[Shotimes] RE: Not OT, thinking of getting a PDA (well, it really is OT)

[Ron Porter]

Well, 99%+ of us will not be writing apps for our PDAs, so that's a
non-issue.

I am a believer in Microsoft products, but the whole PDA arena is one where
they missed the boat. The Palm OS has around 85% of the PDA market. MS may
have picked up a few market share points, but I would not call Win CE
devices as being "widespread", and I will bet that your statement "PocketPC
will soon take over completely" will NOT ever become true.

Palm and Handspring has a sense of what PDA users want and need (Handspring
does a better job, IMHO, but Dubinsky & Hawkins did invent the original
Palm). The Treo communicators are a good example. Microsoft just doesn't
"get it" yet with PDAs, the bulk of folks who use PDAs are not looking for
mini PCs.

I've had a Visor Deluxe for the last three years. I originally bought it
because of the company and the springboard module. The move to SD memory was
a good one, but I don't care about a PDA doing a thousand different things,
I want it to do what it does very well, and very dependably.

Ron Porter

-----Original Message-----
From: shotimes-admin@autox.team.net
[mailto:shotimes-admin@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of Michael
Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 10:50 AM
To: shotimes@autox.team.net
Subject: [Shotimes] RE: Not OT, thinking of getting a PDA (well, it
really is OT)


 In my opinion, I'd stay away from Palm if you plan to write applications
yourself. I've programmed for both Windows CE and Palm OS, and WinCE is much
easier to code under. PocketPC's (on which Windows CE v3.0 is now running)
are becoming quite widespread. As far as I can tell, PocketPC will soon take
over completely. Palm devices are loosing market share. PocketPC's also seem
to be faster. Finally, the competetion between the many PocketPC makers is
stiff. Thus, you should be able to get a PocketPC at a reasonable price.

---Michael