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Palm Kills Community Before It Begins
Former Fan of Palm writes to tell us that an enthusiastic, supportive developer community has fallen victim to corporate ineptitude once again. The preDevCamp started as a community-driven effort designed to mirror the iPhoneDevCamp based on the new "Pre" product announced by Palm. Unfortunately, suspicion and legal posturing seems to have gutted the founders of any and all enthusiasm they may have once had. When will corporations realize that community support is the best way to drive success? "As a corporation, I acknowledge that Palm's only responsibility is to its shareholders. There's nothing self serving or evil about that; it's how things work in big business. However there are many keen and willing developers out there, who have been waiting for the arrival of WebOS. A development platform is only a success if it is broadly adopted. Instead of embracing the grassroots upswell of interest in WebOS that preDevCamp fostered, Palm seem to be, at best, oblivious and, at worst, disdainful of the enthusiasm and good will engendered by these folk. I think they are missing a real opportunity to be involved in and to help generate the growth of a vital community."
Well, this is certainly an interesting article to be reading as I am looking for a replacement for my aging Tungsten E.
Guess who I probably won't be going with this time?!
There is a war going on for your mind.
Haha, so the proper title is "overzealous developers get miffed at palm and lose interest in creating community".
Is it sad that I am more likely to recognize you and your posts by your sig than your name or UID?
The OS still sucks. I'll stick with RIM/Blackberry (which also has an active and seemingly open developer community) until a Android phone I like comes along.
And where do you get "most open phone OS"?
Quack, quack.
I had a phone conversation with Pam, Palm's VP of Developer Marketing last night, and I can assure you that communication has NOT broken down between them and preDevCamp. It's unfortunate that whurley, Giovanni, and Dan had such a bad experience, but for business reasons Palm has to maintain tight secrecy until the phone is launched. The best course of action in this case is not to scold them for what they can't do for us, but work together and adjust expectations accordingly.
Pam was very eager to know what we need to have a successful event, and I expect to have their full co-operation going forward. It just needs to be a bit more on their terms than whurley, Giovanni, and Dan anticipated.
There's a thread open regarding preDevCamp on the Palm Developer Network forums with at least three Palm employees actively participating (VP Pam, Community Manager Chuq, and Chuq's boss). Maybe yesterday's news put the fear of God in Palm, but they're definitely willing to work with the community to ensure that preDevCamp is successful.
After all, without wealth, no one would ever have been able to devote the time, energy, and resources necessary to developing any but the most rudimentary of technologies.
Umm... Who is your history teacher so I can slap them because you've just discounted all the Greek, Roman, and Renaissance innovators and inventors? Yes, many of them had patrons, but most of these guys weren't wealthy themselves. (And ironically some of the Scientists during the 1500's were monks and church leaders themselves)
Also you've discounted all the advances of the Soviet Space program and arguably the Nazi German rocket program.
I will agree that wealth is conductive towards technological progress, but capitalism wasn't needed for all instances of progress.
I'd argue with need a mix of both, because without agencies like DARPA we'd never have saw private industry take the ball and run with what we call the internet today.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
NDA never mentioned talking about the meeting. Palm just got some major pucker factor.
Have you seen how many apps are out ofr Symbian now vs just 4 years ago? They GUTTED their user base when they started to charge for it. You still can't get a developer to reply to you unless you pay them a butt load of cash. Palm did the same think Nokia has done. Their developers are not allowed to release software for their own store site, they are NEVER going to develop a good UI that rivels the G1 or the iPhone.
Not to mention the SDK is a pice of crap. My Windows Mobile 6.1 phone is not great. It randomly freezes, apps sometimes drain the battery, but when I can fire up a copy of C# express and make an app, it makes up for all of it.
Sigh. Sad part was I was really looking at a Palm Pre because of the WebOS. Seems like thats off the table. God I wish the G1 came CDMA.
Rather, they support the least amount of regulation that works.
By that definition, everybody is a libertarian, they just define to work differently
As a corporation, I acknowledge that Palm's only responsibility is to its shareholders.
It's funny how people sometimes do not think around the next corner. Most of the time, I see half-baked thoughts, that never got thought to the end, because... well... thinking is uncool??
What do they think, that the shareholders want? More money.
And how to they think they get more money? By having more customers, who pay more.
Well... why would potential customers buy more from them? Because they offer them what they want. (Aka realize their dreams and hopes.)
But nowadays it's all: Just screw 'em over, and then bind them with the most expensive hidden fees, plans and contracts.
I remember, how an ex-coworker of mine took over the shopping portal of a large Internet portal. He single-handedly made it boom like crazy.
People wanted to know, how he did it.
His secret? Make them happy. Even if it costs more in the beginning.
Not only did he try to fulfill the wishes of the customers. No. He also made all the business partners / suppliers happy. They had a wish? He was there. He gave them little presents. They gave him some. (Like better offers, better deals.) It was like real friendships. Sometimes suppliers just called him to chat and crack jokes.
Others would have said, that this was bad. But he did not. He knew how to let it grow.
And he was proven right.
Nowadays he works for ebay, and has tons of cash. And he really earned it... instead of tricking people into traps. :(
The word earning really has lost its meaning.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.