Grace, George, and Janice

**amykhar** · #1 07-24-2001, 03:44 PM

Look what I found

http://www.pocketnow.com/html/news/a...ocketpalm.html

quasar · #2 07-24-2001, 06:09 PM

Heh, yeah I've known about this for a few days. What's really interesting is how different people can take the same activity and put a totally different spin on it. That article is taking the position that because PPC can emulate Palm it's another reason why PPC is better. Some Palm folks/sites are saying it's further proof that Palm is winning the battle (so to speak) if PPC folks need to run a Palm emulator to make their devices work for them.

What do I think? I don't have really strong feelings about it one way or another. I think there's some really incredible software opening up to a new group of people, but I also think that if people were interested in the multitude of Palm software, they probably would have bought a Palm. I don't see it as a war, and I am not interested in "I'm better" shouting matches. I don't like PPC - the OS or the devices I've seen. Consequently I use Palm. I assume others will make a similar decision for themselves.

If any of you PPC folks try the emu, I am curious in how fast it works. I'd also be happy to toss out some software recommendations. Hmmm, maybe I should just drag out my iPaq.

Janice

Edit:That statement doesn't mean I'm not interesting in debatng the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two platforms, just that the whole "I'm great you suck no I won't give you any reasons cause that's just the way it is" attitude I've seen totally turns me off

**amykhar** · #3 07-24-2001, 06:49 PM

Janice,
This software is great for people like me who covet BOTH but can only afford one

Amy

#4 07-24-2001, 08:42 PM

(GROAN)

More toys that I don't have time to play with.

Gee thanks, Amy. You're a real pal!

**Joubert**[$] · #5 07-24-2001, 10:14 PM

Okay, it's cool, but I'm not sure why I would want it. I mean, besides the fact that it's cool and I automatically want anything that is cool.

I was using my Palm mostly to synch with Outlook and to write. My Jornada (when I have a darn stylus handy) does just the same, but in Pocket Word. I think Kalynda is terrified I'm going to get Pocket Quicken and never look up from the screen again.

Of course, I've got 11 years of data on my regular Quicken so I doubt I'll transfer, but that synch mode is awfully fast!

Seriously, I'm betting that PPCs are going to put the Palm O/S away. Not this year or next, but it's coming. Too many folks are adopting them at the enterprise level, and from there, it's only a hop, skip and jump to home users. Heck, when I was paying the bills, Kalynda and I bought baby Palms. When the MIS guys got into the game, they bought color Jornadas, folding keyboards and are getting modems ready.

So if I can get my email in its native Exchange, why would I want a Palm OS?

Besides the fact that its cool?

quasar · #6 07-25-2001, 12:49 AM

I refuse to get into a holy war. I will simply say that I disagree about your assessment of the future of PDAs. Palm OS (not necessarily Palm Inc) has a large portion of the enterprise market, albeit a smaller portion than they do retail. They practically monopolize the medical arena, especially the TRGPro and the new HandEra. They also have a nice chunk of inventory-based industries with barcode scanning devices running Palm OS. Many scientific laboratories are using Palms with scientific instrumentation attached. We shall see what happens.

As for reason to use a Palm emu, it depends on what you want. Palm software is generally smaller, more compact, and much less expensive. There is also a lot more of it than PPC software. I saw a PPC app at tonights BOSPDAUG (Boston PDA Users Group). The developer was gushing about how cheap it was at $35. A Palm developer, with very few exceptions, would have been either apologizing profusely or laughed out of the room. There are very very few Palm apps even approaching that price range.

If all you want to do is use your Jornada for email and writing, Palm OS isn't going to add much value for you, especially if you like Pocket Word. If you want a plethora of free or cheap but powerful applications for project planning, financial stuff, databases, calculators, etc then it probably will. There are also many many more games if you are a gamer. One thing the emulator could do is save significantly in the cost of software, as well as bring applications that aren't available for WinCE to those devices.

I still think that people who find this attractive will chose a Palm OS, but I can see the attraction in a both in one device.

Janice

**Joubert**[$] · #7 07-25-2001, 09:07 AM

Thank goodness, I haven't had to fight in a holy war since the fourth Crusades.

I am with you 100% today. Unfortunately, I've seen Microsoft break too many promising technologies down before they became prevalent through the non-technical world. Defrag, scan disk, heck half of the Windows utilities, started life as the core product of a small company MS bought. And when the companies refused to play (Real Networks, AOL), well, Microsoft just introduced competing platforms. And don't get me started on Java not being included in XP.

I guess the bottom line is that I'm seeing more PPCs being bought this year than last, and more in the enterprise usually translates to more in the home.