Re: [NTLK] Palm Interface

From: SlashDevNull (slashdevnull_at_mac.com)
Date: Wed Jul 03 2002 - 15:39:47 EDT


Salutations,

  Well yes and no.

  Saying that there is nothing wrong with something does not equate with
saying that it is perfect.

  Example: I use a OS X on a G4 400. I see nothing wrong with it but that
does not mean that I will not upgrade the hardware at some point. Same
thing with the OS.

  No machine is everything to everyone for everything. The Palm is
considerably more successful than the Newton for several reasons.

  The Palm is not trying to be a handheld computer. The interface is laser
focused to doing scheduling and contact oriented tasks. This keeps the
interface simple and, more importantly, keeps the cost down. Why do you
think Palm is still outselling WinCE?

  WinCE ironically is assuming the Newton's position. It is going for the
large screen, semi-computer functionality, and the prerequisite large price
tag. And it's sales figures show exactly how many people want to spend $800
on a limited functioning laptop with a small screen. And then needing to
add another $400 worth of equipment to do what they want.

  There is no question that the Newton is still the most technologically
advanced handheld. But the overwhelming majority of people do not need to
do everything that the Newton can do. Nor do they want to size of the unit
or the high price tag (when the Newton was being manufactured).

  They need only less functionality and they want a much lower price tag.

  I sold all of my Newtons for mainly one reason; lack of interoperability.
I couldn't sync it with in OS X and I finally got tired of typing everything
twice. And the size got old also.

  I now have a Kyrocera 6035 SmartPhone and I am very happy with it. Sure I
can't run VNC on it. And it doesn't have handwriting recognition on it and
the screen is very small. And it only does 30% of what the Newton does.
But it does 100% of what I need it to do and it is very easy to carry
around. And since I can sync it with Palm Desktop (and soon Entourage) I
put more information in it. And since it is smaller I always carry it with
me. And don't we buy tools to serve a need we have?

  I own a 99 corvette convertible. And I think it is damn near the perfect
car, for me. But it is not perfect for everyone. Some people want lots of
cargo space, some need great gas mileage. And some need to haul around
dirt.

  No tool, car, program, OS, computer, or handheld is perfect for everyone.
I HATE windows but I use one for computer games. And I use my OS X box for
everything else. I think linux is useless on the desktop but I use it on my
Tivo.

Cheers,
David

>>> I have a Palm, but hate the interface. It's also a bitch to program.
>>
>> There's nothing wrong with the interface. It's simple and to-the-point.
>
>
> I guess if you say there is nothing wrong with it then it must be
> perfect.
>
> Personally I think it's crap. On more then one occasion I have pulled
> out the Newton to demonstrate for Palm users how an intuitive interface
> looks. Every single one of them (every one) has said "wow, that is much
> simpler."
>
> Palm did a good job of nailing down the FUNCTIONs that people most
> wanted in a PDA and putting them in a cheap and small package.
>
> There interface is ridiculous (must be true I said so) and poorly
> designed.
>
> Have I mentioned lately that this list is rockin' and I don't miss
> planet newton at all?
>
> Paul Guyot, if your out there, any progress on the system update for
> eMate? Your still the best in my book either way.....
>
> Also, since I'm kind of cranky today, let me be the one to say could
> you people please look at what your quoting in your posts and minimize
> the excess verbiage? This comment was triggered by the gentleman who
> mistakenly sent a message to the list, and then sent an oops message
> that again quoted the entire text of the first mistakenly addressed post.
>
> I do mean all these comments only in a nice way. Off to get some
> coffee...
>
> Marty
>
>

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