After using the Zaurus SL-5500 for a few months, I'm inclined to agree, though everyone has their own idea of what a "PDA" needs to be. Even the SL-5500 was a very capable device, and I wrote a favorable review for PocketAnywhere.com (a site I'm no longer affiliated with). The PIM software was weak, though I was optimistic that offerings from theKompany would soon fix that, if Sharp didn't themselves. It was very cool browsing the web with Opera over a wireless link, and fooling around with VNC.
So why'd I sell it and go back to using a Palm m505 after a few months? Mostly because the capabilities of the SL-5500 were things I really had no use for. If I needed to browse the web on a tiny screen, or needed VNC or other networking tools in a miniature package, I never would've let this thing out of my sight. As it was, though, it didn't do basic PIM functions nearly as well as Palm (even with theKompany's products), and --- this is the real killer --- was simply too big. If a PDA is too big, I don't carry it around, and if I don't carry it with me, it's useless.
Everyone's needs are different, and I hope that a variety of devices continue to be available to meet them. Sharp's an important player here. Not only are they selling one of the best handheld tools out there, but their presence is one more barrier to the erosion of choice we'd have if Palm or Microsoft monopolized the market.
I was surprised to see this "news story" as well. I dug through the articles, but I didn't see anything that hasn't been in.NET since 1.0... unless somehow they've worked out a way to stuff conventional DLLs into the GAC and do some tricks with LoadLibrary.
More likely you're right and they're just talking about.NET assemblies... but since those also have the DLL file extension, I suppose they can still make marketing noise about solving the "DLL Hell" problem, even though only.NET apps --- still a rarity --- will benefit.
I wonder if the press will pick up the story if or when Server 2003 is proven to have the same old DLL problems with conventional (non-.NET) applications?
It remains to be seen how systems designed around this chip will perform. Most/. readers are well aware that clock speed is just one variable in the final product. How much work the CPU can do in a clock cycle, how fast you can feed it from memory, and I/O performance all play their part. Then there's the responsiveness of the software that you put on the platform...
It may be that Apple won't take bragging rights for the highest clock frequency, but that in itself won't leave them out of the performance game.
I see this morning that Lindows has fixed their mistake, sort of... their comparison chart now lists Apple's PowerBook, instead of an iBook. Of course, a better comparison would still be to the low-end iBook, which prices out to US$1,049 with 256M RAM.
FYI, I sent Lindows a note on the iBook mistake on their feedback page... the one that tells you that you WON'T receive a response, and even has an autoresponder to follow up with a response, which, er, tells you again that you won't receive a response.
So, naturally, a couple hours later I received a response.:)
The encouraging bit is not just that a human read the message and took a moment to send a response, but also that they thanked me for the heads-up and said they'd pass the information on to their marketing department.
Now marketing folks are sometimes just a pitchfork away from the embodiment of pure evil, but it is also possible that this was an honest mistake. Let's give them a little time to straighten it out and see what happens.
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After using the Zaurus SL-5500 for a few months, I'm inclined to agree, though everyone has their own idea of what a "PDA" needs to be. Even the SL-5500 was a very capable device, and I wrote a favorable review for PocketAnywhere.com (a site I'm no longer affiliated with). The PIM software was weak, though I was optimistic that offerings from theKompany would soon fix that, if Sharp didn't themselves. It was very cool browsing the web with Opera over a wireless link, and fooling around with VNC.
So why'd I sell it and go back to using a Palm m505 after a few months? Mostly because the capabilities of the SL-5500 were things I really had no use for. If I needed to browse the web on a tiny screen, or needed VNC or other networking tools in a miniature package, I never would've let this thing out of my sight. As it was, though, it didn't do basic PIM functions nearly as well as Palm (even with theKompany's products), and --- this is the real killer --- was simply too big. If a PDA is too big, I don't carry it around, and if I don't carry it with me, it's useless.
Everyone's needs are different, and I hope that a variety of devices continue to be available to meet them. Sharp's an important player here. Not only are they selling one of the best handheld tools out there, but their presence is one more barrier to the erosion of choice we'd have if Palm or Microsoft monopolized the market.
I was surprised to see this "news story" as well. I dug through the articles, but I didn't see anything that hasn't been in .NET since 1.0... unless somehow they've worked out a way to stuff conventional DLLs into the GAC and do some tricks with LoadLibrary.
.NET assemblies... but since those also have the DLL file extension, I suppose they can still make marketing noise about solving the "DLL Hell" problem, even though only .NET apps --- still a rarity --- will benefit.
More likely you're right and they're just talking about
I wonder if the press will pick up the story if or when Server 2003 is proven to have the same old DLL problems with conventional (non-.NET) applications?
It remains to be seen how systems designed around this chip will perform. Most /. readers are well aware that clock speed is just one variable in the final product. How much work the CPU can do in a clock cycle, how fast you can feed it from memory, and I/O performance all play their part. Then there's the responsiveness of the software that you put on the platform...
It may be that Apple won't take bragging rights for the highest clock frequency, but that in itself won't leave them out of the performance game.
I see this morning that Lindows has fixed their mistake, sort of... their comparison chart now lists Apple's PowerBook, instead of an iBook. Of course, a better comparison would still be to the low-end iBook, which prices out to US$1,049 with 256M RAM.
FYI, I sent Lindows a note on the iBook mistake on their feedback page... the one that tells you that you WON'T receive a response, and even has an autoresponder to follow up with a response, which, er, tells you again that you won't receive a response.
:)
So, naturally, a couple hours later I received a response.
The encouraging bit is not just that a human read the message and took a moment to send a response, but also that they thanked me for the heads-up and said they'd pass the information on to their marketing department.
Now marketing folks are sometimes just a pitchfork away from the embodiment of pure evil, but it is also possible that this was an honest mistake. Let's give them a little time to straighten it out and see what happens.