks or are you making it yourself? Or do you just go to the donut shop next door and get something similar to either option.

3) Should Jason have posted it?
It's HIS site and he can do what he wants. Pay him monthly for creating the site and then you can have SOME input - depending on how much you pay him :wink:.

4) Voicing your opinion is fine and this site couldn't live without it, but please try to stay civil and don't go overboard here - especially if you haven't even READ the books AND are not in their target audience. Anybody here read one of the books and can have a real opinion?


In a perfect world nobody would need money and everything is free. But this is not a perfect world. If pt wants to sell some books to be able to afford the new PocketPC he wants (and a coffee on the side) and if people are willing to pay him - go ahead. Best wishes for your success.
And people: don't forget that he is posting answers on boards like this for free as well.

[Rirath]

Well, now that I've been told off by quite a few admins overnight:

Maybe *we* like the idea. Maybe it's *our* site where *we* write about what *we* like. Maybe *we* don't agree with *you*.

Fine by me, but again, I love the forums because it's honest and I can hear what other people besides /you/ think.

"Oh. So you've already read them?"

Nope, I haven't read em at all but I have looked through the table of contents. I believe that's enough though I know you guys obviously won't agree.

"Rirath - I see that on your own site you've started using Amazon.com affiliate links - why is that? Why can't you do everything for free, 100% of the time,"

There is an explanation right on the first page. I put the links there so I could have a handy little box shot, and a quick link to more info. Amazon provides reviews and information, and I feel it's important people hear more than one opinion. No one has ever ordered anything from my site, and I doubt they ever will. They /have/ clicked and got more info though. (Can't blame ya though, there's a lot of info on that page... needs cleared soon.)

"Here's a clue to some of you in this thread: having an opinion doesn't mean you ALWAYS need to express it. If your opinion is going to result in you hurting someone else, why not stay silent? Why do you NEED to hurt them?"

I highly doubt we "hurt" PT. I take criticism all the time, it's part of life. It's a good part of life, if you ask me. Why this world constantly wants someone to pat them on their back and shake their hand I don't know.

Well I must say this has been one interesting thread. :)

[scottmag]

This could be one of those elusive "tipping point" moments. You know, where something reaches a critical size and changes dramatically. My observation, as a non-PPC user who still enjoys the content here, is that almost every piece of crap that came along (*cough* Thera) was praised or defended because there was a need to build up the PocketPC community. Perhaps the good thing about this discussion is that people are now feeling free to more openly criticize new things in the PPC realm.

I fully support PT's efforts and wish him luck. I IM'd him out of the blue the other day after reading something he wrote at Brighthand. (It happens that in that discussion he mentioned these ebooks and there was a lot of interest.) He was very helpful in answering my off the cuff rambling questions.

Judging by the proliferation of For Dummies books (which I love), I'd say that there is a huge market for comprehensive how-to technical books. Maybe they'd make a great gift for the relative you talked into buying an iPaq who now calls you everyday with questions.

How about we encourage PT to figure this market out and determine the level of interest and appropriate price points. Many of these comments could have been phrased differently to be constructive feedback.

Scott

[/dev/niall]

dev-- these are not for you. as you said -you-are-not-new-to-the-pocket-pc.


Just wanted to get that right out there before I started spouting forth my opinions. I'll drop it now, since you don't seem to be interested.


the ebooks use captial letters, so does the entire www.pocketpcmagic.com site. can you elaborate a little on how lack of captial letters in my posts -here- is ostentatious? just curious.


Everyone I have ever known who doesn't use capital letters has fallen into two categories: 1) Too lazy, and they usually don't spull vury well neither, or 2) people who want attention. We use capital letters for a reason; if you choose not to I will assume you are lazy or doing so for some other unknown reason. You certainly don't come over as lazy, so I can only speculate to your actual reason for not using them. Hell, maybe you're a die-hard E.E. Cummings fan (in which case I would *definately* consider it pretentious, as he said himself "I am a small eye poet"). I'm just telling you how your unexplained misuse is being parsed by yours truly.



so you won't call my voicemail and leave a message?


Sure, if it really means that much to you. PM me your number. I'm not sure why you would want me to since you don't seem all that interested in the opinions of folks who don't fit into the target audience for your books. What do you want me to say? Should I just read my post to you word for word? ;)

[shaklee3]

I think the reason people are mad is because of the misleading title. The article is titled ebooks you can actually afford, when these are not the ebooks people are expecting. Why don't you go ahead and post the sites that have lists of free downloadable ebooks, since we can afford those too. This has nothing to do with affordable ebooks.

[Paul P]

Jason, most of us are not beginners and you should have expected this kind of discussion before posting the article on the main page. There is a natural backlash against things of these natures. So what? What is the big deal? Pt handled the arguments thrown against him very well. There was no need for you to come out in his defense and in the process put down a lot of people here for simply expressing their opinions (encouraging or not). Criticism of a product does not necessarily translate into personal attacks on creativity. It’s not about not liking the book and having the choice not to buy it. Just because no one asked me to buy the e-book does not mean that I have to keep my mouth shut. The essence of this discussion focused on the fact that online research will get you most of the answers found in the e-book. Just because someone is a Pocket PC beginner does make them a beginner in everything. What is so wrong with saving someone a little money?

[Scytale]

Yes, exactly the point I was trying to make, although with better wording. The reason I bothered to register and post was not because I have any problem with pt or his books. The part that got my ire was when Jason comes in and starts putting people down just for posting their opinions. The main reason I even looked at the comments page instead of just moving on was that I expected some backlash because the news article was somewhat misleading.

As for trying to maintain an air of impartiality, I completely understand that. But guess what: That's why I read the comments - to get opinions, both good and bad.

Oh, and thanks for the spelling lesson. :oops:

Scytale

Jason, most of us are not beginners and you should have expected this kind of discussion before posting the article on the main page. There is a natural backlash against things of these natures. So what? What is the big deal? Pt handled the arguments thrown against him very well. There was no need for you to come out in his defense and in the process put down a lot of people here for simply expressing their opinions (encouraging or not). Criticism of a product does not necessarily translate into personal attacks on creativity. It’s not about not liking the book and having the choice not to buy it. Just because no one asked me to buy the e-book does not mean that I have to keep my mouth shut. The essence of this discussion focused on the fact that online research will get you most of the answers found in the e-book. Just because someone is a Pocket PC beginner does make them a beginner in everything. What is so wrong with saving someone a little money?

[pt]

I think the reason people are mad is because of the misleading title. The article is titled ebooks you can actually afford, when these are not the ebooks people are expecting. Why don't you go ahead and post the sites that have lists of free downloadable ebooks, since we can afford those too. This has nothing to do with affordable ebooks.

there are not free ebooks which are about helping people use their pocket pc. if you know any, please let me know (and post here).

cheers,
pt

[pt]

Everyone I have ever known who doesn't use capital letters has fallen into two categories: 1) Too lazy, and they usually don't spull vury well neither, or 2) people who want attention. We use capital letters for a reason; if you choose not to I will assume you are lazy or doing so for some other unknown reason. You certainly don't come over as lazy, so I can only speculate to your actual reason for not using them. Hell, maybe you're a die-hard E.E. Cummings fan (in which case I would *definately* consider it pretentious, as he said himself "I am a small eye poet"). I'm just telling you how your unexplained misuse is being parsed by yours truly.

well, you may need to add a 3rd (or 4th) category, i don't fall into either of those you mentioned. you don't know me, so i would be hard to get proper context. now that i've told you i'm not either one of those here's my suggestion.

people who don't use capital letters are:
1. too lazy.
2. people who want attention.
3. die hard ee cummings fans.
4. pt

how's that. now you can say that.

also, i'm not sure that using lowercase in a forum is "unexplained misuse". i guess i could bust' on you for misspelling "definitely" while your telling me about grammar misuse, but it seems kinda boring, and i don't care for proper spelling all the time.


Sure, if it really means that much to you. PM me your number. I'm not sure why you would want me to since you don't seem all that interested in the opinions of folks who don't fit into the target audience for your books. What do you want me to say? Should I just read my post to you word for word? ;)

i'm sending a pm now, please call and leave a message--reading your post that you mentioned is perfect. thanks.

cheers,
pt

[pt]

The essence of this discussion focused on the fact that online research will get you most of the answers found in the e-book. Just because someone is a Pocket PC beginner does make them a beginner in everything. What is so wrong with saving someone a little money?

okay, *again* please tell me about where one can get this info...i'll even make it worth your effort....

first person to tell me where you can get *all* the info, in one spot, for free, in a step-by-step format for beginners on the web about pocket word-themes-and instant messaging, i'll send you a 128mb cf card.

please view the toc's here:

http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/word.html
http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/theme.html
http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/im.html

and please post the link here, thanks.

cheers,
pt

[Brad Adrian]

Everyone I have ever known who doesn't use capital letters has fallen into two categories: 1) Too lazy, and they usually don't spull vury well neither, or 2) people who want attention...

Not to beat a dead horse, but many people who use SMS and IM a lot, especially from a telephone handset, become accustomed to not using capital letters. Heck, Japan alone (where SMS is a deeply-ingrained part of everyday life) has as a result built up a two-year stockpile of unused capital Es and Ts. Concerned U.S. government officials are already worried about the so-called "Cap Gap."

[pt]

Not beat a dead horse, but many people who use SMS and IM a lot, especially from a telephone handset, become accustomed to not using capital letters. Heck, Japan alone (where SMS is a deeply-ingrained part of everyday life) has as a result built up a two-year stockpile of unused capital Es and Ts. Concerned U.S. government officials are already worried about the so-called "Cap Gap."

i'm really glad you mentioned that brad. i'm one of those people too (use sms and im quite a bit).

brad, did you hear if people in japan lazy and ostentatious like dev said? my guess is they're not, i'll be going there in oct though, i'll report back.

"/dev/niall", you might need one more catagory. people who use lowecase are-- lazy, ostentatious, pt, or japanese.

cheers,
pt

[shaklee3]

I think the reason people are mad is because of the misleading title. The article is titled ebooks you can actually afford, when these are not the ebooks people are expecting. Why don't you go ahead and post the sites that have lists of free downloadable ebooks, since we can afford those too. This has nothing to do with affordable ebooks.

there are not free ebooks which are about helping people use their pocket pc. if you know any, please let me know (and post here).

cheers,
pt

I never said there were. I said there are free ebooks available for download.

[pt]

I never said there were. I said there are free ebooks available for download.

yep.

free and affordable are very different topics. let's assume that free is great, but let's talk about affordable ebooks real quick (so take free out of the comparison).

out of all the -pay- ebooks, pocketpcmagic ebooks are on the low end of the price spectrum, and they cover specific content that usually is only found in printed books which are more expensive.

that said.

how about making some suggestions on the following:

-what -pay- ebooks would you like to see (topics, titles, etc..)
-how much will you pay for them?
-if they're drm5'd will you still buy them.


now, back to free ebooks.
-which free ebooks do you read?
-what formats?
-where do you get them?


lastly, here are some more questions..
-do you have cable / sat?
-do you buy magazines? which ones?
-do you buy read books? how often?
-do you buy software for your pda?

cheers,
pt

[FedUp]

Free or Five Bucks? C'mon, people, what's the diff? I'm not saying that we should be paying good money for crap, but I think five bucks is a very good price point. I mean, I waste more than five bucks every time I rent a DVD or eat at MacDonald's or flush the john. I say, good luck with sorting this market out, pt, cause it takes guts to do what you're doing. Five bucks a pop ain't gonna make you any real money, so I know you must be in it just for the ride.

[FedUp]

brad, did you hear if people in japan lazy and ostentatious like dev said?
Now, let's be fair, here, pt. I think he called you pretentious first. "Ostentatious" came later.

[Paul P]

okay, *again* please tell me about where one can get this info...i'll even make it worth your effort....

first person to tell me where you can get *all* the info, in one spot, for free, in a step-by-step format for beginners on the web about pocket word-themes-and instant messaging, i'll send you a 128mb cf card.

well, I didn't really want to comment on this discussion anymore. how to find or use information found on the internet (that you sell) for free is self-evident to me, and should be to any rational person with a little patience. I think the problem is that your definition of a target market is a bit different from mine.

great these aren't for you...also, not everyone is a googler'. i'm not going to call them "pocket pc for dummies" but they are beginner ebooks, but they cover lots of advanced stuff too...

how would you define a googler exactly? for me, it's someone capable of going to the google website and entering key words in the search window. usually, the first page of the results contains everything you need. in the worst case scenario, you may need to go to the second page of the results. no, I cannot find you a link that shows how to enter your screen name and password into MSN Messenger, or how to change your font or receive news or stock quotes on AOL. those links do not exist simply because they are deemed unnecessary.

if you find one spot on the web that covers all those topics in a way that non-experts (like you, me and most people here) can follow, please post here, i'll add those to my resource section.

lots of stuff you won't find all of this stuff all over, but again-- these aren't for people who want to spend 8 hours on google looking for nuggets of info on 5000 different sites.

why would anyone be looking at all of the stuff in your book at one time? logging on to AIM is self-explanatory, but you are intent on explaining that anyways and in the process making something simple 200 pages long.

not sure how you came up with 8 hrs. if we are talking about MSN Messenger or AIM, then I would say several minutes to find everything needed on the first page of google results. when worst comes to worst, simply asking someone here or 'there' is easy. again, this is with respect to looking up one thing at a time.


i've written lots of regular print books, and yah---most everything is on the web somewhere if you look long enough and hard enough, but for whatever reason people buy books.

my point exactly, but what I am arguing is that it is not that hard. maybe you could state that on Handigo, where your software is sold.

