I was in the same boat myself. I was hesitant to jump aboard with the Pre. My Treo 755p dying was the impetus. I'm so glad I did. Pop over to PreCentral and see what people are talking about, check the enthusiasm of the community. There are warts, but with 8 software updates since June, Palm is knocking them out quickly. Flash should be available shortly. I plan to write my Palm predictions for 2010 soon.
If you're looking for a hacker friendly phone then you really can't beat the Palm Pre. Linux OS underlies it. Very strong homebrew community that works -with- Palm. The whole phone is open for tinkering. Shortly, it should be supported on Verizon and the GSM version should be available in the states later this year (of course, you could import a QWERTZ phone from Germany now, but that seems like a lot of effort to me). Recently, the homebrew community ported Doom to the phone, it works with the new OpenGL drivers included in the webOS 1.3.5 update. Palm really gets open source. Of course, I might be biased, I do run the Pre 101 Web site in my spare time, but I don't think I've exaggerated anything.
Hopefully Palm will get this one right as their App Catalog evolves. Palm is trying to walk a fine line by supporting both self-signed apps outside the App Catalog and official, reviewed apps inside the catalog. It will be interesting to see if the developers begin looking at webOS as a viable distribution platform. I think the benefit is that, like the iPhone, webOS customers (Pre & Pixi) will be willing to pay for apps. The downside, of course, is that the self-signed apps will have to develop their own payment platform. The WebOS Internals folks have done a fantastic job of developing a feed system for homebrew applications and patches for webOS. Ill have an interview with Rod Whitby, founder of WebOS Internals on my blog later this weekend: http://pre101.com/
If someone walks up to you to shake your hand and you refuse their offer then you are the one being rude. Ben wasn't even with Palm during the time JWZ had his problems. I just take it as more of 'it's my way or no way'.
Absolutely. You should never piss off developers. I've told Palm this myself. His approach seems to assume the growing pains Palm is having are malice. I choose to think it's that they're overwhelmed. This is why the program is still in beta.
JWZ already describes in his post why it's not released yet. Palm is under no obligation to change all their rules to suit one person. He wouldn't agree to cooperate with any of their requests. Palm should probably create more open-source friendly submission requirements but their requirements during the beta period are what they are and if he wants it released now he needs to play by their current rules. If he wants to wait to see if the rules change, that's fine, too.
Seriously... Palm does get it. They've hired two outstanding people to lead the developer relations (Ben Galbraith and Dion Almaer). They've already reached out to jwz, who just spit in their eye(s). This seems nothing more than an overgrown toddler having a tantrum because he doesn't get his way now. I wrote about this on my blog. I tried to keep it a somewhat balanced article but seriously, his actions since just make him seem petulant. Is Palm without reproach in this? No, they're going through the pains of releasing an app catalog, SDK and an app approval process all at once. Things aren't as smooth as they could be but they're nowhere near 'kafkaesque'. This certainly didn't warrant a slashdot post and certainly doesn't warrant two of them.
Well, this is devolving into a private conversation. The pharmacist takes the medicare because he wants to be a neighborhood pharmacy. Turning away customers would turn people away from his store. Those people do occasionally buy cold medicines and other items from him so it's best to keep them as customers.
Best I could find. According to my father-in-law (yes, anecdotal) he cannot get fee-for-service. The doctors cannot (he says) take fee-for-service from medicare patients. Apropos of government run programs, doctors taking medicare say they cannot rely on when the government will actually pay them for the services performed.
Another story: My pharmacist says that medicare drug coverage specifies his -profit- on medicare prescriptions. He loses money on every one he fills when he factors in the labels, his time to fill, the paper bag, the cash register receipt and all that. Unlike CVS and others he doesn't make it back on all the other (high margin) products people can buy while in the store.
Let me fix that for you: He is -required- to use Medicare. Once you hit Medicare you are forced into the system, like it or not. Checking the Medicare Wikipedia page didn't exactly clear anything up for me, but it seems like there may be additional insurance options with it, but no getting out of it.
I've been developing applications for the Palm Pre for about a month and this article does a pretty good job of summarizing the state of the SDK. I was never a Javascript fan and was disappointed at first to learn that it would be the language for developing apps. However, I've since discovered that there's actually quite a bit of power in Javascript. One of the big hurdles for 'traditional' developers approaching the Palm Pre is that you have to learn up to five new technologies at once: Javascript, HTML, CSS, the Mojo framework and, optionally, Prototype. None of these is difficult on their own. Diving head first into all of them leads to a bit of confusion at first as you wrap your brain around them.
