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SyncML May Make Handheld-to-PC Links Easier

Posted by Roblimo on from the hooking-it-all-up dept.

diggem writes, "I don't personally have this problem (YET!), but I know people who do... too many PDA-like devices, all with their own desktop syncro software which isn't usually compatible with other sync software. A new proposal is trying to correct the problem. It's called SyncML, an XML-based spec for sharing data between portable devices, your computer and the Web. The initial draft has backing from Palm Computing, Nokia, Psion, Motorola, Starfish (Motorola subsidiary), IBM and Lotus (IBM subsidiary). So it looks to have fairly significant backing. Cool! "

3 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. a conspicuous absence by mmoin · · Score: 3

    Gee, I wonder why Microsoft or any of their CE device manufacturers aren't part of the initiative. Perhaps because this movement is exactly the development that threatens any sort of monopoly on wireless applications. It will be interesting to see how this pans out. Personally, I'd place my bets on the non-Windows CE camp.

    -Andrew

  2. Microsoft should be on this by bjb · · Score: 3
    This is a bit annoying; I want to see Microsoft on this, but (who's surprised at this) they're not. I own a Palm III and a Philips Velo 1 (one of the early CE machines) and I REALLY dislike the synchronization software that comes with the CE device.

    For those who don't know how CE synchronizes, it essentially establishes a PPP connection between your desktop and your palm sized device through some semi-special software on your Windows machine. On Windows NT, it forces you to install RAS if you don't alreay have it installed (read: must reapply service packs afterwards) and then whenever the machines are hooked together, I've found the networking of the boxen stumbles for the 30 seconds or so that they chat with each other. I guess there is enough bitching to do about the CE synchronization method, but I can state that it does work though I don't care for it. The Palm pilot, on the other hand, works very nicely and transparently from the rest of the computing world.

    So how does this apply to the proposed synchronization method/standard? On my machine, I have five pieces of software installed for the purpose of keeping my personal organizers in sync:

    • HotSync (palm low-level software for the serial port)
    • ActiveSync (CE low-level software)
    • RAS (for ActiveSync to work)
    • Outlook (CE doesn't come with its own lightweight software like the Palm does [read: Palm Desktop])
    • Desktop to Go (for syncing the Palm with Outlook)
    Now with this new software, I could get rid of ActiveSync, RAS, Desktop to Go and HotSync and POSSIBLY Outlook if they provide a lightweight storage and manipulation program. Now granted, I would have to install a new piece of software for the new synchronization program, but hopefully the one piece of software would be able to differentiate between the CE device and the Palm device and I wouldn't have to have additional programs installed.

    So it would be nice to have less software on my machine to keep my machines in sync. Now if only this thing (read: whatever software comes about based on this standard) could also work with Bluetooth, I'd be set :)

    My two cents; no refunds.

    --

    --
    Never hit your grandmother with a shovel, for it leaves a bad impression on her mind...
  3. Slashdot and PDAs by ajs · · Score: 5

    An only slightly off-topic rant:

    I have a PDA (a Handspring Visor) and use AvantGo to view Web pages on my way to work after syncing up first thing in the morning. My commute is 1+1/2 hours on public transportation, so I have plenty of time to read.

    Ideally I would like to read Slashdot, but all of the AvantGo-channel-ready Slashdot hacks out there only show the articles, not the talkback. I tried setting up my own page through some CGI that parsed the rdf, and created links to the Slashdot-FAQ-suggested version of the pages, but even with threshold=4, plain=1 and boxes=0, the HTML is way to long in many cases, and it's certainly too ugly on the PDA screen.

    Well, I'm a coder, I got around it, but I don't like the fact that I had to parse the feedback page in order to do it. Slashdot should have support for such browsing. I would even happily download the banner-ad, if it meant getting a VERY simple HTML version of the page.

    If you want my solution, grab sd and sdforum. Put them in your cgi-bin directory and rename them so that they have a .cgi extension (sd finds sdforum only if it's in the same directory and called sdforum.cgi). You will need Perl, and you will need the CPAN modules libwww-perl and XML::RSS. Now open your Web-browser and visit sd.cgi. You should see a bullet-list of articles. You can then click on any one to see a VERY cut-down version of the feedback page. If that works, you're on to the next step.

    If you use AvantGo, they give you a nifty little javascript-button that will set the current page in your list. Use that on sd and you're done. If you use Pendragon Browser, use their user interface to add the URL to sd. For other off-line browsing applications your milage may vary.

    Please, even if you manage to find where I keep sd on my system, don't use it from there. I don't have great bandwidth, and I don't want to be in the business of being a Slashdot-for-PDA mirror (I'm not even sure of the legalities). If I have to move it to stop people from using it, I will.