[Aceze]

Well! What an interesting thread.

I came back today after not reading this forum since I posted my initial response last night, and I wasnt quite prepared to see this outpouring of responses.

However, I feel compelled to couch my initial statements. Firstly, due to a rather disturbing personal message Jason sent me (which I will not get into), and to put my remarks into some sort of perspective.

Firstly, I've re-read my original posting, and PT, for what it's worth, I dont believe your work is worthless. I've been working a long time in support, and understand the need for simple documentation for users, and support any effort to do so. HOWEVER (you knew it was coming), for various reasons, I found the original article by Jason outlining your books as something valuable and essential on this forum (populated by many people who help each other for FREE) really unnecessary. By doing so, I feel that you cheapen everyone's real desire to help their fellow pocketpc user on this (and other related) forum(s). When someone takes advantage of someone else's work in this manner, I label that "low" - mercenary at best. Given, PT has rebutted my argument with his own, stating that some of the work is original - that mitigates some of my feeling toward it, but it doesnt change my fundamental dislike toward this type of work mainly becuase it still does use information freely given by users to help other users. It goes against the very same feeling of "belonging" or community that we're all trying to foster for PocketPC users.
My opinion is mine and mine only. I have the same feeling for people ebaying documents they've compiled off the net, and for CNET for pointing all their "support" inquiries into nntp articles on support newsgroups - although both are legal, they are arguable unethical.
If my feelings indicate a personality flaw, then so be it.

However, I feel that labelling dissenters of your own opinion (of which I'm hardly alone in this particular regard) as having a lack of intellectual ability and denigrating them as having some sort of behavioural malaise is just plain wrong. I find it ironic that you regret having an open, honest forum for us "mean-spirited" people, and at the same time want to run a site related to honest opinions about products about the PocketPC.

If my honest opinions are no longer welcome at this site, then I've left it to Jason to revoke my membership here (please read my reply to your message). If this is my last post here, then good luck to you all - it's been fun.

Aceze

[pt]

Now, let's be fair, here, pt. I think he called you pretentious first. "Ostentatious" came later.

whoops. youy're right... here's my current list of stuff:

-for dev to talk about the japanese and if they're "pretentious and ostentatious" too.
-take me up on my 128mb cf card challenge.
-call my voicemail.
-post links of free ebooks with beginner help for pocket pc users.
-post links of sites that have all this info for beginners.

i can't wait, this is exciting.

cheers,
pt

[pt]

well, I didn't really want to comment on this discussion anymore. how to find or use information found on the internet (that you sell) for free is self-evident to me, and should be to any rational person with a little patience. I think the problem is that your definition of a target market is a bit different from mine.

great, please post that up. thanks.

i'll send you a 128mb sd card if you can find all the information (see my previous post with qualifiers).

the target is, was and always be beginners, it's not for you.


how would you define a googler exactly? for me, it's someone capable of going to the google website and entering key words in the search window. usually, the first page of the results contains everything you need. in the worst case scenario, you may need to go to the second page of the results. no, I cannot find you a link that shows how to enter your screen name and password into MSN Messenger, or how to change your font or receive news or stock quotes on AOL. those links do not exist simply because they are deemed unnecessary.


really? who deems what unnecessary? and how do you know what's covered in the ebook? if you looked at the toc, you'll see there isn't a resource that covers this all. do you read the newsgroups? do you see the types of questions about instant messaging for the pocket pc?

please let me know what else has been deemed unnecessary. thanks.


why would anyone be looking at all of the stuff in your book at one time? logging on to AIM is self-explanatory, but you are intent on explaining that anyways and in the process making something simple 200 pages long.

when someone gets a pocket pc, they usually don't know what im clients are available, where to get them, what is and isn't support, the _differences_ between them...all that. using interactive agents, methods of input, changing the msn msg screen, using other keyboards, bugs, etc...

again, find me a resource for beginners with that.

not everyone is as advanced as you, i wish they were, i'd write other ebooks.

what ebooks for pocket pc would you pay for (if any)?

do you ever buy any technical books?(printed) i would say most of that's online in some form too, it's usually all over and hard to find though.


not sure how you came up with 8 hrs. if we are talking about MSN Messenger or AIM, then I would say several minutes to find everything needed on the first page of google results. when worst comes to worst, simply asking someone here or 'there' is easy. again, this is with respect to looking up one thing at a time.

finding all the information that's covered in the instant messaging ebook is pretty much impossible, there are things there that are covered no where else.


my point exactly, but what I am arguing is that it is not that hard. maybe you could state that on Handigo, where your software is sold.

state what? "if you look hard enough online, use google, ask people, take classes, etc..become and expert, and you won't need this".

help me craft something, and i'll certainly use it. thanks.

cheers,
pt

[Paul P]

However, I feel that labelling dissenters of your own opinion (of which I'm hardly alone in this particular regard) as having a lack of intellectual ability and denigrating them as having some sort of behavioural malaise is just plain wrong. I find it ironic that you regret having an open, honest forum for us "mean-spirited" people, and at the same time want to run a site related to honest opinions about products about the PocketPC.

If my honest opinions are no longer welcome at this site, then I've left it to Jason to revoke my membership here (please read my reply to your message). If this is my last post here, then good luck to you all - it's been fun.

Aceze

Aceze, I would like to say that I support everything you have said. I am really sad to hear you say that your 'thoughts' may no longer be welcomed here.

Personally, I found this discussion benefiting more than anything. Some of the thoughts expressed on this thread were necessary and needed to be said. We all want to see this community flourish and grow, but expecting that to happen in an environment where people are reprimanded for criticism can only stifle that growth. I harbor no bad feelings towards anyone in this community. I am sure we are all accomplished individuals here. Sure, some of us here have never partaken in what Pt and Jason specialize in, but is that indicative of our inability to comment on their work?

[pt]

Firstly, I've re-read my original posting, and PT, for what it's worth, I dont believe your work is worthless. I've been working a long time in support, and understand the need for simple documentation for users, and support any effort to do so. HOWEVER (you knew it was coming), for various reasons, I found the original article by Jason outlining your books as something valuable and essential on this forum (populated by many people who help each other for FREE) really unnecessary. By doing so, I feel that you cheapen everyone's real desire to help their fellow pocketpc user on this (and other related) forum(s). When someone takes advantage of someone else's work in this manner, I label that "low" - mercenary at best. Given, PT has rebutted my argument with his own, stating that some of the work is original - that mitigates some of my feeling toward it, but it doesnt change my fundamental dislike toward this type of work mainly becuase it still does use information freely given by users to help other users. It goes against the very same feeling of "belonging" or community that we're all trying to foster for PocketPC users. My opinion is mine and mine only. I have the same feeling for people ebaying documents they've compiled off the net, and for CNET for pointing all their "support" inquiries into nntp articles on support newsgroups - although both are legal, they are arguable unethical.
If my feelings indicate a personality flaw, then so be it.

all the work in the www.pocketpcmagic.com ebooks is original or if there's something in there from another source, it's sourced and credited with permission like any publication. they're not ebay articles or whatever you're talking about. that's a really big leap, and you're 100% wrong.

there aren't *any* step by step beginner guides or anything close in ebook format like this, that's why i wrote them.

as far as the rest of your post, stick around, post ideas and suggestions.

what would you like to see in ebook format, what costs, stuff like.

cheers,
pt

[pt]

Aceze, I would like to say that I support everything you have said. I am really sad to hear you say that your 'thoughts' may no longer be welcomed here.Personally, I found this discussion benefiting more than anything. Some of the thoughts expressed on this thread were necessary and needed to be said. We all want to see this community flourish and grow, but expecting that to happen in an environment where people are reprimanded for criticism can only stifle that growth. I harbor no bad feelings towards anyone in this community. I am sure we are all accomplished individuals here. Sure, some of us here have never partaken in what Pt and Jason specialize in, but is that indicative of our inability to comment on their work?

paul, most reasonable people agree that the learning curve for using a pocket pc to it's full potential is slightly steeper than other pdas. if you really want to see the community flourish and grow as you said, i think it's all about contributing, commenting on ways for it to improve, i've asked tons of questions here, and didn't get any responses. the leap from where we are now in the pocket pc arena and where we can be, is getting more people to use these great devices, right now it's kinda hard.

and yah, if you've never done anything like write a book, run a site some people aren't as interested in your comments. i happen to want to hear everything, i'm weird that way. it's interesting that authors, site owners, and content creator have a vastly different opinion than everyone else. most people including me would love to see free perfect amazing everything, but it doesn't seem to be the way the world works, so we try to work within that.

so here are my questions..

-what topics would you like to see in ebook format about the pocket pc.
-how much would you pay for them.
-what technical books do you buy now?
-would you get ebook versions?

cheers,
pt

[spursdude]

wow, after reading all 5 pages of this thread, i feel i must reply. and perhaps you will see my debater-ness come out fully.

first of all - to you people who are saying that your thoughts and voices are being silenced, read your posts again. Some have called Jason a "hippocrite." Others have called pt's hard work "junk." Others have claimed the entire front page of this site to be subjective, and only listen to the forums.

i agree that criticism is good. but many of the posts in this thread show a lack of understanding between constructive criticism and rudeness. rudeness is calling people's work junk or attacking them personally.

constructive criticism is something along the lines of:
-pt: maybe you can make a package of all four of the ebooks for a discounted price.
-maybe you can come up with more variety (which i'm sure will come over time)
-make some more ebooks that would benefit expert users more, which would give you more of a support base.

(and i mean all of those)

i think these critics are showing a lack of respect and understanding. jason has put in thousands if not hundreds of thousands of hours into this site. he works to keep us all informed of latest pocket pc news, replies to any post that he can be helpful in, and works to help the pocket pc community.

pt i'm sure has put an incredible amount of work into the ebooks. although i don't know him personally, i can tell from his posts throughout the pocket pc community that his ebooks are not made for profit, but rather to help the people who need the help.

i personally don't feel a need for his ebooks, and i'm sure many others don't need them either. that's not to say that nobody in the world needs them. if you are knowledgable on your pocket pc, that's great for you. just because you're an expert doesn't mean that you can criticize products for beginners. just because you don't feel the need for a car doesn't mean that you can call any car advertisements uselss and biased.

as for jason's front page entry. sure, the title is ebooks you can actually afford. and that's what these are - they're ebooks, and you can afford them. if you read on, it says "four new books," tells that they aren't for experts, and that they will help you learn more about your pocket pc. if you feel deceived, it's frankly because you didn't read the post thoroughly.

lastly, onto the caps debate. :) i am actually quite offended to be called either lazy or ostentatious. (i'm not japanese either) i spend a lot of time on IM or on the boards, and i've grown accustomed to not using caps. i'm not lazy - if you knew me, you would be able to testify to that. i'm not ostentatious - using lowercase seems less ostentatious than IF I WERE TO USE ALL CAPS, the opposite of all lowercase. (and no, i wasn't screaming)

wow, now to catch my breath.

-andrew

[Rirath]

Others have called pt's hard work "junk." ... i agree that criticism is good. but many of the posts in this thread show a lack of understanding between constructive criticism and rudeness. rudeness is calling people's work junk or attacking them personally.

Might as well clear this up here and now. I use terms like junk because I like to make things clear, simple, and to the point. There's a time for a 11 paragraph post and there's a time to cut out the ... if not junk, lets say excess. I didn't mean to attack PT personally, or his work, it's just an expression to me. I am a bit rude from time to time, I am a bit straight to the point for some people. I like this. Search my other posts, you'll see I do my fair share of congratulations as well as criticism.

f my honest opinions are no longer welcome at this site, then I've left it to Jason to revoke my membership here (please read my reply to your message). If this is my last post here, then good luck to you all - it's been fun.

Indeed. I can't believe it's came to this, but congrats for having the guts to stand up and speak. Personal messages over something so trival... unbelievable. Finally, and this one is just slightly personal, I believe PT and the admins are edging everyone on here. This thread would have otherwise died long ago. Now, I'm not against this. I think it makes for one interesting debate... until peoples memberships start getting threatened.

