I own a company that uses Microsoft Biztalk and the thought of getting one
of my technicians to set up a map from one file spec to another has crossed
my mind. Any idea on how I can get the spec for a "names" or "dates" file
that those apps can import from and export to? Not that I really, really
need it since there are products like Lookout that can do the job. Just a
whimsical project.
Tony.
-----Original Message-----
From: newtontalk-bounce_at_newtontalk.net
[mailto:newtontalk-bounce_at_newtontalk.net]On Behalf Of SlashDevNull
Sent: Monday, 29 April 2002 9:36 a.m.
To: newtontalk_at_newtontalk.net
Subject: Re: [NTLK] Be-all End-all sync app...
Salutations,
I think you missed all of my points.
>
> 1) I think this is over-kill. Now-up-to-date is still just a vertical
> app IMHO, another date book/contact manager. I'm just interested in the
> Sync part and building on that. As I stated before, I think the focus
> should be on a HotSync/IntelliSync-like product, not a "Newton Desktop".
And what would you do with the data? If you aren't gonna sync it to a
'date book/contact manager' program then you are only backing it up. Newton
has that already. The only reason to sync with ANYTHING is so you have a
second way of playing with the data and a second place to type in data. And
you would have to have a 'date book/contact manager' to do that. If you
want to sync the dates you have to have a calendar program for that. If you
want to sync contact info you need a contact manager for that. If you want
to sync notes, you need a notes program for that.
>
> 2) There are several people who refuse to accept that, hence LookOut,
> OutLink, Notes2Notes, the utility to sync with Entourage, etc... (yes
> that was a M$-centric list, but that's what I have experience with)
>
> Each of those people wrote an app from the ground up to do as job, in
> the case of LookOut and OutLink, the same job.
Sure, and ALL of them are incomplete. I mean NO disrespect to any other
the authors that slave away while trying to get things to work. But none of
them offers a complete solution at the moment.
The bottom line is money. Plain and simple. It takes TONS of time to
write something like this. And most people do not have the money available
to dedicate themselves full time into doing this. So they have to do this
in their free time. And life happens to bump them from their Newton work
with things such as paid work, families, marriages, other commitments and
the like. So they can never really finish all they wanted to do.
Believe me, I have often thought about trying to do this myself, but I
only know Delphi and windows. I have the tools, but I refuse to run windows
to get to my Newton and long as my Mac can do it. And I don't have the time
to learn REALbasic and then try to get everything to work.
That is my point about Now-up-to-date. The plumbing ALREADY works. The
code is ALREADY written. Rather than having another 2 dozen people try and
make incomplete attempts, why not everyone just pony up the bucks THEY WOULD
SPEND ANYWAY on a shareware solution to get a commercial product. Yes, I
know shareware and commercial are not mutually exclusive.
I am not gonna buy 6 apps to sync info with my Newton. That is just
silly. Each of the developers wrote an application that does what they want
it to do. But none of them do everything, as far as I know.
>
> 3) If any of us wanted to "get over it" we wouldn't be here, in this
> group, using what we use. Our Newton would be in a drawer or the trash
> and we'd all have P*alm or CE devices.
You are preaching to the choir. I own 3 Newtons and all were purchased
starting in September of last year. But 'get over it' I didn't mean trow
away all the Newtons. A meant simply accept the fact that there isn't any
application out there that does what everyone wants.
And why did you spell it 'P*alm'?
My point is the same point you make in the last paragraph. EVERYONE on this
list can contribute 2 things to make this happen; Time or money. My
suggestion about paying a commercial developer is that the code is ALREADY
there. No one has to research anything. No one has to go through trial and
error to get the data stores and protocols. No one has to re-invent the
wheel. Everything has been written and nothing has changed on the Newton
platform in the past 4 years. I think this is the simplest way to get to a
common goal. I may be the only person that thinks like this.
And please, no lectures comparing 'commercial' developers and 'shareware'
developers. I know the difference. I was trying to show the difference
between a large number of paid developers that work for a company full time
and a developer that works on a project in his spare time and not use a ton
of words.
Cheers,
David
>
> I truly think that some of the guys who have written programs for us
> should be in the Space Program. If a few of them would get together and
> try to write a common app, we'd be set as users and I know that I would
> be MORE than happy to pay. Heck, I paid my registration for BackTalk
> last week, 2-days after I learned that it exists. I don't even own a
> P*lm to beam to! I doubt anyone can ever make a living again writing
> programs for the Newton, but I'll certainly do what I can to show my
> appreciation for the time they spend doing it.
>
> Fred
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: SlashDevNull [mailto:slashdevnull_at_mac.com]=20
> Sent: Saturday, April 27, 2002 3:11 AM
> To: newtontalk_at_newtontalk.net
> Subject: Re: [NTLK] Be-all End-all sync app...
>
>
>
> Salutations,
>
> Ok, the way I see this is there are three choices.
>
> 1) Start a petition that shows someone EXACTLY how much money there
> is to
> be made by creating this product. Someone once said that
> Now-up-to-Date,
> or a similar program, worked with Newton connectivity up to version 3.9.
> It is now at version 4.1. If we got a good number of people that
> pledged to purchase this program if they re-enabled the Newton
> connectivity, I am sure they would get it working again. We simply have
> to have more people give them money than it would cost, plus a
> worthwhile profit. A good thing in our favor is that the Newton, for
> all intents and purposes, is a dead platform. And I mean dead, as in
> Latin. It doesn't change.
>
> 2) We can all do what I did. Simply accept the fact that there is no
> way to sync with a desktop app and simply enter and keep everything on
> the Newton. Rather than have my info in 2 places, the Newton and a PIM,
> I keep it on the Newton.
>
> 3) Get over it.
>
> This is a simple dollars issue. We need to pay someone to do the
> work. Believe me, I am a coder and it is NO fun reverse engineering
> protocols and data stores. If we gave some company a million dollars,
> they would write an app. It is that simple. I am assuming that we
> don't have a million dollars to give so we need to pledge enough to make
> it worth their while.
>
> Personally I think the best bet is to get that company to re-implement
> the Newton code. They have code that works. It worked 5 years ago, and
> it will work now.
>
> But we need A LOT of people, I'm guessing at least a thousand, to
> stand up, pledge their money, and send in emails stating that.
>
> Or we can all wait for someone else to do something.
>
> Cheers,
> David
>
>
>
>
>> =20
>> on 4/27/02 7:10 AM, tfbiii_at_nbscomputers.net at tfbiii_at_nbscomputers.net
>> wrote:
>> =20
>>> I can't be the only one who has ever had this thought. Someone who=20
>>> actually has some skill must have at least started working on=20
>>> something or a plan of some type.
>> =20
>> The problem is that several people have started, but nobody has=20
>> finished... That should tell us something, although I'm not sure=20
>> what... :-)
>
>
> --=20
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> This is the NewtonTalk mailing list - http://www.newtontalk.net
>
-- Read the List FAQ/Etiquette: http://www.newtontalk.net/faq.html Read the Newton FAQ: http://www.guns-media.com/mirrors/newton/faq/ This is the NewtonTalk mailing list - http://www.newtontalk.net-- Read the List FAQ/Etiquette: http://www.newtontalk.net/faq.html Read the Newton FAQ: http://www.guns-media.com/mirrors/newton/faq/ This is the NewtonTalk mailing list - http://www.newtontalk.net
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