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dsrtaoI've been using PalmOS devices almost continuously for 12 years.
This equips me with certain prejudices:
- the thing in my pocket is a limited-speed, but general-purpose computer. I can download an SDK for it and write my own programs. So can everyone else, which means that in addition to a laughable number of commercial programs, there is a thriving community of open source and shareware apps. Every device works this way; you don't have to buy a special developer's edition to experiment.
- when I buy the next one, pretty much all of my programs will continue to work.
- battery life is sufficient unto the entire day, no matter what I'm doing with it.
- I can back it up to a set of files on my computer; a serial or USB or Net connection is all I need to do that.
- I can install programs by copying them over from my computer, and also by downloading them from the Net... if I put them on a web page, I can use that.
- I can drop it on to concrete or asphalt a few times a year and only have cosmetic issues if the screen doesn't break.
- If it crashes, nineteen times out of twenty that's a hardware problem or a specific app, not the OS. It doesn't crash often.
This equips me with certain prejudices:
- the thing in my pocket is a limited-speed, but general-purpose computer. I can download an SDK for it and write my own programs. So can everyone else, which means that in addition to a laughable number of commercial programs, there is a thriving community of open source and shareware apps. Every device works this way; you don't have to buy a special developer's edition to experiment.
- when I buy the next one, pretty much all of my programs will continue to work.
- battery life is sufficient unto the entire day, no matter what I'm doing with it.
- I can back it up to a set of files on my computer; a serial or USB or Net connection is all I need to do that.
- I can install programs by copying them over from my computer, and also by downloading them from the Net... if I put them on a web page, I can use that.
- I can drop it on to concrete or asphalt a few times a year and only have cosmetic issues if the screen doesn't break.
- If it crashes, nineteen times out of twenty that's a hardware problem or a specific app, not the OS. It doesn't crash often.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-24 12:39 pm (UTC)Of course, it's entirely possible that my Visor was a poor example of a Palm OS device, and others would be better. Or that there have been significant advances in the past, oh, 9 years. But I didn't find that the reliability had always been there...
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-24 02:26 pm (UTC)OTOH my Visor (Pro?) was less robust than the Palm Pro, the Palm III, the IIIx, the PalmPhone and the Treo 700p, so it might have been those...