[pt]

constructive criticism is something along the lines of:
-pt: maybe you can make a package of all four of the ebooks for a discounted price.
-maybe you can come up with more variety (which i'm sure will come over time)
-make some more ebooks that would benefit expert users more, which would give you more of a support base.


this is great. here's where i need help.

-doing the package for all ebooks is a no-brainer, i'll do that right away.
-more variety (see the listings on the site) and feel free to post other ideas.
-expert ebooks. please makes suggestions, but from what i can tell--the expert arena is smaller, and more unwilling to pay for content. please post suggestions.

thanks again.

cheers,
pt

[pt]

Might as well clear this up here and now. I use terms like junk because I like to make things clear, simple, and to the point. There's a time for a 11 paragraph post and there's a time to cut out the ... if not junk, lets say excess. I didn't mean to attack PT personally, or his work, it's just an expression to me. I am a bit rude from time to time, I am a bit straight to the point for some people. I like this. Search my other posts, you'll see I do my fair share of congratulations as well as criticism.

the ebooks are clear, simple and to the point for beginners. i think people are saying that it would be better to offer up something besides criticism in this case. take a look at my questions to the group, answer them, there's a good chance i'll actually do something.

and if you're going to be rude, which is totally fine by me, would you call my voicemail and do it at least? i'll send you the number if you're interested. my guess is you (or anyone else won't). i don't actually want voicemail from people, but it's interesting what people will say and do here, and not in person or on a voicemail. kinda interesting. yah, this all part of another experiment.


Indeed. I can't believe it's came to this, but congrats for having the guts to stand up and speak. Personal messages over something so trivial... unbelievable. Finally, and this one is just slightly personal, I believe PT and the admins are edging everyone on here. This thread would have otherwise died long ago. Now, I'm not against this. I think it makes for one interesting debate... until peoples memberships start getting threatened.

i'm replying to posts. it's jason's site, he can so whatever he wants. i don't think anyone is losing a membership.

cheers,
pt

[Rob Alexander]

I can understand pt being a bit sensitive; this is his hard work that's being discussed. He's put a part of himself out there for all to see and it's natural for him to dislike any criticism that comes along. He'll get used to it.

haha, ya know, i actually don't care, at all, about anything posted here, ever- positive or negative. it doesn't matter what is discussed, as long as it's about me ;-]

Good for you, pt! You must be ecstatic about this thread then!!! :lol:

[Aceze]

f my honest opinions are no longer welcome at this site, then I've left it to Jason to revoke my membership here (please read my reply to your message). If this is my last post here, then good luck to you all - it's been fun.

Indeed. I can't believe it's came to this, but congrats for having the guts to stand up and speak. Personal messages over something so trival... unbelievable. Finally, and this one is just slightly personal, I believe PT and the admins are edging everyone on here. This thread would have otherwise died long ago. Now, I'm not against this. I think it makes for one interesting debate... until peoples memberships start getting threatened.

Hang on. I didnt say that Jason threatened to revoke my membership. However, Jason made it unequivocally clear in his very strongly worded message that my response was malicious and that my opinion(s) was/were unwelcome here. I was and still am very insulted by the message, so much so that I sent him a message explaining my stance, and stating that if my opinions were that unwanted, that he revoke my membership. I am seriously considering voluntarily leaving myself regardless - life is just too short for this.

Aceze

[Rirath]

Sorry pt, I'd almost be willing... but it's just not worth a state to state call. Aside from that, it's a bit... creepy, eh? How about a voice chat the comp? Would that work for the experiment? Feel free to email me or IM me.

[/dev/niall]

-for dev to talk about the japanese and if they're "pretentious and ostentatious" too.


I really think you're taking this all way too personally. I don't know you, you don't know me etc. etc.

Not using capital letters because of device or time constraints is one thing, but not being considerate enough to format a newsgroup or bulletin board posting in an easy to read manner without a good reason is something else entirely. Hell, I don't even use vowels most of the time when I use IM...

WHAT IF I DECIDED TO POST IN ALL CAPITALS? WOULD YOU MAKE ANY ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT ME? IS THIS EASY TO READ?


also, i'm not sure that using lowercase in a forum is "unexplained misuse". i guess i could bust' on you for misspelling "definitely" while your telling me about grammar misuse, but it seems kinda boring, and i don't care for proper spelling all the time.


Well, seeing as you just did "bust on me" it's pretty clear to me I've been mistaken in assuming you're actually interested in reasonable discussion and are just out for a pissing match. This will be my last post, feel free to scan for grammar or spelling errors. Just to keep you happy I'll call your VM tomorrow and read my post to you, though I cannot fathom how this will accomplish anything.

Oh, and by the way I said posting without capitals was a little ostentatious first. Later I said it would be pretentious if you were doing it out of some odd E.E. Cummings fixation. I also happen to work with several Japanese and I'm happy to say that all of them take the time to properly format their sentences in email.

And I still don't know why you do it.

[pt]

Good for you, pt! You must be ecstatic about this thread then!!! :lol:

well, i wish folks would consider making some suggestions and throwing some ideas out there, or posting where step-by-step complete help can be found on the web for new pocket pc owners. but since they're not, i'll take what i can get.

"I hate to say it, since I'd like to support PPC Thoughts regulars in their ventures, but I have to agree with Aceze. This is nothing I would even consider buying. While these would be attractive prices for the latest Stephen King novel, they are not attractive prices for basic PPC info that you can find all over the Net. This hardly deserves a "finally, affordable ebooks" tag"

or maybe you could tell me about this "basic" info all over the net...there isn't any. but please post.

thanks.

cheers,
pt

[pt]

Sorry pt, I'd almost be willing... but it's just not worth a state to state call. Aside from that, it's a bit... creepy, eh? How about a voice chat the comp? Would that work for the experiment? Feel free to email me or IM me.

i'll pay for the call.

i wanted to make some of these posts into ringtones for my pocket pc phone edition. they're funny.

like i said, people are different here than on a phone, or in person...just an observation.

cheers,
pt

[/dev/niall]

lastly, onto the caps debate. :) i am actually quite offended to be called either lazy or ostentatious. (i'm not japanese either) i spend a lot of time on IM or on the boards, and i've grown accustomed to not using caps. i'm not lazy - if you knew me, you would be able to testify to that. i'm not ostentatious - using lowercase seems less ostentatious than IF I WERE TO USE ALL CAPS, the opposite of all lowercase. (and no, i wasn't screaming)


I am truly sorry if anyone thought I was actually calling them lazy or ostentatious*, the point I was trying to make is that I (and others) have to wonder about the reasons an extended communication was not formatted correctly; be it capitalization, glaring grammatical or spelling errors, or what have you. I'm very happy that you use lower case instead of ALL CAPS, but your posts would be far easier to read if you capitalized sentences and proper nouns correctly.

* How many times do we have to use this #$%ing word before this thread shows up on Google searches?

[pt]

I really think you're taking this all way too personally. I don't know you, you don't know me etc. etc.Not using capital letters because of device or time constraints is one thing, but not being considerate enough to format a newsgroup or bulletin board posting in an easy to read manner without a good reason is something else entirely. Hell, I don't even use vowels most of the time when I use IM...WHAT IF I DECIDED TO POST IN ALL CAPITALS? WOULD YOU MAKE ANY ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT ME? IS THIS EASY TO READ?

i so don't care about anything you could ever say, it's all cool wit' me.

i think it's pretty understood all caps are not cool, lowercase has never been mentioned in any way as preferred forms of posting. you're the only one that have said i have character flaws based on my "misuse" of capitalization.


Well, seeing as you just did "bust on me" it's pretty clear to me I've been mistaken in assuming you're actually interested in reasonable discussion and are just out for a pissing match. This will be my last post, feel free to scan for grammar or spelling errors. Just to keep you happy I'll call your VM tomorrow and read my post to you, though I cannot fathom how this will accomplish anything.

i'm all about reasonable discussions. i can care less about grammar. it was ironic that you were correcting me about grammar and had spelling errors, that was ironic.

so back to discussion.
-what ebooks would you like to see about the pocket pc (and what would you pay for).
-are there free step by step resources for beginners out there? if not what would help them that i could provide (besides the ebooks).
-read my other questions.


[quote=/dev/niall]Oh, and by the way I said posting without capitals was a little ostentatious first. Later I said it would be pretentious if you were doing it out of some odd E.E. Cummings fixation. I also happen to work with several Japanese and I'm happy to say that all of them take the time to properly format their sentences in email.

really? i have pals in japan, and as brad said, caps aren't really used. i don't think it's possible to bucket people.

wow, you really don't like lowercase.


And I still don't know why you do it.

that secret, i take to the grave. actually, i don't know why. i've typed like this since i was like 5. no one has really ever said anything.

cheers,
pt

[/dev/niall]

i'll pay for the call.

i wanted to make some of these posts into ringtones for my pocket pc phone edition. they're funny.

like i said, people are different here than on a phone, or in person...just an observation.


Uh, I don't want to end up on someone's website as part of a "joke". I'd be happy to call you directly and read you my post, but I don't think I'll be leaving you a voicemail. That way I'd get something out of your little experiment, it would be interesting to see how you react. ;)

*Please* don't think I'm ranking on you as a person. If you take anything away from this (besides "/dev/niall is a tosser"):

* I think you're completely aware of your target audience for these books

* I think the books are over-priced (You don't, citing the content; I cannot comment further since I have not read said content; End of discussion, no points proven)

* I can't understand why you don't use capital letters

* Soylent Green is people

[/dev/niall]

i so don't care about anything you could ever say, it's all cool wit' me.

...

i'm all about reasonable discussions.


heh.


i can care less about grammar. it was ironic that you were correcting me about grammar and had spelling errors, that was ironic.


That's not irony (http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=irony). And I only see one spelling error.

Damn, why do we do this? I must have wasted 30 minutes today in this thread.

Ok, I'm really going to stop posting this time. You go last. ;)

[pt]

I am truly sorry if anyone thought I was actually calling them lazy or ostentatious*, the point I was trying to make is that I (and others) have to wonder about the reasons an extended communication was not formatted correctly; be it capitalization, glaring grammatical or spelling errors, or what have you. I'm very happy that you use lower case instead of ALL CAPS, but your posts would be far easier to read if you capitalized sentences and proper nouns correctly. * How many times do we have to use this #$%ing word before this thread shows up on Google searches?

you're the only one that's down on the lowercase. that's kinda funny, down..lowercase....

my professional writing (articles, ebooks, work stuff) are all properly formatted and such and people seem to value it. i can send oodles of links to stuff if you want. heck, i'll even send you a copy of my book if you call my voicemail. printed book that is (flash enabled, design and dev for the pocket pc). no ebook, for you, don't worry.

cheers,
pt

[Jason Dunn]

I can't understand why you don't use capital letters.


In life, some things truly matter. Others do not.

This ranks among the former, not the latter.

But it is pretty funny to see how much this upsets you. :lol:

[/dev/niall]

I can't understand why you don't use capital letters.


In life, some things truly matter. Others do not.

This ranks among the former, not the latter.

But it is pretty funny to see how much this upsets you. :lol:

But... I'm not upset. Really! I just don't understand a) why it's done, and b) why he's so defensive about it. If it were truly upsetting I guarantee you I would have posted more than a single line in my first post... if anything I've proven that I'm willing to go on and on...

I'm happy you find such a silly thing amusing. At least something good has come of all this back'n'forth.

wh00ps... meant to PM. Sorry!

[markcrump]

I'm confused. What does calling your voice mail do? What magical enlightenment do you get from it? We get to rant and rave on your voice mail, you get to put a mp3 of it on your site (why you would want to put a mp3 of someone slamming something you are trying to sell is beyond me).

So far I've learned the following from this discussion:
- a lot of people (encluding the author of said ebooks) enjoy having their buttons pushed, and pushing other people's buttons.
- we have a professional writer who is comfortable with using a "style" on a web site with no capitalization. It irked me too. While I'm sure you've got your reasons, while wearing the "professional writer" hat, I'd stick to proper capitaliztion. It's that whole perception thing.
- we've got someone using a thread to market their content to goad people into calling their voice mail to leave nasty messages so they can post the recordings publicly.
- the site administrator, whose usually the beacon of calm around these things, for some reason is touchy about the matter.

I am curious about one thing. This is genuine curiosity; how many ebooks have you sold from the affiliate link on this site since Jason posted it?

Since you asked for it, I'll give you some suggestions:

- I would pay for the Win2k Resource Kit in an ebook format, searchable
- I would pay for a book of Windows 2000 common error codes.
- I would pay for a Unix Administrators guide as an ebook.
- I won't pay for PocketPC material that I, personally find easy to get on the web. Other people can't plug in their computers properly, so there is a market for these books. I make my own my dumping it to Word and using the eBook creater plug in.
- I won't pay for the latest Stephen King novel in ebook either. I like paper books. I have a hard time curling up with my PocketPC before I go to bed.

