I'm a teacher/tech and I originally bought my Palm so that I could have a schedule that I could carry with me (I don't carry a bag, and day planners kept getting lost -- I have actually lost one Palm too -- my keys are now on one of those little tethers attached to my belt, as I slowly lose my mind. I'm not even 30, but senility is kicking in.:)
I've been using mine for about 3 years now, and that was after having kept my calendar almost entirely in my computer for the 5 years prior to that.
What it comes down to is: if you have to schedule meetings on the fly, or if you have to consult your calendar to find out what happens in 10 minutes, the PDA makes a huge difference in your quality of life.
Where I've found that the interest has dropped off is in all the "other" features of the PDA -- basically, I need it to store addresses and calendars (and to play Solitaire). I use it for nothing else. I tried other things (eBooks, etc.) and just found that I didn't use it -- and it made syncing just way too painful.
Several of my friends (also teachers) have found that they just love their PDA's for that reason -- rather than trying to figure out when they can meet with a student/administrator/parent based on a dim recollection of their calendar, they can just haul out the Palm and _look_.
The big bugaboo for me has been syncing -- iSync from Apple has been great, in that all my computers, devices are talking to each other (which is very, very cool). The downside is having to buy into all the other crap -- iCal particularly. I'm on the verge of writing my own ICS interface just so that I don't have to have my time wasted by watching iCal think.
The best part of the giveaway is that Apple is finally handing out some training software (for what it's worth -- totally sight unseen) for OS X. Having just dealt with transferring my mother and several friends from the old Mac OS to OS X, I can safely say that some training and support will be _VERY_ welcome.
In the grand tradition of Microsoft bloatware, this seems like an interesting feature that, down the road, might actually be useful. Of course, going down that road could well involve some heavy duty reconfiguring of the Microsoft code (imagine a plugin which would let you hook, say, a dictionary or encyclopedia in as the object of these links, rather than M$ sites..)
Problem is, their going about it bass-ackward. Rather than implementing this as a feature which users (including not just those browsing from XP, but also those serving to XP) can enable if they want it, they are forcing the entire world to march to their beat.
I shouldn't have to include a metatag in my site to keep M$ from getting jiggy with my source. (It's a little like being presumed guilty until proven innocent...). Instead, I should have to include a metatag to allow Microsnot to have their way with my site.
The world does not revolve around Microsoft, no matter how hard they sit on it and spin...
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This sounds like an even more impressive project than the current world record holder -- a real feat of engineering. ;)
Yeah... but think about the fact that he's got Genndy Tartakovsky helping him suck. If they tag-team it, the could cram a lot...
if the article weren't so petulant, it would be funny. or maybe my os x is showing. it loses it's zing pretty quickly and just sounds bitchy. ick.
I'm a teacher/tech and I originally bought my Palm so that I could have a schedule that I could carry with me (I don't carry a bag, and day planners kept getting lost -- I have actually lost one Palm too -- my keys are now on one of those little tethers attached to my belt, as I slowly lose my mind. I'm not even 30, but senility is kicking in. :)
I've been using mine for about 3 years now, and that was after having kept my calendar almost entirely in my computer for the 5 years prior to that.
What it comes down to is: if you have to schedule meetings on the fly, or if you have to consult your calendar to find out what happens in 10 minutes, the PDA makes a huge difference in your quality of life.
Where I've found that the interest has dropped off is in all the "other" features of the PDA -- basically, I need it to store addresses and calendars (and to play Solitaire). I use it for nothing else. I tried other things (eBooks, etc.) and just found that I didn't use it -- and it made syncing just way too painful.
Several of my friends (also teachers) have found that they just love their PDA's for that reason -- rather than trying to figure out when they can meet with a student/administrator/parent based on a dim recollection of their calendar, they can just haul out the Palm and _look_.
The big bugaboo for me has been syncing -- iSync from Apple has been great, in that all my computers, devices are talking to each other (which is very, very cool). The downside is having to buy into all the other crap -- iCal particularly. I'm on the verge of writing my own ICS interface just so that I don't have to have my time wasted by watching iCal think.
The best part of the giveaway is that Apple is finally handing out some training software (for what it's worth -- totally sight unseen) for OS X. Having just dealt with transferring my mother and several friends from the old Mac OS to OS X, I can safely say that some training and support will be _VERY_ welcome.
In the grand tradition of Microsoft bloatware, this seems like an interesting feature that, down the road, might actually be useful. Of course, going down that road could well involve some heavy duty reconfiguring of the Microsoft code (imagine a plugin which would let you hook, say, a dictionary or encyclopedia in as the object of these links, rather than M$ sites..)
Problem is, their going about it bass-ackward. Rather than implementing this as a feature which users (including not just those browsing from XP, but also those serving to XP) can enable if they want it, they are forcing the entire world to march to their beat.
I shouldn't have to include a metatag in my site to keep M$ from getting jiggy with my source. (It's a little like being presumed guilty until proven innocent...). Instead, I should have to include a metatag to allow Microsnot to have their way with my site.
The world does not revolve around Microsoft, no matter how hard they sit on it and spin...