Re: Thank you! and... Advice?

I think that the "bloat" issue isn't really a problem. I have all the programs that you mention, or their equivalents, loaded on my T-mobile Vibrant (Android) which has 16 Gig internal SD card and another 16 Gig external card (that I hardly use yet), and no problem running these, and no shortage of memory. Also, getting "root" is a one-click matter, and once there one can flash a custom "ROM" which has all the up-to-date Android system software and stripped of all the extras put on by the carrier, though really they aren't much of a factor to me.

If ShadowPlan were available now as an Android program, I bet many would pay as much as they did for the Palm versions. I still haven't really replaced it on Android, much less transferred in all the data that I still have on the desktop ShadowPlan. I know that many are waiting for the Pimlical Android version (impatiently I think) to replace their DateBk6 Palm versions.

--- In [email protected], Bert Latamore <bertlatamore@...> wrote:
>
> Jeff,
> 
> I think you have really summed up what is going on, except that the Android 
> market may be worse than you said. Several of my friends who have bought Android 
> smartphones say they come pre-loaded with stuff that the cellular carrier wants 
> you to use, which means stuff that they make extra money with. That doesn't 
> leave a lot of resources for stuff you want. I can just imagine trying to put my 
> base appsw -- Quicken, HanDBase, Pimlical, CalorieKing, and of course Shadow, 
> plus the book readers for eReader, BN Nook, MobiPocket, and Amazon/Kindle, and 
> then trying to get all the data I need to back those up on it. Not a chance. And 
> the only way you can get rid of the junk the carrier puts on is to "root" the 
> machine. I don't know how to do that, and it sounds complicated. 
> 
> 
> And forget the new Android "tablets" So far all of them are being sold through 
> cellular carriers, which means they come loaded with that same junk. To me that 
> makes them large cell phones, not true tablets. The only possible bright spot 
> there so far is the new BN NOOKcolor, which they are selling as a color book 
> reader, but which is based on Android. It isn't out yet, so I have no way to 
> know if it is crippled, but if it really is an Android tablet preloaded with the 
> BN book reader software that would work for me, since I want that reader in any 
> case. So I am holding my breath and waiting for it to come out so I can see what 
> I can get.
> 
> Otherwise, I did see a Windows laptop/tablet that might work, but it is 
> expensive. Basically it works as a laptop, but with the processor and memory 
> built into the screen side rather than under the keyboard. You can lift the 
> screen off the base and carry it around as a tablet, then put it back on the 
> base and have a keyboard and other facilities. I have forgotten now where I saw 
> it, but I might end up hunting that down and seeing if I can afford one.
> 
>  Bert Latamore
> Mobile Computing Blogger at http://theinfoboom.com/profile/siliconanglewikibon
> Associate Editor "The Seybold Report" http://www.seyboldreport.com/
> Freelance Writer, Editor and Book Doctor
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> From: deepoctave <mpmathias@...>
> To: [email protected]
> Sent: Fri, November 12, 2010 4:01:29 PM
> Subject: [shadow-discuss] Thank you!  and... Advice?
> 
>   
> Advice.. difficult!
> 
> Feel free to cross-post this to shadow-discuss :)
> 
> I get together for dinner with a few other mobile-hackers, and its
> a pretty universal message across everyone I've talked to, and its the
> message I've been saying for awhile; developing in the mobile space has
> never been 'worse'. Palm shot themselves, and who knows where WebOS is
> headed right now. RIM 'is the new Palm' I've been saying for a couple
> years, and I mean that in the way that Palm shot themselves. Windows Phone
> 7 is cute, but ... its based oin Silverlight, which MS has basicly
> admitted theyu're shooting since it flopped -- they say they're dropping
> it on the desktop, and supporting it on the mobile, but thats not a good
> sounding thing; more to point, they cut off all the existing apps (though
> claim to still support WinMobile 6.5, so corporate folks cna sitll buy
> phones on the older OS) .. either way, its not sounding good to develope
> for WinMobile/WinPhone7, since its a mess. (Poor Microsoft :/)