You'll sense a pattern from what I would pay for. Very technical content. I've been waiting for it for a long time.

In terms of step-by-step content, here's some links I've bookmarked about your subject matter, all of them prior to this discussion.

http://www.pocketthemes.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=5

There was a decent write up in this months PocketPC Magazine about themes too.

I'll tell you what though. There are 2 books that I wouldn't find much use for. The Word one, and the Themes one. Instead of betting $5 about it, how about this. Send me one (or /dev for that matter) and I'll take a gander. If I find something that makes me go "gosh, I wish I spent $5 on this", I promise I'll post it.

[jeffmckean]

I just wanted to say:

1. There is a need for basic beginners' information for Pocket PCs. We're all experts or near-experts, so perhaps we don't need information presented this way. But! Lots of people aren't, and every single day I get people looking for information presented like this. There's a need for the information; now we're just haggling over the price. ;-) Let the market dictate...it's all part of pt's experiment. How do we know anything unless we try it?

1a. I do a lot of Pocket PC demos (for a certain large software maker ;-) and you know what? There's things in these here books that even I was doing the hard way.

2. Jason, Marlof, Andy, Ed and Brad can put any dang thing they want on this site: it's THEIRS. If you don't like it, well, fine, say so, but try to do it with civility.

3. Six bucks for original technical content in eBook form sounds a lot better to me than reformatted stuff that costs the same for bits as it does for atoms.

Best regards to all,

[pt]

I'm confused. What does calling your voice mail do? What magical enlightenment do you get from it? We get to rant and rave on your voice mail, you get to put a mp3 of it on your site (why you would want to put a mp3 of someone slamming something you are trying to sell is beyond me).

i know, i'm crazy. please send me a note, so you can call. thanks.


So far I've learned the following from this discussion:
- a lot of people (encluding the author of said ebooks) enjoy having their buttons pushed, and pushing other people's buttons.
- we have a professional writer who is comfortable with using a "style" on a web site with no capitalization. It irked me too. While I'm sure you've got your reasons, while wearing the "professional writer" hat, I'd stick to proper capitaliztion. It's that whole perception thing.
- we've got someone using a thread to market their content to goad people into calling their voice mail to leave nasty messages so they can post the recordings publicly.
- the site administrator, whose usually the beacon of calm around these things, for some reason is touchy about the matter.


-i'm trying to get feedback and ideas. most of the comments haven't had anything useful (like what they want to see).
-yep, i use lowercase when i post here and in newsgroups.
-you don't know what i want to do with voicemails, no one has called, i was trying to prove (and i think i did) what people say here is vastly different than what they'll say or do in person. that is, the people who are "mean". nice folks don't care.
-jason rules. he makes content. he runs a site. it's sad to see some of the comments.

lastly, i love how everyone (so far) who has issue with my lowercase use spells stuff wrong when they post about me and -my- writing... mark you said capitaliztion, that's wrong, it's spelled capitalization. it's karma :-]


Since you asked for it, I'll give you some suggestions:
- I would pay for the Win2k Resource Kit in an ebook format, searchable
- I would pay for a book of Windows 2000 common error codes.
- I would pay for a Unix Administrators guide as an ebook.
- I won't pay for PocketPC material that I, personally find easy to get on the web. Other people can't plug in their computers properly, so there is a market for these books. I make my own my dumping it to Word and using the eBook creater plug in.
- I won't pay for the latest Stephen King novel in ebook either. I like paper books. I have a hard time curling up with my PocketPC before I go to bed.
You'll sense a pattern from what I would pay for. Very technical content. I've been waiting for it for a long time.

right. well, this doesn't help me that much since you're not interested on the pocket pc. but good to know, thanks for the post.


In terms of step-by-step content, here's some links I've bookmarked about your subject matter, all of them prior to this discussion.
http://www.pocketthemes.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=5
There was a decent write up in this months PocketPC Magazine about themes too.

that covers less than 1% of what's in the theme ebook. the owner of the site, stone can tell you about the theme ebook i wrote, in fact, he's going to sell it on his site. he loves it, it has it all.


I'll tell you what though. There are 2 books that I wouldn't find much use for. The Word one, and the Themes one. Instead of betting $5 about it, how about this. Send me one (or /dev for that matter) and I'll take a gander. If I find something that makes me go "gosh, I wish I spent $5 on this", I promise I'll post it.

i really don't think that you're going to be objective, and you're not a beginner, so i'll say it now. this would be a waste of your $5. i don't think i could ever get you or dev to say i wish i spent $5 on anything.

cheers,
pt

[harry]

i haven't seen a thread like this in a while. i think the books would be useful and will be mentioning them to my friend who just bought a casio ppc. if he buys one pt i'll ask him to post his thougts back to you :painting:

[pt]

i haven't seen a thread like this in a while. i think the books would be useful and will be mentioning them to my friend who just bought a casio ppc. if he buys one pt i'll ask him to post his thougts back to you :painting:

thanks harry. he can email directly, i'll send a copy to him for free to check out (the casio should be a pocket pc 2002 device) the books cover that the most.

cheers,
pt

[Steven Cedrone]

O.K., here is my .02:

I have been watching this thread since the first post, and although I didn't like the "path" I saw it taking, I found no reason to comment or intervene (until now). I have made it a point to stay out of discussions since I was asked to become the "community Moderator" here. Not because I thought I was above it all, but because I thought that my posting my opinion would somehow "interfere" with the decisions that I made regarding posts made by other members of this community.

It all boils down to this: I wish we all spent as much time as we did on this thread as we did with helping others in the community with their problems (Actually, most of the problems could/would be solved by telling them to purchase pt's books, but I digress). If pt wants to sell "beginner" books, or animated themes, or advertising space on the back of his shoes, who are we to criticize it? If we don't like it, or if we don't want it, then why can't we just move along?

I am not defending pt, or Jason, or anyone else for that matter, I just think that this thread has reached the "stage" where it should be allowed to die (then, it can be cremated and pressed into a diamond, but let's talk about that somewhere else (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3094)).....

Have a great night.....

Steven Cedrone
Community Moderator

[amdathlonman]

I've only read the first 10 or so articles in this, only because Jason mentioned how ugly it was getting in here...

I think pt's books sound cool, I am not a beginner but I looked over the TOC and they sound like they would be really interesting!

What is up with the bashing? There is no reason for it! I don't know pt but I've seen his sites and think he is a frickin genius, the stuff he does with Flash and the PPC. I can only think that some of the negative posters are jelous or something. He's contributed to PPC more than any of the posters will ever will, combined. If they don't like the books, don't buy it and move on!!! Geez...

And what's up with that guy who doesn't like lowercase? Get a life, dude!!!

I completely agree with pt, some people will not act in public the way they do online. That, I think, is why pt wants to talk to some of the bashers on the phone.

Anyway, I never read these forums and I after reading some of these msgs, I probably never will. This is my first time posting.

PPCThoughs folks, please don't let this discourage you from your site. This is one of the sites I visit daily to get the latest on PPC stuff...

[juni]

I like "for dummies" books. Our latest purchase is "Dauschunds for dummies" :). If these help anyone get info quickly and in a compact form then I don't see anything bad about it.

Idea for an ebook: "Networking your pocketpc" with topics like "setting up a home network", "Getting activesync to work over your home network", "Setting up a wireless network", "Streaming music wirelessly from your desktop to your Pocket PC".

[pt]

I like "for dummies" books. Our latest purchase is "Dauschunds for dummies" :). If these help anyone get info quickly and in a compact form then I don't see anything bad about it.
Idea for an ebook: "Networking your pocketpc" with topics like "setting up a home network", "Getting activesync to work over your home network", "Setting up a wireless network", "Streaming music wirelessly from your desktop to your Pocket PC".

thanks for this..

for it to be complete this would be a really big book 100-200 pages. what's a good price for that, with that content?

cheers,
pt

[bigkingfun]

I don't know if anyone will still be reading by the time they get to this post (what, #95 or something?) but I just HAD to get my 2 cents worth in...

This has to be one of the most entertaining threads I've seen in a while. I'm not totally clear why people on either side of the fence are taking this one so personally, but I say congratulations Jason for picking a topic that people are obviously interested in, one way or the other.

I have to admit that these books are not for me, but I wish pt the best with them. He's obviously put some effort into them and should be proud of his work, even if not everyone thinks they are worthwhile. At the least, I'm sure he's had lots of traffic come out of this whole discussion.

One suggestion I would make is to perhaps offer a money-back guarantee. I realize this opens the door to dishonest people to buy the ebook and use the information, only to get a refund, but by not using DRM, you're putting faith in people already. If the information is in fact really helpful to new users, they will be happy with their purchase.

Hopefully I haven't said anything to invite anyone's anger, but I'm wearing my flame-retardant suit tonight anyway just in case :D

[Isaac]

i think some people just need to get laid... :lol:

pt answers more questions around the boards and newsgroups than most people read. i bet that if asked in one of these forums, a question that is covered in an ebook, pt would answer it. untill i can contribute half as much as pt, i will not critisize his work. i think that is only fair.

i know people who were early PPC adopters that still do not know all the ins and outs of their devices, to them the PPC is not a toy but a vital source of information during their day to day activities. one of them is a priest with over 500 families to juggle and uses the PIM features to their limit, yet he does not use pocket word, and the thought of connecting wirelessly to the Internet blows his mind. his birthday is coming up and I am going to buy one or more of these ebooks as a present. obviously there is a market, because unlike us wired all day folks, he is online enough to read a couple of newspapers, and check his email, he does not have time to dig thru posts and god awful google hits asking to install some language pack. anyway enough ranting.

[GC4062]

After reading the first few pages, I was going to stay out of it, but now that it's being pressed into a diamond :)

I have worked in IT for 20 years, and probably would expect that I could pick up a PPC, take it home, and start using all functions right away. Nope, not true. I read the owner's manual cover-to-cover, bought and read how to do everything with your Pocket PC... and still found the occasional oddity that wasn't easily solved by reading the books or wandering the many sites online.

I enjoy Pocket PC Thoughts. I check it daily. I have found some truly interesting stuff here. I checked out pt's books, started out buying one to see why IM was so screwy via my GPRS card... had an ah-ha! (more like sh**!!!, that's the problem with the software!), so purchased the balance. Have done the quick skim through and found a few more, "that's the faster way to do that" items. It was similar to when I first started programming telephone systems, now I can do in 15 lines what used to take 200.

I'm buying PPCs for family members this year for Christmas, and I'll include pt's books on each unit. None of them have ever used a palm or PPC before, and it will be quite good for them. So pt, applause from me... none of them have internet access either, so it wouldn't be easy for them to go searching for answers online. So, for me, very handy to have these.

As for the commentary inspired by a news item on the front page, I have to say that one reason I stopped reading the palm user boards and sites when I was a palm owner was that I found people too quick to jump all over something or someone. This thread got personal... truly a shame! I had compared the PPC user community vs. palm user community to an analogy I use regarding public transit in Toronto. I spend more to take the GO train into the city every day over taking the subway - why - because the GO is faster, and there are fewer nuts on the train :)

I appreciate the work that not only the site administrators and editorial staff do here, but also the work of people who post topics and discussions and offer well thought-out opinions. That's why this thread was disappointing to me. Folks, I've seen you do great things so far - keep that up :) Let's make the diamond, bury this one in a mine, and bring back the community of PPC users that I have come to know and appreciate... not the nuts on the subway :D

(that's why sometimes I write my post out longhand before entering it on the system... so I work out the nasties before I say anything)

Or as a good friend reminds me constantly... "go out, do good, shut up, and go home" :)

Onwards and upwards please folks - the community of PPC users and sites like this are what I talk about when building business cases to replace palm pilots with PPC products in my realm of influence in the corporate world :)

g'nite!

[Rob Alexander]

Good for you, pt! You must be ecstatic about this thread then!!! :lol:

well, i wish folks would consider making some suggestions and throwing some ideas out there, or posting where step-by-step complete help can be found on the web for new pocket pc owners. but since they're not, i'll take what i can get.

"I hate to say it, since I'd like to support PPC Thoughts regulars in their ventures, but I have to agree with Aceze. This is nothing I would even consider buying. While these would be attractive prices for the latest Stephen King novel, they are not attractive prices for basic PPC info that you can find all over the Net. This hardly deserves a "finally, affordable ebooks" tag"

or maybe you could tell me about this "basic" info all over the net...there isn't any. but please post.

You just don't get it, do you? :agrue: If you want people's opinions, then you have to STOP ARGUING with them and LISTEN. No one is going to expand on their position when the only response they get from you is "yeah, well call my voicemail and say that..." or "well if you're so smart then show me where my exact product already exists". Here's a little wakeup call. There are millions of products that don't exist elsewhere and still fail.

