Monday, January 16, 2006
What is and what it is not Palm
Today I read an article that made me understand many things. This is another contribution of Leo, which has been published in PDAMexico. I strongly recommend that you read the whole, but broadly Leo makes us reflect on the approach that was designed under the PalmOS.
As he tells us, the Palm began to be aparatitos bringing a calendar, a contact list, a list of tasks, notes, a clock, a calculator ... simple but useful things. And that's the key to its great value: simplicity.
the premise Palm has always been the simplicity of use; want to delete a program, go to the menu, choose the program and bórralo, you want to write a small memo .. go to notebook and compose it, you want to find a contact, press the button and there you have your contacts, you want to view your calendar, another button, you want to return to the beginning, without any open program, HOME button.
Why? Because that allows to make it very stable and easy to use. Not all users want a device capable of doing everything a PC can do and more. Therefore, Palm decided to start from a simple operating system, and add options if they were necessary. The result is a lightweight system, which needs few resources, and is extremely stable. The other approach is followed by Microsoft: from a PC operating system, try to reduce the size to put it in a PDA. The result is somewhat slow and heavy, unstable, with features disposable, which requires a lot more machine.
From the first until the PalmOS Cobalt: simplicity and usefulness
The extra features were added to Palm either by software or by third-party accessories have always been the "Plus" of the operating system, the incursion of some void facilitating these characteristics "Plus" is surely to follow that pattern of simplicity that has characterized the PalmOS, unfortunately, some users do not perceive it as well .. They want the Palm functions that would make a pocket PC, when that was never the target of Palms, which was designed to operate an electronic calendar, fortunately for us users many of the functions of a pocket Pc are possible in a Palm with extra software, modifications, etc., but remember that this is ONLY IF the user is required
That is the key: with a Palm, the user is the one who decides.
If a person who has never had a Palm will use the purchase that will be the core, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Notepad and more recently Office automation, new users are not looking for a PDA in the movies or listen to his collection Comprehensive CdŽs not surf wirelessly anywhere, or via remote access to your PC, much less find their place in the world via GPS, all these are needs that require the same user goes according to the roles to play, then comes The solution, software or third-party accessories ...
Does this mean that Palm users are less advanced than for the PocketPC? Not at all. Leo appreciates as much as I do that Palm is so easy to use. For a person on foot is much more useful than a PPC. But if we take them to the extreme, surprisingly the Palm give much of themselves. I write this blog is living proof: emulators consoles, adventure games, scientific calculators, playing podcasts and movies ... I have not really seen any thing that makes a PocketPC, you can not make a Palm. And the great advantage is: if we do not want to put so much into the Palm, we do not do well and we have a team practice. We will choose the complexity of our Palm, which we can not do with a PocketPC.
Surely with time and under the pressure of competition the Palm evolve into an OS with the features that users unsatisfied demand, but that is for sure that will require a complete reprogramming of the nucleus of Palms, which is seen in the already announced development of the platform on Linux, but that only time will tell ...
I only hope that the philosophy of simplicity never abandon the Palm computers.
By: Mark Gonzalez Troyes in Palm News
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Thank you so much for all my good references .. ... Marcos.
Fantastic article. By the way what a coincidence that today I started a post on pdaexpertos.com and also come to the conclusion on the importance of a future Palm OS based on Linux. I leave you a greeting and address of the post:
http://www.pdaexpertos.com/foros/viewtopic.php?p=164765
Leo anything if your comment annotation is because I thought it was very interesting.
Garacias joanra. The possibility of a Palm with Linux is amazing.
Well over yet.
I can not believe the thousands of programs that would Portaría directly or by the community.
Palm would become the platform of PDA with more software on the planet. Ah, if it is
Very interesting to your blog because I was sailing in the evening by reading Article I soon found. The vast majority are really tutorials for users of tungstens (almost all) ... remains so.
Thanks Marc, I am glad to hear that
hello, namesake and all friends ... I can comment on that here I found programs that have turned my palm in a super powerful tool ... and now I can see my drive anywhere ... clearly connected with wifi ... my folders open my mail, my palm as if it were my pc, but in small, (or both) ... download the software that I recommended "win-hand anywhere." I'm as much in the street, sometimes I need some data on my PC and this can edit files in Word, Excel and mail, I just plug and play. It is impressive ...
Since then the independence that give the PDA is something that can not be understood until you test. When you really need a piece of information you left at home, and you can look at the PDA anywhere, you realize what they contribute