Re: Re: Further development on Windows?

Matt,

Unfortunately for those of us where have been Palm loyalists, the Palm platform has become a non-growth market long since. Believe me, Blackberry owns the corporate market these days, and many people only carry a smartphone/handheld because their company gave it to them. And while the consumer market is less clear cut, the iPhone/Touch has been the huge growth platform there for the last two or so years. The Palm platform, by contrast, is shrinking, and the Pre, which offers no support at this time for legacy Palm apps, is only new competition.

There may be room in the consuemr market for a high end system, but there Palm has to compete with Google which has its own high end answer and, frankly, a lot more marketing clout. 

Personally I have hung onto my T3, with zero internally connectivity, for years waiting for the promised Linux-based new Palm technology. And now it shows up and doesn't support the apps I want to keep. I don't actually use any of the Palm apps. I need Shadow, SuperNames, Datebk6, and about 30 other apps that don't run on the Pre. So it does me exactly as much good as WinMobile (another platform I skipped.)

Over a year ago I was offered a Sony UX slightly used at a very low price by a friend, and I grabbed it. Now, with a new battery I just purchased, it is becoming my new handheld. THis is a full Vistas computer in a handheld format -- admittedly about 4X the Palm but still comfortable in my hand, with a terrific display that I can actually read in full daylight, full connectivity (both SiFi and, if I want it, SIM card support for cellular), much nicer display quality than any Palm PDA, a bigger screen, etc. And through its cradle it has multiple USB ports, so I can use it on my desktop as as laptop (it is my production machine for my writing, actually), so it is both my handheld and laptop at once. I figure that if I have to migrate to a new platform I want one that is handheld, has longevi
 ty, and offers full connectivity.

 Bert Latamore
Freelance Editorial Consultant




________________________________
From: Matt A. <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 1:36:39 PM
Subject: [shadow-discuss] Re: Further development on Windows?


WHOA NELLY on that Palm obit.  I, as I'm certain, others still have a strong investment in our PalmOS software library of which ShadowPlan is among them.  Please reaslise that there are those of us who are just waiting for the same Palm software essentials we use to be available in the next big thing, thing, be it Pre, iPhone, BlackBerry.  As much as I'm a Mac/Apple loyal, the iPhone has not caught up with my needs so, I'm still, as I'm sure others, relying on my Palm for the stuff that iPhone doesn't have **yet**.  I do not see why Palm support or even other "legacy" platforms should be in the wastepile.  Besides, people are looking for jobs nowadays.  So, why not create a new job opening and have jobseekers fill "Legacy platform/legacy app development" departments in companies that devel
 op stuff for handhelds?

So, please continue to support PalmOS.

Thanks

Matt
============ ===
--- In shadow-discuss@ yahoogroups. com, yahoo@... wrote:
>
> Jeff Mitchell said the following on 3/12/2009 10:12 AM:
> > On Thu, 12 Mar 2009, Bert Latamore wrote:
> >
> > # While we have you around, I wondered if you were doing any new 
> > # development on Shadow, and particularly on the Windows version. I keep 
> > # hoping for a version that has more of the abilities of the Palm version, 
> > # including outlining formats and icon use. Maybe you should take a page 
> > # from CESD and consider developing a new multi-platform version of 
> > # Shadow. Clearly the two dominant handhelds are the iPhone and 
> > # Blackberry, so you want to be on both of those, and an expanded Windows 
> > # version should also have a market. I certainly would be happy to buy a 
> > # new license for a windows version with functionality closer to that on 
> > # the Palm.
> >
> > 	I'm hoping the Pre will do well, and that they offer a useful 
> > development platform for it, and maybe I can start fresh on there (and 
> > possibly tie it right into existing Shadow Desktop if they have a sync 
> > option.) But it does sound like they're more working the web angle -- 
> > phone syncing to web apps, not to desktop apps.
> >
> > 	Further of course, making a web app version of Shadow would get 
> > you data enabled RIMs and iphones (but not native, of course.)
> >
> > 	The big issue there is.. I think theres a bunch of task manager 
> > and project management apps and systems on the web, so it would be an 
> > uphill battle against entrenched applications. Possibly. Maybe they're no 
> > good, or too big and complex, or tied to other things, or any number of 
> > issues.
> There are NO outliners of any kind for the Blackberry. There are 
> checklist programs galore, but not a single outliner. The closet would 
> be IdeaMatrix. And it is text only, no progress, no todo.
> 
> You'd have to learn J2Me and really the RIM specific apis to truly 
> exploit the machine.
> 
> Jeffrey
>


   

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