If it wouldn't kill you, you could actually try... oh, say being polite and interested in people's opinions. Then, with the entire community not on the defensive, you could ask specific questions to elicit the details of people's opinions. I'm sure you feel quite righteous and vindicated since no one has called your voicemail or found exact clones of your books, but it's a hollow 'victory'. You'll have no similar opportunity to tell real (potential) customers who don't buy your books why they're stupid for passing them up. They won't offer opinions, you'll never even know they existed. They'll simply not buy.

If you had half a whit of business sense, you'd listen to the reactions of people in here as those are many of the same reactions your potential market will experience. Then, instead of telling everyone they're wrong, you'd try to find out what's at the root of their concern so you could adjust your products and marketing accordingly. You complain that we don't tell you more, but every time anyone has been the least bit critical, you've jumped all over them. Ever since the initial post, when it was obvious you got your feelings hurt, I've bent over backwards to be friendly and to support you, but you can't take support any more than you can take criticism so I'm done with that. If you think I'm going to give you a detailed opinion so that you can quote it back to me line-by-line and snipe at me about it, then you're nuts. If you will just grow up a little and act like an adult, you might get the results you say you want, but that you don't act like you want.

And for the record, I'll be happy to tell you what I think by phone if you want to pay for the international call to do it. Not your voicemail... you in person. Just leave your number through Jason and be prepared to accept the collect charges and we'll have as long a chat as you like. I'll start out friendly, but I won't tolerate a bad attitude there any more than I will here.

[sycamore]

Isn't it sad when technical experts think they know anything about marketing? Frankly, I wouldn't bother creating content for experts. Screw 'em because they can make their own e-books, the way they want, for 'free'. Hundreds of thousands of PocketPC users are newbies; very few are experts. Go for the money. The same people arguing for an inclusive PocketPC community are belittling those who might need a how-to manual.

To all the grammar queens and typographical toddlers: get an literature degree. We live in a culture of hyper-consciousness about the evolution of language(s) and any post-structural critic will tell you rightly that usage determines meaning (including the use of caps, no caps, etc.). Our present system of grammar and typographical standards has a history in the early 20th century when the MLA (Modern Language Association) created the rules of grammar which did not previously exist in a codified form for the English language. Just crack open a text from 1900 to see how different things were then. If that fact doesn't deconstruct the anti-capitalization critics out there, I'm not sure what will; and it really does boil down to their own neurocognitive limitations.

pt, you are a quintessential post-modernist and anyone who doesn't see that is operating in an outdated paradigm. Loved the "Operation" game with shock-delivering vest, BTW.

What e-books would I pay for? Well, I'm a doctor, carnivorous plant enthusiast, political activist, club kid, and fiction writer. So some sort of content aimed at all of the above would certify you genius. But seriously, there's a huge market for medical e-books. While many generalist medical e-books already exist, you could make a killing on subspecialty books that get updated on a yearly basis. It would just be a matter of approaching existing publishers and converting their texts to e-book format. Also, there are a huge number of carnivorous plant enthusiasts out there who are also technically savvy, so an e-book field guide to, say, Nepenthes ssp would be highly desired. I could even show you where to market them. And speaking of grammar queens, I think the MLA handbook on grammar or <u>Strunk and White</u> would be great in e-book format. I'd pay just as much as I did for the paperback versions of these (~$12).

[schwuk]

Idea for an ebook: "Networking your pocketpc"

thanks for this..

for it to be complete this would be a really big book 100-200 pages. what's a good price for that, with that content?

cheers,
pt
i'd pay up to $10 for it provided it covered the following:


wireless (bluetooth & wifi) & wired
known working configurations/devices
known non-working configurations/devices
known caveats

2 & 3 could be huge, but covering the most common ones would be great. you could also cover stuff like warchalking (http://www.warchalking.org) (and hobo phil (http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/warchalking) :D ). also stuff like mini-stumbler (http://home.pacbell.net/mariusm/) and vxsniffer (http://www.cam.com/vxsniffer.html) would be cool (although network sniffing would be a book in itself, so maybe just the basics). in fact, if it covered all of that (excluding details of sniffing) in good detail, i'd maybe go up to $15.

i wouldn't be so fussed about the streaming bit, but i would like to see those topics covered in the video and audio books you are doing.

maybe an ebook on making ebooks. for differents platforms. and readers.

gps's (maybe in conjunction with pocketgps (http://www.pocketgps.co.uk)).

synchronisation options. cover the add-ons like intellisync (http://www.pumatech.com/is_desktop_main.html) and other platforms like pocketmac (http://www.pocketmac.net)

browsing options and developing for the various browsers (two books?)

how about flash enabled in ebook form? :D

here's another idea - although i don't know how easy it would be set-up and run: accept contributions. for example, i've been working long and hard to get ppcs syncing with lotus notes via various routes, and i know that this a question that is asked repeatedly on the newsgroups and forums.

how about offering preview chapters to stop people complaining about the content they haven't yet read.

oh, and stop the lowercase stuff - it's annoying :wink:

[Rob Alexander]

I can't articulate how deeply disappointed I am in those that have responded to this posting so far. That's all I trust myself to say at the moment - every other post I start has the f-word too many times.

In life, some things truly matter. Others do not.

This ranks among the former, not the latter.

Please excuse my creative editing of quotes, but it just occured to me that your comment fits very nicely after this other quote as well.

[pt]

IYou just don't get it, do you?

perhaps i don't, and thank goodness.

the people i look up to and admire, are -all for- what i'm doing, and i'm happy with it too. the folks here who "get" it, in my opinion, posted great comments and feedback, it was great to get all this support, i love those peeps.

so here's where we agree to not agree. but it doesn't matter the market will decide. you get to sit back and watch what happens. so far, i've received dozens of great notes about how wonderful the ebooks are, that's really all i care about, help the folks out there.

yes, the ebooks are doing great, it's only been 24 hours too.

rob, that's really long post you have, with lots of really wrong things.

like i said, i'm all ears, waiting to hear about all these special free places that have ebooks and step-by-step for beginners. waiting to hear suggestions and something constructive, some idea, etc..maybe you would consider that too.

but for now here's something fun:
http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/images/superloser.jpg

if you refresh:
http://www.pocketpcmagic.com it's in the rotation too.

after all, the site is supposed to be fun, and that is one funny image.

cheers,
pt

[schwuk]

but for now here's something fun:
http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/images/superloser.jpg
:lol:

[CoffeeKid]

but for now here's something fun:
http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/images/superloser.jpg

if you refresh:
http://www.pocketpcmagic.com it's in the rotation too.

after all, the site is supposed to be fun, and that is one funny image.

Welp, pt, I was pretty much neutral and just an observer in this thread, refusing to jump into the fray, until this post of yours. This childish response (which makes me wonder about the earlier comments about not caring what anyone says in here) just took you down a few notches. But hey, you don't care what I or anyone else says in this thread, right? :roll:

You probably won't care about this either, but here's my advice, two bits of it:

a) $6 a book is too expensive for what you're offering.
b) take a lesson from gnometomes. Chris realised that $5 an eBook was too much as well, and now he's making a mint.

Mark
and yes, I'd say this all to your face, and probably make you pay for the beers too.

[Ed Hansberry]

but for now here's something fun:
http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/images/superloser.jpg

if you refresh:
http://www.pocketpcmagic.com it's in the rotation too.

after all, the site is supposed to be fun, and that is one funny image.
Bwahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. :lol: :lol!: :lol: :lol!: :rofl:

[markcrump]

lastly, i love how everyone (so far) who has issue with my lowercase use spells stuff wrong when they post about me and -my- writing... mark you said capitaliztion, that's wrong, it's spelled capitalization. it's karma :-]

There's a difference between objecting to a style, and making a typo. I made a typo. You've made them here too. The point I was trying to make is, if I was a professional writer, in a thread about my work I'd try to stay a) professional and b) within common, accepted capitalization. I'm not saying your posts need to spelled 100% properly. Given the off the cuff nature of message boards posts, I'd be surprised if the vast majority of anyone's posts don't contain some bloopers.

I never said I was an expert at the PocketPC. In many ways I'm still a beginner, in others I'm advanced. I am a fairly objective person. What I was giving you the opportunity to do is deflect criticism in the easiest way; Letting your product stand for itself. Believe it or not, I'm a fairly objective person. I've never said there wasn't a market for these. I think there is one. Five bucks is pretty cheap. If I learn one or two more things, 5 bucks is a pretty cheap entry price. I'm sure a quote saying: "At first I thought this book wasn't worth the money, but after reading it, there is knowledge here for both advanced users and the beginner." Would go a lot farther than a Photoshop'd image of a "superloser".

Your site may be "fun", but I would think its main intention is to market your product.

I'm not going to call your voice mail. I don't think I've been mean or uncivil.

[denivan]

but for now here's something fun:
http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/images/superloser.jpg

if you refresh:
http://www.pocketpcmagic.com it's in the rotation too.


Well, I don't know if I should post this, I've been called a fascist once by Jason, but anyway I'll go ahead.

-First, most people were upset because the original topic didn't deliver what it offered. Off course these books are affordable, but not what people were expecting (Most people, also I expected the article would be about affordable novels.

-Second, Jason and pt need some anger management control. I haven't seen any real slashes at pt, but for some reason you guyz are taking it way to personal.

-Third, I know you tried advertising your book, hell can't blame you for trying to make a buck or two, but both you and jason should have know that this place is hardly the right public.

-Fourth, although pt, you seemed kinda deaf for any arguments and kept repeating your sacred mantra (post links, call my voicemail), I still gave you the benefit of the doubt, but after posting that picture I don't view you as a person who tries to make business in a normal fashion anymore.
Should this mean I should photoshop some some funny picture of pt ? No and I won't do this, you why ? Cuz I'm not a child.

-Fifth, for some reason since Jason attacked me once, I came to visit this site less and less often. Now that I see that Jason threadend people (by PM's) because they just spoke their mind I think I'll leave this site for what it is. Jason, take a chill pill, and I'll be visiting ppcw.net and other great pocketpc sites.

Ivan

:( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

[splintercell]

Eight pages of discussion later and it now being a dreary morning here, I decided to add a tidbit. First of all, pt, good luck, I'm sure you put a lot of work into the books. Whether they sell or not or if people need/like them is a different matter and I am not touching that with a 10-foot pole. But in a slight off-topic tangent (and this is purely my opinion, and other people will think differently, and I respect that) - I don't like e-books. I hate reading them on tiny screens, worrying about battery life, and I just like plain old books - going to a store (or even getting them online), leafing through a book, even the new book smell, and then having them in a nice library at home, where I can see them, instead some CF card. Especially paperback novels, but even larger, IT reference books - I have annotations, sticky notes, bookmarks, and I love the physical aspect of it. True, I can't search them, but there is always Google. And sure, some things, like small runs of books (like pt's) would be prohibitively expensive to get published, but I still like regular books better. I won't ever say never, but the odds of me ever buying or even using a free e-book are slim to none.

[scottmag]

pt (or to use proper capitalization, "PT"), I think there needs to be more of a pricing differential between your current ebooks. The subjects of themes and IM seem trivial to many and might be better marketed at a much lower price point of, say US$1.95. Doing so would make the Pocket Word book seem more valuable in comparison. I have a hard time believing that there is not a lot of demand for a comprehensive beginner-focused guide to Pocket Word. Pricing yours only $1 more than your guide to themes trivializes it.

When I upgraded to Mac OS X and got a digital camera I started using iPhoto all the time. I love that program. It's very easy to use and does not come with a manual of any instructions at all. When my low-tech mother got a Mac she wanted to use iPhoto but had difficulty. I found and recommended a good book to her and she bought it through Amazon. She also ordered me a copy as a gift. Now, I never would have bought a simple how-to book for such an easy program, but within two minutes of flipping through it I found some features I didn't know about.

I'm not going to buy $15-20 books for every little program, but maybe PT is onto something with low cost comprehensive ebooks. I hope that it is a success because we will all benefit if he expands into expert subjects. Maybe others will produce some competitive content. I don't buy this notion that everything is free on the Internet and a simple Google search away. Google is my browser's home page because it is truly awesome at finding things. But the days of the free online content buffet are ending and I would rather see respected experts distributing content inexpensively and in user-friendly formats.


I thought of two ebook ideas a while ago and sent them to Jeff Kirvin, but he never responded. I would pay for these:

1.) An overview of PDA organization. I, like probably the vast majority of PDA users, own a powerful tool and only use to a small fraction of its capabilities. I picture a guide in three parts. There would be a section on the concepts of organizing, planning, outlining, etc., with examples of how to integrate the different roles and tasks in your life. Then there would be platform specific sections (ideally for both PalmOS and the PocketPC). Each of those would cover as many specific programs as possible in addition to the basics of categories, linking, etc. Fill it with short reviews and lots of how-to screen shots.