> 
> Big dogs .. iPhone -- pretty much a nasty ugly market to sell in;
> you basicly can go wide or vertical -- o vertical means charge a lot, and
> sell to specific customers who know about your app; the other model is go
> wide, which means giving it away free and trying to make money on the side
> (think FarmVille and those 'free' games on the web, making money by
> selling you little trinkets in game later.) For an app like Shadow .. you
> basicly have to give it away; you could charge $3 or something, but its
> tough to get noticed -- the 'top apps' system means the top apps keep
> selling, and its nigh impossible to crack it otherwise; likewise, if you
> can only sell youre app for $3, you have to sell a _lot_ of them to make
> it worth anything, and that means being top in your category, but as
> mentioned, thats nigh impossible without a lot of luck or money :)
> 
> Android .. not yet there, but no one is buying apps right there,
> so its still a big unknown.
> 
> Me, I'd place my bets with Android right now, ine the meaning.. a
> dev may stand a chance there, in awhile when the market sorts out. But
> Apple is not going down without a fight, so should be a fun couple years.
> 
> So current mobile is like the last few years -- its very
> _interesting_, but its a brutal mean space :)
> 
> (Which is why I'm helping guys make a new device, for one project
> .. lets just add to the confusion!)
> 
> jeff
> 
> On Wed, 10 Nov 2010, deepoctave wrote:
> 
> # Jeff,
> # I would like to thank you for the great product you created in ShadowPlan.  
> The ways I've used ShadowPlan during the past ten or so years is legion.  I used 
> BrainForest before I found your program, and I used little cascading slips 
> yellow sticky notes in columns on pieces of 8-1/2x11 paper before that!
> #
> # I'm not a "computer guy", I'm just an elementary orchestra teacher 
> compensating for an ADD brain, trying to make good use of my time.  Lesson 
> plans, a place to put account numbers for equipment repairs, supplies and music, 
> a list of books I'd like to read, dimensions for an endpin holder for my 
> cellists, and ad infinitum.
> #
> # It's been incredibly useful tool.
> #
> # I haven't written to you, not have I been on the forum for a long time because 
> it all worked so well for me.
> #
> # The other program that I couldn't do without is MobileDb from Handmark.
> #
> # Several hundred instruments owned by my public school system in an urban 
> setting are inventoried on it, over 1,000 pieces of school orchestra music, my 
> mileage as I travel to six schools during the week (four per day), all of this 
> and much more have resided on my Palm Tungsten E2 which is headed into its 
> seventh year...
> #
> # However, it is now going the way of all things electronic with a dying battery 
> and it has been predeceased by a 2004 Windows XP computer by several weeks now.  
> And at this point I still have never owned a cell phone like the rest of my 
> world.
> #
> # The last few weeks have been a "catch up" time in terms of how the world has 
> changed while I've been busy teaching these kids: my new Windows 7 laptop won't 
> sync my T-E2, won't run MobileDb with Excel, and has made ShadowPlan impossible 
> to use; lots of "Smart" phones are out there, but they aren't apparently smart 
> enough to let me continue to organize my life like the Palm did.
> #
> # Reading over the past year's worth of postings (not that many to go through!), 
> I discovered that although there are appreciative and loyal customers out there 
> for you, the way forward for ShadowPlan seems dark.  And without MobileDB and 
> ShadowPlan, I'm feeling quite nervous about what I will be doing to keep 
> organized with ... what?  Should I get a Dell Streak?  A HT Evo?  I don't want 
> anything to do with Apple...  Anyway, I apologize for rambling.
> #
> # What I really wanted to do when I realized what the situation was is to sit 
> down and write this letter of appreciation.  Just as my students have no concept 
> of the sweat and tears it takes to make them into string players (for them as 
> well as for me), I can only infer from my own experience and your comments what 
> it has been like for you to provide this software.
> #
> # So, THANK YOU!
> #
> # Any advice you wish to give about what I do in the future will be welcome. 
> 
> 
>  
> 
> 
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