02-14-2004, 01:00 AM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Miscellaneous Tidbits
Well, I haven't stirred things up here in at least 72 hours and I have a few items in my inbox that you, Pocket PC Thoughts members, have sent me. Thanks! :grinning devil:
First are a few items on PalmSource's new OS, Cobalt, also known as OS6. This Brighthand article has some pretty good info on the new OS from Ed Hardy who has been playing with Cobalt for a few days. It seems Palm will forgo native landscape support in OS6, again leaving it up to the OEMs to add their own custom APIs. "In a revelation I found very disappointing, Cobalt doesn't have support for switching between landscape and portrait mode built into it. I had been told in the past that this would be a part of the standard API, therefore bringing this important feature to all Cobalt Powered devices. Licensees will still be able to add this themselves, as palmOne did to the Tungsten T3, but it's unfortunate that PalmSource didn't make it a part of the operating system, especially as Microsoft has said this will be a standard feature of Windows Mobile 2004."
OS6 will also pretty much fix the the shortcomings in the address book application by extending the number of fields and making it more compatible with Microsoft Outlook. Hrm... another area Palm is following Microsoft.  Multitasking is there too. "I saw a demonstration of a test device playing a movie, making a phone call, and looking an address up, all at the same time." All of that sounds really confusing to me. Multitasking isn't in my Zen handbook. :idontthinkso:
No matter. Doesn't really matter what Palm does or doesn't do. The point is, you should just buy a Palm according to Washington Post.
Quote: "Even if, as a consumer, you don't care about Palm, you should," said Saffo, the futurist. "Without [PalmOne], we're all marching lockstep with AT&T and Microsoft. As consumers, I think we should all buy a Palm even if we don't use it -- just to keep the diversity out there."
:roll: I can see that being in a Palm advertising campaign in the future. Of course, don't count on your old Palm apps running on OS6. Ed Hardy writes "PalmSource is really hammering developers to get their current apps ready for Palm OS Cobalt. The developers I spoke with said some tweaking was necessary for most apps that run under the current version of the operating system, but the changes are fairly minor...Therefore, you can expect a lot of apps will need a small update as soon as devices start shipping." Minor change or not, if the change has to be made, the developer has to crack open the code and fix it, even if it takes less than 10 minutes from start to compile complete. If your app is older or no longer supported you might be out of luck. You can say what you want about Pocket PCs, but with the exception of drivers and communication related apps that got thrown for a loop with the Connection Manager introduced in 2002, I still have Pocket PC 2000 apps that run just fine under 2003.
Have a good weekend all.  nfire:
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02-14-2004, 01:18 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 784
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Without [PalmOne], we're all marching lockstep with AT&T and Microsoft. As consumers, I think we should all buy a Palm even if we don't use it -- just to keep the diversity out there.
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LOL! They're using the diversity card with PDAs now??? Why would you buy something you don't use and only for the reason to keep diversity in the market??? :? Way to go Washington Post!!! :idontthinkso: This is idiotic... :roll:
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02-14-2004, 01:20 AM
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Theorist
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 275
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"Even if, as a consumer, you don't care about Palm, you should," said Saffo, the futurist. "Without [PalmOne], we're all marching lockstep with AT&T and Microsoft. As consumers, I think we should all buy a Palm even if we don't use it -- just to keep the diversity out there."
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shouldn't it be the other way around? If MS didn't entered the market, pda will be dominated by palm? just imagine the feature-set that ms paved way for palm to follow (colored screen, bigger memory, multi-tasking, etc .... and they said we don't need it... yeah right!).
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John Cruz
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02-14-2004, 01:22 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 784
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Originally Posted by johncruise
shouldn't it be the other way around? If MS didn't entered the market, pda will be dominated by palm? just imagine the feature-set that ms paved way for palm to follow (colored screen, bigger memory, multi-tasking, etc .... and they said we don't need it... yeah right!).
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It's all about being anti-Microsoft, anti-business, anti-free-market, anti-whatever... :|
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02-14-2004, 01:23 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 80
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Quote:
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on PalmSource's new OS, Cobalt, also known as OS6
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...it's suppose to read "The OS formerly known as OS6". (whatever happen to Prince anyway?)
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02-14-2004, 02:26 AM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Partita
(whatever happen to Prince anyway?)
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Prince is Prince again.
Back ontopic: without a doubt, Palm's presence is good for competition, and I'll keep on watching them to see if they make "superior" devices. But I'm a pragmatist -- I'm not going to use a Palm if it's worse for my needs just because, and I suspect most consumers will do the same.
--janak
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02-14-2004, 02:29 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 217
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Originally Posted by johncruise
they said we don't need it...
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I'm not directing this comment specifically at you johncruise, but I am wondering if there are any links where Palm actually says that things like color screens or multitasking are not needed. I have seen people say what "they" said but I doubt that "they" directly said it.
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02-14-2004, 02:56 AM
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Theorist
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 275
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, but I am wondering if there are any links where Palm actually says that things like color screens or multitasking are not needed. I have seen people say what "they" said but I doubt that "they" directly said it.
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Hmmm... that's a tough one. I don't usually gather those links and save it. Maybe somebody from the PPCT team has something to say about this. 
Looking at google, I couldn't find anything that quotes a Palm spokeperson about it. I just found this other links that were bashing Pocket PC for having colored screens... but then again, it's not from a Palm rep.
But one can't help but wonder... if Palm did say something about that in their site... do you think they haven't thought about pulling it off from their archives? :wink:
http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...2+color+screen
http://www.palmstation.com/view_article.py?article=2124
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John Cruz
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02-14-2004, 03:08 AM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Yeah, they said it. Old newslinks that no longer work. Starting in 2001-2001 they quit and started advocating these features.
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02-14-2004, 03:34 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 1,049
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Quote:
Quote:
"Even if, as a consumer, you don't care about Palm, you should," said Saffo, the futurist. "Without [PalmOne], we're all marching lockstep with AT&T and Microsoft. As consumers, I think we should all buy a Palm even if we don't use it -- just to keep the diversity out there."
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The guy who said this is just crazy. That is the dumbest reason to buy a palm or any pda for that matter.
Johncruise wrote
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shouldn't it be the other way around? If MS didn't entered the market, pda will be dominated by palm? just imagine the feature-set that ms paved way for palm to follow (colored screen, bigger memory, multi-tasking, etc .... and they said we don't need it... yeah right!).
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I agree with you about this big time. It is strange how they guy at the Washington post is always so pro palm crap. Is this the same person who all along has been pushing palm :?:
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"Do not try. Do or Do Not. There is no try"Yoda, Empire Strikes Back
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