2.) A mobile content primer. I am a content junkie and I would love to have more stuff I could carry with me. While many PDA users may have heard of or even tried AvantGo, not many know of alternatives. Or of the various types of content they can carry in their pocket. Here I'd like to see you cover the major types of content - text, audio, video - and what is available in each format. You clearly understand ebooks, so you could cover that thoroughly including readers, DRM, content sources, etc. Personally I am a voracious reader of magazines. I bet I could assemble content through custom channels on AvantGo and its competitors and make my own portable magazine. But I do not know much about custom channels or the relative strengths and weaknesses or the different systems. Audio is probably unknown outside of MP3s. Audible.com might be the perfect use for a PDA during a long commute. Are there other types of audio content? I suppose it is possible to use a text-to-speech program to turn a text file into an audio file. Can streaming content be captured and converted to a playable audio file? Finally, there's video. It's similar to audio in that there are various formats, players, capacity, quality, etc. What is there that can be put on a PDA? I've heard of people reformatting movies to fit on large storage cards to play on their PocketPCs. But that sounds more like an exercise in what can be done rather than what's useful. There must be some video content out there though that would be right for PDA usage.


Good luck with your books, PT.

Scott

[Brad Adrian]

Thanks for getting this back on track, people.

"All you earnest young men out to save the world … please, have a laugh."
-- Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971), American theologian

[pt]

a) $6 a book is too expensive for what you're offering.
b) take a lesson from gnometomes. Chris realised that $5 an eBook was too much as well, and now he's making a mint.

i'll be able to offer them at a lower price when my appear on amazon, stay tuned, that should happen shortly.

cheers,
pt

[Pony99CA]

so if you've read the site, and / or got the ebooks, you get 2 .lit versions, one for desktop, one for device and a pdf.

Not being an E-book creation expert (I created three using a free Web-based tool), I'm surprised that you need separate versions for the desktop and the Pocket PC. Why won't one .lit version do? Is the Pocket PC version formatted for MS Reader 1.0 for those with Pocket PC 2000?

Steve

P.S. If you're interested, the E-books I mentioned are:

1. The Declaration of Independence
2. The U.S. Constitution
3. The Bill of Rights (and other Constitutional Amendments)

Go to my E-book section (http://www.garlic.com/~shm/svvgppc.html#EBOOKS) to get them.

[Pony99CA]

Everyone I have ever known who doesn't use capital letters has fallen into two categories: 1) Too lazy, and they usually don't spull vury well neither, or 2) people who want attention...

Not to beat a dead horse, but many people who use SMS and IM a lot, especially from a telephone handset, become accustomed to not using capital letters. Heck, Japan alone (where SMS is a deeply-ingrained part of everyday life) has as a result built up a two-year stockpile of unused capital Es and Ts. Concerned U.S. government officials are already worried about the so-called "Cap Gap."
I pretty much agree with /dev/niall, but I'm anal. In a real-time chat where you want to keep conversation going, I can understand saving time by avoiding capitalization, abbreviating, and making an occasional typo. However, this is not really real-time.

Also, if someone is using a device with difficult input methods (a Pocket PC keyboard or maybe speech if you have to say "Shift" or "Cap" to get uppercase), I can also understand this. However, even on a Pocket PC discussion site, I bet the majority of people aren't posting using their Pocket PCs (if only because reading the forums is so painful with the horizontal scrolling).

This forum is about communicating, and studies have shown that people read things more easily in mixed case than in all uppercase. I'm assuming the same is true of all lowercase. Given that this is about communication, why make things more difficult on your readers than you have to?

And don't get me started on spelling and grammar, OK? :lol: Suffice it to say that I am constantly surprised that native English speakers with 12 or more years of school don't use "you're" and "your" correctly.

Steve

[pt]

I don't view you as a person who tries to make business in a normal fashion anymore.

wow, best compliment ever!

doing business in normal ways doesn't cut it any longer.

cheers,
pt

[Ashley Dunn]

I think the reason people are mad is because of the misleading title. The article is titled ebooks you can actually afford, when these are not the ebooks people are expecting.

As was mentioned earlier in this thread, the words and phrases used in marketing campaigns are meant to grab people's attention, and get them to read further. If they read further, and are no longer interested in what is being offered, then they have the freedom to move onto the next point of interest.

As a communications student, I'm finding this thread a really good example of how marketing works in the real world.

I've not yet met pt, but from what Jason has told me, he's very highly respected in the PPC community, and elsewhere in the technology world. Keep up the good work, pt. Most of us really appreciate what you do!

[pt]

Not being an E-book creation expert (I created three using a free Web-based tool), I'm surprised that you need separate versions for the desktop and the Pocket PC. Why won't one .lit version do? Is the Pocket PC version formatted for MS Reader 1.0 for those with Pocket PC 2000?.

you don't, but decided to provide that.

"lots" of graphics on reader for the pocket pc will cause a memory leak, so i provide 2 versions, one with graphics, one with less.

and a pdf...

i tell the readers the best way to view these ebooks is on a desktop, or print them out.

if i didn't provide a mobile version people would just be talking about that.

cheers,
pt

[Pony99CA]

you're the only one that's down on the lowercase. that's kinda funny, down..lowercase....

No, he's not, I just was reading this whole thread before posting. :-)


my professional writing (articles, ebooks, work stuff) are all properly formatted and such and people seem to value it. i can send oodles of links to stuff if you want. heck, i'll even send you a copy of my book if you call my voicemail. printed book that is (flash enabled, design and dev for the pocket pc). no ebook, for you, don't worry.

If you'll send me a free copy of "Flash Enabled", I'll call your voicemail and tell you why I'm down on monocase posting. Deal? If so, send me a Private Message with your number, and I'll even pay for the call.

Steve

P.S. To get this back on track, I have no problem with your books or strategy. It's your time, and your life. I hope you make money selling them, but I probably won't buy them. Why not? I'll itemize by book:

Word: I feel that I know Pocket Word well enough for what I do with it. I don't see a reason to spend money and time reading something for little perceived gain. That's not to say I wouldn't learn anything, of course; I'm just not in your target market. I'll get over it. :-)

IMs: I use AIM and don't use MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, etc. Again, I think I'm proficient enough with AIM.

Themes: I don't use Pocket PC themes, and the Dashboard themes I do use, I just download from the Web. I don't really have much interest in creating my own.

[Pony99CA]

I can't understand why you don't use capital letters.


In life, some things truly matter. Others do not.

This ranks among the former, not the latter.

So even Jason thinks this issue truly matters. :lol: (Yes, I realize he probably meant that it ranks among the latter, but I was amused.)

Steve

[Jason Dunn]

I can't articulate how deeply disappointed I am in those that have responded to this posting so far. That's all I trust myself to say at the moment - every other post I start has the f-word too many times.

In life, some things truly matter. Others do not.

This ranks among the former, not the latter.

Please excuse my creative editing of quotes, but it just occured [sic] to me that your comment fits very nicely after this other quote as well.

Anonymous strangers attacking the creations of my friend pt, using my site to do it....that DOES matter to me. 8)

"I'm not even supposed to be IN today!!" - Dante, "Clerks"

[pt]

I never said I was an expert at the PocketPC. In many ways I'm still a beginner, in others I'm advanced. I am a fairly objective person. What I was giving you the opportunity to do is deflect criticism in the easiest way; Letting your product stand for itself. Believe it or not, I'm a fairly objective person. I've never said there wasn't a market for these. I think there is one. Five bucks is pretty cheap. If I learn one or two more things, 5 bucks is a pretty cheap entry price. I'm sure a quote saying: "At first I thought this book wasn't worth the money, but after reading it, there is knowledge here for both advanced users and the beginner." Would go a lot farther than a Photoshop'd image of a "superloser"..

send me a note, and i'll send you an ebook to read. i don't think you're going to be objective, but hey-- here's your chance to.

that guy in the image is a jerk, he deserved to be photoshoped, he thinks he "knows" everything. um, btw--that's an image i made, it's not real. :D

cheers,
pt

[Jason Dunn]

This childish response (which makes me wonder about the earlier comments about not caring what anyone says in here) just took you down a few notches.

Hey, you're an imposter! Canadians are supposed to have great senses of humour! ;-) He didn't use their real names or handles, so it's not like it's a personal attack - it's a parody, and it's funny.

b) take a lesson from gnometomes. Chris realised that $5 an eBook was too much as well, and now he's making a mint.

That's odd - I just went to www.gnometomes.com and all the books I clicked on (three) were $15. You should also keep in mind that for the most part Chris' eBooks were repurposed content, not content written from scratch (though it seems he has some "new" stuff up there).

It's funny you would bring Lockergnome up and still criticize pt for this - remember when the same thing happened with Lockergnome? People attacking him for having the "gall" to sell eBooks with information that "should be free"? I thought you were on the side of the creator Mark - I guess I was wrong...?

*****

"I'm not even supposed to be IN today!!" - Dante, "Clerks"

[Ashley Dunn]

Oh, and by the way I said posting without capitals was a little ostentatious first. Later I said it would be pretentious if you were doing it out of some odd E.E. Cummings fixation. I also happen to work with several Japanese and I'm happy to say that all of them take the time to properly format their sentences in email.

And I still don't know why you do it.

Really, who cares why he does it? I'll take some heat for that, but isn't it a little elementary to be complaining about why pt uses capital letters or doesn't? Is it really going to affect your life in some profound way five minutes from now? Use that little thought "is it going to affect me five minutes from now?" in your life. I do and I find it tends to make my life more fun. :lol:

[Pony99CA]

Not being an E-book creation expert (I created three using a free Web-based tool), I'm surprised that you need separate versions for the desktop and the Pocket PC. Why won't one .lit version do? Is the Pocket PC version formatted for MS Reader 1.0 for those with Pocket PC 2000?.

you don't, but decided to provide that.

"lots" of graphics on reader for the pocket pc will cause a memory leak, so i provide 2 versions, one with graphics, one with less.

Ah, right, I forgot about that memory leak. Even if there were no leak, I guess it would still make sense to have a version with a smaller memory footprint for the Pocket PC.


and a pdf...

i tell the readers the best way to view these ebooks is on a desktop, or print them out.

if i didn't provide a mobile version people would just be talking about that.

Yep, I got that from the thread, and agree with your reasoning.

Believe it or not, I read every post (some toward the end I just skimmed, but still got the gist of them). I had ignored this topic when it first came up, because the books weren't of interest to me, but after Jason mentioned that this was a controversial thread, I had to see what about E-books could cause such a fuss.

I can't believe things got to this point about what is basically a decent idea. I do agree that the initial teaser was a bit over-hyped (I also thought this would be about a good source for lots of E-books, not just three books), but come on people....

Let pt decide how much he wants to make. If people don't buy his books, he'll probably lower the price -- he won't have anything to lose, because the books are already created. It's like dating -- if some fat, poor 50-year-old only wants to date supermodels, that's his taste, and why should I worry about it? Do I care if he ends up lonely? Not really. Why do so many people care if pt makes money or wastes his time? Let's see what the market decides.

Maybe in a couple of months, pt will be kind enough to update us and tell us how much he made selling these books. If he made a lot, maybe we'll start writing some beginner books, too. :-)

Steve

[Ashley Dunn]

the point I was trying to make is that I (and others) have to wonder about the reasons an extended communication was not formatted correctly; be it capitalization, glaring grammatical or spelling errors, or what have you. I'm very happy that you use lower case instead of ALL CAPS, but your posts would be far easier to read if you capitalized sentences and proper nouns correctly.

As the site's editor, I've seriously considered getting permission to do a post on how to spell. But the reality of it is, like I said in my last post, does someone misspelling a word or not putting a capital letter in front of it really have a profound impact on your life? You're really getting worked up about this issue, and it's not going to ruin your life if someone doesn't adhere to what YOU think is the proper way of communicating. In case you haven't noticed, a lot of what is communicated over IM or online in general isn't proper according to what grade school English teaches us. The Internet is a thing of convenience, and IM, forums and the like are as well. People want to communicate faster than ever now, and by shortening words, eliminating an extra key stroke, or whatever people deem necessary to get their point across as quickly and efficiently as possible, people are accomplishing that goal of efficiency, and that is fine by me.

Perhaps you should loosen up a bit. :-) Laugh more. It's the best medicine you know.

[Jason Dunn]

First, most people were upset because the original topic didn't deliver what it offered. Off course these books are affordable, but not what people were expecting (Most people, also I expected the article would be about affordable novels.

Please point out where I mentioned novels. Also please explain why you didn't read the entire post which clearly explained what the books were that I was talking about. I can't be responsible for your false assumptions brought about by an inability to read what I wrote.

