[marlof]

http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2848712,00.html

Kent Pribbernow, guest columnist for the ZDNet Anchordesk, wrote a column on how he thinks the Pocket PC can beat Palm. He feels that too much weight is put on the corporate market, and more attention should be paid to the consumer's market. "If Microsoft is truly serious about being the dominant player in the PDA market, somewhere along the way it must target consumers. As long as the company focuses its attention on the enterprise, the Pocket PC platform will be relegated to the role of corporate appliance, and be seen by mainstream users as an expensive luxury."

In his column Kent has some suggestions on the hardware, the functionality and practical applications, all of which should help Microsoft get to a bigger market including the consumers market. What do you feel? Is it time to go 'consumers', or should Microsoft try to win the market from the top down?

[marlof]

http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2848712,00.html

Kent Pribbernow, guest columnist for the ZDNet Anchordesk, wrote a column on how he thinks the Pocket PC can beat Palm. He feels that too much weight is put on the corporate market, and more attention should be paid to the consumer's market. "If Microsoft is truly serious about being the dominant player in the PDA market, somewhere along the way it must target consumers. As long as the company focuses its attention on the enterprise, the Pocket PC platform will be relegated to the role of corporate appliance, and be seen by mainstream users as an expensive luxury."

In his column Kent has some suggestions on the hardware, the functionality and practical applications, all of which should help Microsoft get to a bigger market including the consumers market. What do you feel? Is it time to go 'consumers', or should Microsoft try to win the market from the top down?

[jeff]

This whole column seemed eerily familiar. So I checked pdabuzz.com and I found the original. Either someone is stealing Foo's stuff or he has one of the more unfortunate names I've seen in a while. Kent Pribbernow? I'd go by my favorite band's name, too.

[Dave Conger]

There was some more discussion about this aritcle a few days ago on this form at the link below...

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/foru...opic.php?t=283

[wiredguy]

Originally Posted by Jeff

This whole column seemed eerily familiar. So I checked pdabuzz.com and I found the original. Either someone is stealing Foo's stuff or he has one of the more unfortunate names I've seen in a while. Kent Pribbernow? I'd go by my favorite band's name, too.

FooFighter did write the article. Confirmation is here. What's wrong with his name?

[nirav28]

PocketPC will beat Palms when a wireless solution such as what Palm has for the 705i will come out for the pocketpc.

I think microsoft dropped the ball.

[Foo Fighter]

Originally Posted by Jeff

...Either someone is stealing Foo's stuff or he has one of the more unfortunate names I've seen in a while. Kent Pribbernow? I'd go by my favorite band's name, too.

Now you know why I post under my favorite band's name!

I've got a German-Austrian surname that sounds more like a disease than a last name. :x

[Scott R]

Can't comment on Pribbernow. My last name's a lot worse. But, hey, a name like Kent has journalist (or newscaster - ala Kent Brockman) written all over it.

Scott

[Foo Fighter]

Originally Posted by Scott R

...or newscaster - ala Kent Brockman

I prefer Lionel Hutz. :P

[Chairman Clench]

I have been saying this for a while...

MS is totally ignoring the consumer market. Take the recently released PPC 2002 SR-1. All it did was add more corporate features. Meanwhile, there are literally DOZENS of documented bugs in PPC 2002 that inhibit stable operation. Did MS bother to address any of these bugs in the Service Release? No, with the exception of the e-mail fix.

In their quest to woo the corporate market, they are going to drive consumers away from the products. MS is forgetting that the reason Palms became so popular in businesses is because consumers purchased them for themselves and brought them to work. The same is starting to happen with the PPC. I got PPCs approved at my company.

However, if MS doesn't fix the bugs in the near future, you will be finding my iPAQ 3835 on e-Bay for sale. You can't do nearly as much with a Palm device, but they work, they sync easier and more reliably, they are fast, they are stable, and they don't crash. Palm also fixes bugs in their devices very quickly... not that they have very many of them.

Don't get me wrong, if my iPAQ and PPC2002 worked as they are supposed to, I would be on cloud nine. I am just getting really tired of seeing new corporate features being added when some exisitng features don't work because of bugs.

Mark my words... if MS doesn't address the consumer and stability side of the equation, they will ultimately fail. To tell you the truth, right now I can't say that my next PDA will be a PPC. I would like it to be, but MS's attitude toward consumers definately needs to change first.

[JackMDS]

The PocketPC PDA (iPaq, and the like) is still in the "Milking Phase"; i.e. the companies sell pieces of plastic for a lot of money. E.g., Compaq CF expansion sleeve is sold for $49.95. A DVD CD-ROM drive for regular PC, which is a little more then a piece of plastic with a plug costs the same.

When you buy a new iPaq and the few necessary Add Ons the total gets close to $1000. It does not matter what Microsoft will do, as long as the price of the basic unit, and add-ons will not comply with normal Market Value, it will stay a cooperate gadget.