Third, I know you tried advertising your book, hell can't blame you for trying to make a buck or two, but both you and jason should have know that this place is hardly the right public.

Last month, we averaged 16,000 visitors a day. Most of the people that post are the advanced users. Now look at how many posts we get. Do the math and you'll understand that your opinion is a little off-base. We have MANY newbies reading this site.

and I'll be visiting ppcw.net and other great pocketpc sites.

Buh-bye. :lol:

[/dev/niall]

the point I was trying to make is that I (and others) have to wonder about the reasons an extended communication was not formatted correctly; be it capitalization, glaring grammatical or spelling errors, or what have you. I'm very happy that you use lower case instead of ALL CAPS, but your posts would be far easier to read if you capitalized sentences and proper nouns correctly.

As the site's editor, I've seriously considered getting permission to do a post on how to spell. But the reality of it is, like I said in my last post, does someone misspelling a word or not putting a capital letter in front of it really have a profound impact on your life? You're really getting worked up about this issue, and it's not going to ruin your life if someone doesn't adhere to what YOU think is the proper way of communicating. In case you haven't noticed, a lot of what is communicated over IM or online in general isn't proper according to what grade school English teaches us. The Internet is a thing of convenience, and IM, forums and the like are as well. People want to communicate faster than ever now, and by shortening words, eliminating an extra key stroke, or whatever people deem necessary to get their point across as quickly and efficiently as possible, people are accomplishing that goal of efficiency, and that is fine by me.

Perhaps you should loosen up a bit. :-) Laugh more. It's the best medicine you know.

I'm really not worked up at all, I just see people responding to my posts and I'm replying in the hopes that I can communicate my reasons for a) liking capitalization and b) not understand why folks don't do it.

I really don't know what else I can say. I capitalize my sentences on forums and newsgroups because that's what the majority of people expect and it makes things far easier to read and understand. I try to watch my spelling, which is quite atrocious most of the time. If someone chooses not to do this I'm going to make assumptions as to why. That's all. I'm not talking about IM, the Japanese (??), or getting worked up at all. I don't need anyone to call my voicemail to feel validated, bribe them with prizes if they can "prove" their point of view, or dismiss their opinions out of hand just because they're not my focus.

I really hadn't planned on adding anything else to this thread, but since you post so rarely I felt I owed you a response. I'm just sorry you, your husband, pt, and others are taking this all so personally. Really... no sarcasm intended.

And I laugh a lot. Thanks for the suggestion though. ;)

[jdhill]

Boy, this has really "gone to Hell in a hand basket" !!!

Most of you should be ashamed of the way you've behaved. Your mean spirited-ness and total lack of tact is appalling.

It is possible to express an opinion without behaving badly. Try it, you'll like it !!!

[amdathlonman]

I'm back, post number two...I said I wouldn't read this useless topic but I had to see if the few had chilled out...Guess not.

This thread should be locked, its so useless. The few defending why they acted out their fustrations on some guys ebooks....Geez...By complaining about capitalization.

[PlayAgain?]

It made me laugh, and when I showed it to others in the office, it made for a time of much grinning.

I think its a wind up - but a good one!

Keep it up!

[denivan]

First, most people were upset because the original topic didn't deliver what it offered. Off course these books are affordable, but not what people were expecting (Most people, also I expected the article would be about affordable novels.

Please point out where I mentioned novels. Also please explain why you didn't read the entire post which clearly explained what the books were that I was talking about. I can't be responsible for your false assumptions brought about by an inability to read what I wrote.

Third, I know you tried advertising your book, hell can't blame you for trying to make a buck or two, but both you and jason should have know that this place is hardly the right public.

Last month, we averaged 16,000 visitors a day. Most of the people that post are the advanced users. Now look at how many posts we get. Do the math and you'll understand that your opinion is a little off-base. We have MANY newbies reading this site.

and I'll be visiting ppcw.net and other great pocketpc sites.

Buh-bye. :lol:

I think it's great how you avoid the subject of being touchy on this subject and how pocketpcTHOUGHTS.com seems to revolve more and more about your THOUGHTS and not about the readers.

First of all, point one : clearly this thread has proven that the subject didn't deliver expaction for alot of people. Second point : I think also this thread clearly proves that these books are to basic. Bonding my ipaq with my T68i and getting both to work on a GPRS network was more difficult than installing an IM client. Setting up Odigo Messenger Force (which isn't mentioned in the e-book as far as i can see) was much more easy, than hooking up to the mobile net.

[denivan]

I don't view you as a person who tries to make business in a normal fashion anymore.

wow, best compliment ever!

doing business in normal ways doesn't cut it any longer.

cheers,
pt

Great way to stay deaf on the other things I've said. At least you don't make me call your voicemail. Anywayz, have fun making your e-books. Heck, if you make a serious e-book that goes in depth on networking pocketpc's (wired & wireless), I maybe even buy it (no matter what the price).

[denivan]

Use that little thought "is it going to affect me five minutes from now?" in your life. I do and I find it tends to make my life more fun. :lol:

I guess this post makes the most sense out of this whole thread. :D

[Snail]

Well, I’ve been lurking round here for ages, I never thought my first post would be this one... :roll:

So much vitriol over a $5 book! What gives?

Unlike most of you, I’m a “product user”. I have no need to develop, or know exactly how my PDA works, I just want it to do “stuff” (tables in Pocket Word or macros in Pocket Excel anyone?) If Microsoft doesn’t think I need that functionality, I’ll buy it elsewhere.

If someone sees a gap in a market, there’s no reason on the planet why they shouldn’t try to exploit it. Personally, if there was a book that told me exactly how to do something or get a particular piece of info, I’d pay the $5 if it saved me time (and that’s important from my perspective). If you spend your whole time online looking for info (get a life! :wink:), these books obviously aren’t for you... let it go.

Surely it’s news that pt has produced these ebooks (whatever you personally feel about them), therefore it’s valid that PPC Thoughts tells you about it (isn’t it?). What you then choose to do about it is up to you, but I’m not sure defaming someone’s character achieves much (other than a 200 comment thread)

That’s it. Hope my grammar’s OK

Bri

- The cemetaries are full of indispensible people -

[pt]

I think it's great how you avoid the subject of being touchy on this subject and how pocketpcTHOUGHTS.com seems to revolve more and more about your THOUGHTS and not about the readers.

welcome to jason's site. population you and 16,000 other people who really enjoy it.


Second point : I think also this thread clearly proves that these books are to basic.

this clearly proves you didn't read the thread.

these are beginner books, but even advanced users are saying that they're great too. you should look at the toc.

http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/listings.html

and lastly, you haven't seen them.


[quote=denivan]Bonding my ipaq with my T68i and getting both to work on a GPRS network was more difficult than installing an IM client. Setting up Odigo Messenger Force (which isn't mentioned in the e-book as far as i can see) was much more easy, than hooking up to the mobile net.

that's an advanced ebook that wouldn't make sense to write since it would need to make too many assumptions about you carrier, phone settings, and more. i might do an article about, but not an ebook. it would 500 pages of stuff 99% of the folks out there would never use.

messenger force is in my instant messaging book, along with irc, jabber, aim, msn, icq (yahoo), and more.

http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/im.html

cheers,
pt

[pt]

Great way to stay deaf on the other things I've said. At least you don't make me call your voicemail. Anywayz, have fun making your e-books. Heck, if you make a serious e-book that goes in depth on networking pocketpc's (wired & wireless), I maybe even buy it (no matter what the price).

calling my voicemail earns you great prizes and future fame. pm for details.

if you look in the listing, we're going to cover some soltions for wired and wireless..

most of them are "buyers" guides since it has lots to do with hardware, and it would take 500 pages to cover all the combinations...so i might figure out another way to do it.

cheers,
pt

[denivan]

I think it's great how you avoid the subject of being touchy on this subject and how pocketpcTHOUGHTS.com seems to revolve more and more about your THOUGHTS and not about the readers.

welcome to jason's site. population you and 16,000 other people who really enjoy it.


Second point : I think also this thread clearly proves that these books are to basic.

this clearly proves you didn't read the thread.

these are beginner books, but even advanced users are saying that they're great too. you should look at the toc.

http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/listings.html

and lastly, you haven't seen them.


[quote=denivan]Bonding my ipaq with my T68i and getting both to work on a GPRS network was more difficult than installing an IM client. Setting up Odigo Messenger Force (which isn't mentioned in the e-book as far as i can see) was much more easy, than hooking up to the mobile net.

that's an advanced ebook that wouldn't make sense to write since it would need to make too many assumptions about you carrier, phone settings, and more. i might do an article about, but not an ebook. it would 500 pages of stuff 99% of the folks out there would never use.

messenger force is in my instant messaging book, along with irc, jabber, aim, msn, icq (yahoo), and more.

http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/im.html

cheers,
pt

Hmm, I looked at the TOC of your IM book and didn't see anything on Messenger Force. At least it seems that your e-book is complete and that's a good thing. Btw, I enjoy(ed) Jason's site mostly, but I feel that lately people who don't share the same ideas get attacked by him. I was a while ago and was really upset by it, and now I see the same thing happening to others. By the way, I never said your books are rubbish, indeed some people said they learned something from it, but I feel like alot of people said this place wasn't the correct place to market a beginners book. Btw, I realise one book on the whole networking thing would be difficult, maybe you could split it up in several books ? Sell each book for 6 USD or so and sell the whole package of networking books for a reduced price. I feel that's something that will be bought by alot of users of this site.

[denivan]

Great way to stay deaf on the other things I've said. At least you don't make me call your voicemail. Anywayz, have fun making your e-books. Heck, if you make a serious e-book that goes in depth on networking pocketpc's (wired & wireless), I maybe even buy it (no matter what the price).

calling my voicemail earns you great prizes and future fame. pm for details.

if you look in the listing, we're going to cover some soltions for wired and wireless..

most of them are "buyers" guides since it has lots to do with hardware, and it would take 500 pages to cover all the combinations...so i might figure out another way to do it.

cheers,
pt

Thanks, but I'm famous enough ;) And a 'buyers' guide for wireless and wired stuff would be great, it would have saved me alot of shipping costs for sending back pocketpc networking stuff that didn't work like i thought it would.

[pt]

Hmm, I looked at the TOC of your IM book and didn't see anything on Messenger Force. At least it seems that your e-book is complete and that's a good thing.

um, it's in big bold letters...

"THIRD-PARTY MESSAGING APPLICATIONS FOR THE POCKET PC
Messenger Force"

that was right from here:
http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/im.html


Btw, I realise one book on the whole networking thing would be difficult, maybe you could split it up in several books ? Sell each book for 6 USD or so and sell the whole package of networking books for a reduced price. I feel that's something that will be bought by alot of users of this site.

tellya what, if you can help me outline what would be in it, i'll do it. i don't think i could cover this topic and help most people without it being a zillion pages, and then the cost would need to be really high.

also, it's very "buyers guide" -ish since every solution means stating the hardware scenarios.

i might start out with...

wifi for the pocket pc
-what it is
-what to get for what device
-how to use (general guide)

and keep it basic.

thoughts?

cheers,
pt

[pt]

Thanks, but I'm famous enough ;) And a 'buyers' guide for wireless and wired stuff would be great, it would have saved me alot of shipping costs for sending back pocketpc networking stuff that didn't work like i thought it would.

after 133 messages, we're getting some good posts, thanks for this. here are my questions back.

-buyers guide, it would list all the ways to connect pocket pcs. what it is, where to get it, how much it costs, and if we have thoughts on, we put that.

-can you tell me what stuff didn't work out the way you thought it would for the wired / wireless stuff, that would help me think about what to write and what to point out.


-how much? this will take 20-30 hours to write, edit create.

i'd like to say $5.95

cheers,
pt

[denivan]

pt, I looked at back at the TOC of the IM book and saw this :

THIRD-PARTY MESSAGING APPLICATIONS FOR THE POCKET PC
MSN Messenger Force

That's why I read over it, it didn't say 'odigo messenger force'. Anyway, like you a buyers guide thing is good. Take some time to write the book and ask for feedback for people sending you which config works with them. You can all include that in your back.

Your suggestions :
wifi for the pocket pc
-what it is &lt;-- most people know, but a little background on the technology used can't be bad. Maybe talk about interference with other devices etc.
-what to get for what device &lt;-- Indeed a buyers guide kinda thing is okay here.
-how to use (general guide) &lt;-- talk about which applications in particular are cool and add great value to your wireless ipaq. I for one don't use WiFi, I only have a bluetooth enabled ipaq connected to gprs which suits my needs enough, but if I read forums correctly, there are great things do be done with a WiFi'ed pocketpc.

[CoffeeKid]

This childish response (which makes me wonder about the earlier comments about not caring what anyone says in here) just took you down a few notches.

Hey, you're an imposter! Canadians are supposed to have great senses of humour! ;-) He didn't use their real names or handles, so it's not like it's a personal attack - it's a parody, and it's funny.

I admit these days I don't have much of a sense of humour for a variety of reasons, but even if I was all jolly, I don't see the humour in using one's website to publicly label some people "super losers" when they have a disagreement, esp. if they have a popular site.

b) take a lesson from gnometomes. Chris realised that $5 an eBook was too much as well, and now he's making a mint.

That's odd - I just went to www.gnometomes.com and all the books I clicked on (three) were $15. You should also keep in mind that for the most part Chris' eBooks were repurposed content, not content written from scratch (though it seems he has some "new" stuff up there).

That's changed a bit - the original books are repurposed content, but lots of the new stuff is completely original.

The individual book prices are still set at $5. However, Chris wasn't making any dough off that, but all of a sudden did start reaping in the moohlah when he packaged up all the original books (some 8 or something like that) and sold them for, if I recall correctly, $20 through their Amazon eBook store. I'm mainly going by memory of what Chris and I've talked about via ICQ, but I remember how pleased as punch he was over the success once he found a nice price point.

It's funny you would bring Lockergnome up and still criticize pt for this - remember when the same thing happened with Lockergnome? People attacking him for having the "gall" to sell eBooks with information that "should be free"? I thought you were on the side of the creator Mark - I guess I was wrong...?

No you're not wrong Jason, but I think you may have read my posting wrong. I didn't say that pt should give his books away for free. I feel that he should be paid for his work, repurposed or original.

I did say that his prices were too high (that's not the same as saying he should be giving them away), and that he should take a lesson from gnometomes regarding packaging and selling.

My mistake was not being clear enough on *what* packaging I was referring to. It was the $20 all u can eat package Chris put up at Amazon eBooks, which has been (according to Chris) wildly successful.

People who create original content, or take the time to repackage older original content they've produced should be entitled to fair compensation, should they seek it. In the end the decision to sell or give away is up to the creator of the works, and only the creator of the works... not a bunch of people in a forum. However, the consumer has rights too - to buy or not to buy - no one's forcing them. My "advice" to pt was to make it more attractive to the buyer so that they find it easier to exercise their right in a way that benefits pt.

Mark

[pt]

I admit these days I don't have much of a sense of humour for a variety of reasons, but even if I was all jolly, I don't see the humour in using one's website to publicly label some people "super losers" when they have a disagreement, esp. if they have a popular site

no one called that, it's just the name of the jpg file.

http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/images/superloser.jpg

and it's a picture of me (photoshop'd quite a bit) i am the super loser. aw yah.

cheers,
pt

[denivan]

-buyers guide, it would list all the ways to connect pocket pcs. what it is, where to get it, how much it costs, and if we have thoughts on, we put that.

Exactly what people need imo. Many people have trouble keeping up what hardware is available and what actually works.


-can you tell me what stuff didn't work out the way you thought it would for the wired / wireless stuff, that would help me think about what to write and what to point out.

Well, my wireless experiences are limited to bluetooth only. But this thing didn't work like it should have :
http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=ARM-BLCF

Performance was really slow, things that I could do using IRDA in about 4 seconds, took over a minute ! using this bluetooth card. Now I use the socketcom BT card, it's smaller (fits in my ipaq + sleeve + vaja case) and it works much better, i guess you pay for quality.

In my closet I have here lying a socket CF Lan card. It works okay, although setup could have been more smoothly, but I felt that a pocketpc wasn't supposed to be in a network. Networking didn't seem smooth and my functions felt limited. Maybe if you, or others have better experiences and can point me to what applications could be usefull for a networked pocketpc, i could breath some second life into this card ;) (which was alot more expensive than five ninety five ;)


-how much? this will take 20-30 hours to write, edit create.

i'd like to say $5.95

cheers,
pt

Seems reasonable enough. Btw, what is this fascination your americans have with allways dropping 0.05 dollars? It seems like no price can just be a round figure, I admit 'five ninety five' sounds good, but why not just make it 6 usd ? Or is this a marketing thing I don't fully understand ? ;)

[jdhill]

pt, if you do write an e-book about networking on the Pocket PC (wireless or otherwise), you need to definitely include the step by step parts. I don't know how many questions I've tried to answer on this and other sites about that. Especially the part about specifying the desktop's IP address in the WINS address field in the Pocket PC's TCP/IP configuration.

The market for such an e-book is probably smaller than for the beginners e-books, but I think there is a market. I know it would be a lot easier for some of the people who's questions I've tried to answer if I could just point them to a good resource instead of posting one thing at a time, they try it, it doesn't work, I post another suggestion, etc.

Oh, and by the way that photo-shopped picture of you (the loser one), you are soooooooooo not attractive !!! :wink:

[pt]

pt, if you do write an e-book about networking on the Pocket PC (wireless or otherwise), you need to definitely include the step by step parts. I don't know how many questions I've tried to answer on this and other sites about that. Especially the part about specifying the desktop's IP address in the WINS address field in the Pocket PC's TCP/IP configuration. The market for such an e-book is probably smaller than for the beginners e-books, but I think there is a market. I know it would be a lot easier for some of the people who's questions I've tried to answer if I could just point them to a good resource instead of posting one thing at a time, they try it, it doesn't work, I post another suggestion, etc.

yah, i think i'll do it, but the smaller the market, the price might need to go up a bit. thanks for this.

Oh, and by the way that photo-shopped picture of you (the loser one), you are soooooooooo not attractive !!! :wink:

that doesn't look like me, i tried to photoshop it so it would resemble what i pictured (in my mind) some of the people posting to look like :-]

here are my "pr" photos for speaking.

http://www.flashenabled.com/photos/

cheers,
pt

[jdhill]

Yeah, you look a lot more like a regular guy in this one: http://www.flashenabled.com/photos/ptthree.jpg

I think the market would probably not be there if the price of a PPC networking e-book was over $9.95 (that's $10 for you blokes that don't care for the US practice of odd-cents pricing).

[pt]

I think the market would probably not be there if the price of a PPC networking e-book was over $9.95 (that's $10 for you blokes that don't care for the US practice of odd-cents pricing).

yah, i might save this one for last in my series...

tellya what though, i'll try other prices for next round. like $4.44 and $5.80

cheers,
pt

[jdhill]

tellya what though, i'll try other prices for next round. like $4.44 and $5.80
And see if you can find a font with lowercase numbers and punctuation; that $4.44 looks suspiciously like upper case to me !!! :wink: :wink: :wink:

[PlayAgain?]

It would seem that not following grammar rules around here is a capital offence!

Geddit!? Capital offence!?

Oooooooh!!!!!!

Sorry :oops:

[denivan]

I think the market would probably not be there if the price of a PPC networking e-book was over $9.95 (that's $10 for you blokes that don't care for the US practice of odd-cents pricing).

yah, i might save this one for last in my series...

tellya what though, i'll try other prices for next round. like $4.44 and $5.80

cheers,
pt

Yeah yeah, quit janking my chain (or what's the expression ?), I just found it odd that you guyz hardly ever have rounded prices. Almost every time I see an American price, it ends with '.95' Makes me think you guyz have lots of 5 Cent pieces in your pockets for everytime you receive change when you pay something ;) On the other hand, most of europe just changed it's currency to the euro (which is valued more or less the same as the USD), so maybe that kind of pricing will also become a trend over here.

[spursdude]

I think the market would probably not be there if the price of a PPC networking e-book was over $9.95 (that's $10 for you blokes that don't care for the US practice of odd-cents pricing).

yah, i might save this one for last in my series...

tellya what though, i'll try other prices for next round. like $4.44 and $5.80

cheers,
pt

Yeah yeah, quit janking my chain (or what's the expression ?), I just found it odd that you guyz hardly ever have rounded prices. Almost every time I see an American price, it ends with '.95' Makes me think you guyz have lots of 5 Cent pieces in your pockets for everytime you receive change when you pay something ;) On the other hand, most of europe just changed it's currency to the euro (which is valued more or less the same as the USD), so maybe that kind of pricing will also become a trend over here.

ah, so you haven't met state sales tax. here in california, sales tax is 8.25%, so we end up with plenty of change, although much less money overall. i'm going to move somewhere with less sales tax... :x

[PlayAgain?]

Lots of UK prices have 99p on the end. I'm sick of adverts that say;

GET THIS LATEST GADGET FOR UNDER £400!!!!!

And ity invariably costs £399.99!

[Steven Cedrone]

Normally, at this point I would try to "steer" this thread back on topic, but this one has taken on a life of it's own. :wink:

Let me just say this: the thing that bothers me the most (even more then buying something for under $20.00 that actually costs $19.99), is the price at the "pump". I don't know how it is in other countries, but why do the prices have to be $1.43.9 per gallon? why not $1.44?

Just adding to the confusion.....

Steve

[pt]

Let me just say this: the thing that bothers me the most (even more then buying something for under $20.00 that actually costs $19.99), is the price at the "pump". I don't know how it is in other countries, but why do the prices have to be $1.43.9 per gallon? why not $1.44?Just adding to the confusion.....Steve

it's perception. since there's tons of $ to be made, there have been tons of studies. -most- people (not us perhaps) are more likely to buy some that's 9.95 as opposed to 10.00 odd yes, reality.

on my press release, i state "the pocket pc magic ebooks are less than $10.00" and here's the good news, none of them are 9.95.

the most expensive one is 6.95.

cheers,
pt

[unxmully]

Let me just say this: the thing that bothers me the most (even more then buying something for under $20.00 that actually costs $19.99), is the price at the "pump". I don't know how it is in other countries, but why do the prices have to be $1.43.9 per gallon? why not $1.44?Just adding to the confusion.....Steve

it's perception. since there's tons of $ to be made, there have been tons of studies. -most- people (not us perhaps) are more likely to buy some that's 9.95 as opposed to 10.00 odd yes, reality.



In the UK I heard the *.95 was used to make sure the money went into the shops coffers. If the shop assistant, or whatever, didn't have to give change there was a chance that he or she might "forget" to put the cash in the till.

Cynical or what.

[Brad Adrian]

I don't know how it is in other countries, but why do the prices have to be $1.43.9 per gallon? why not $1.44?

What pt said about pricing perception is correct, but in the US the reason for that nine-tenths of a cent for gas is that it is a special federal tax per gallon instituted years ago (back when a penny was worth a penny). Back "in the day" when "gas wars" would break out (remember those?), gas stations would cut their prices by half a penny or so, just to keep a car from buying gas across the street. As time rolled by, there seemed to be little point in cutting prices by such a little amount, and the nine-tenths of a cent stuck.

[Ed Hansberry]

What pt said about pricing perception is correct, but in the US the reason for that nine-tenths of a cent for gas is that it is a special federal tax per gallon instituted years ago (back when a penny was worth a penny). Back "in the day" when "gas wars" would break out (remember those?), gas stations would cut their prices by half a penny or so, just to keep a car from buying gas across the street. As time rolled by, there seemed to be little point in cutting prices by such a little amount, and the nine-tenths of a cent stuck.
Man. You are old! :squarewink:

[karen]

Yeah yeah, quit janking my chain (or what's the expression ?), I just found it odd that you guyz hardly ever have rounded prices. Almost every time I see an American price, it ends with '.95' Makes me think you guyz have lots of 5 Cent pieces in your pockets for everytime you receive change when you pay something ;) On the other hand, most of europe just changed it's currency to the euro (which is valued more or less the same as the USD), so maybe that kind of pricing will also become a trend over here.

It's not just in America - Canadian resellers do this, too.

And it's not just about perception, although that does have something to do with it. Retailers use the final cent amount to indicate what kind of price it is. For instance (and I'm just making these up):

x.95 Full Retail Price
x.99 Limited Sale Price (usually time limited)
x.97 Clearance item, no returns
x.94 Never discounted item (often a consignment, like Timex watches)
X.96 Clearnce item, no returns no exchanges
x.90 Odd lot, usually a bulk purchase that can't be returned to vendor
x.93 Must go, discount greatly, be willing to negotiate, etc. no employee discount applies.
x.00 Manager's clearance, needs manual override at the cash, may not apply in other retailer locations

The price itself contain information about how the price was set and how it can be modified, discounted, or used with other offers.

This practice originated prior to online Point of Sale terminals that could do realtime price derivations and discount lookups.

Karen

[Pony99CA]

If you'll send me a free copy of "Flash Enabled", I'll call your voicemail and tell you why I'm down on monocase posting. Deal? If so, send me a Private Message with your number, and I'll even pay for the call.

As a follow-up to my previous post, pt did send me his voicemail number. I called it and explained my feelings about the issue. Today (9/4) I received a copy of "Flash Enabled" -- inscribed no less (saying "lower case letters RULE!"). :lol:

I wonder if my voice will show up on the Super Loser page. :roll:

Anyway, thanks pt. I'm sure I'll enjoy the book.

Steve