I have set up a blog where I discuss some of the more user-facing aspects of the Palm Pre: Pre101.com. I hope to bring out a more developer oriented site later.
Same thing for me. I decided finally to go with a Mac to see if it really was 'all that'. It's a nice piece of engineering but it's so far from the perfection claimed. There are many things Windows just does better (Keyboard shortcuts for example, even consistent keyboard shortcuts).
I'm happy enough that I didn't take it back but I still do a lot in VMWare Fusion for business. I'd say I have to force quit applications about as often as I had to under Windows.
I've had complete lockups several times where the only recovery is to power down completely with the power button.
Agreed. I had a coworker create a document for me in OO and send it to me in.DOC format. It was a simple document with only bold for formatting and embedded pictures. It -would not- load into word. I even tried using ODF converers for Word to load the original OO doc format. Even that didn't work. I had to redo the entire document from scratch wasting hours of time. OO is now not allowed at the office.
And yes, I needed it in.DOC format for the customer to edit.
I cringe at the thought of HP software guidelines. I can hardly think of worse software in general use than the stuff HP comes up with. Inconsistent interfaces that don't conform to the operating system standards, strange behaviors and defaults and who knows what else. They make good printers but I just hate to use the software included with them.
That's an extremely good point. I was just extrapolating based on what I've read. You can take my response as a response to people who say it's an experience issue and move on.
I've not seen any proof of problems with ethics and accountability. There may be some questions but the e-mail hack put some of those questions to bed (though that didn't stop people from claiming it confirmed them). The biggest issue I see is that she's a woman who's attained a relatively high office and isn't beholden to the Feminist movement. They -can't- allow her to succeed. She's not cut from the right mold.
As to why McCain picked her, I've got no clue. But, I suspect that it has something to do with her helping break the back of the Republican machine that ran Alaska, including (I think the Slashdotters would like this) Ted "Tubes" Stevens. It was clearly a risky choice picking her but I've rarely ever seen such vehemence directed towards someone as I've seen directed towards Palin. It was mad poo-flinging from Daily Kos and everyone else as soon as she was announced as they hoped something would stick.
Lastly, I find it sad that you would advocating assassinating people just to get to someone you like if the election weren't to go your way.
I find your claim that Sarah Palin might become President is a sign of idiocy laughable on its face. Aren't the dems the ones who keep saying that no experience can prepare you for president (since Obama has no experience)? And yet, they keep saying that Palin is inexperienced? Pot? Kettle?
Slashdot Mirror
I was in the same boat myself. I was hesitant to jump aboard with the Pre. My Treo 755p dying was the impetus. I'm so glad I did. Pop over to PreCentral and see what people are talking about, check the enthusiasm of the community. There are warts, but with 8 software updates since June, Palm is knocking them out quickly. Flash should be available shortly. I plan to write my Palm predictions for 2010 soon.
If you're looking for a hacker friendly phone then you really can't beat the Palm Pre. Linux OS underlies it. Very strong homebrew community that works -with- Palm. The whole phone is open for tinkering. Shortly, it should be supported on Verizon and the GSM version should be available in the states later this year (of course, you could import a QWERTZ phone from Germany now, but that seems like a lot of effort to me). Recently, the homebrew community ported Doom to the phone, it works with the new OpenGL drivers included in the webOS 1.3.5 update. Palm really gets open source. Of course, I might be biased, I do run the Pre 101 Web site in my spare time, but I don't think I've exaggerated anything.
Hopefully Palm will get this one right as their App Catalog evolves. Palm is trying to walk a fine line by supporting both self-signed apps outside the App Catalog and official, reviewed apps inside the catalog. It will be interesting to see if the developers begin looking at webOS as a viable distribution platform. I think the benefit is that, like the iPhone, webOS customers (Pre & Pixi) will be willing to pay for apps. The downside, of course, is that the self-signed apps will have to develop their own payment platform. The WebOS Internals folks have done a fantastic job of developing a feed system for homebrew applications and patches for webOS. Ill have an interview with Rod Whitby, founder of WebOS Internals on my blog later this weekend: http://pre101.com/
Roy
If someone walks up to you to shake your hand and you refuse their offer then you are the one being rude. Ben wasn't even with Palm during the time JWZ had his problems. I just take it as more of 'it's my way or no way'.
Absolutely. You should never piss off developers. I've told Palm this myself. His approach seems to assume the growing pains Palm is having are malice. I choose to think it's that they're overwhelmed. This is why the program is still in beta.
Well, it's $5, but, yes.
JWZ already describes in his post why it's not released yet. Palm is under no obligation to change all their rules to suit one person. He wouldn't agree to cooperate with any of their requests. Palm should probably create more open-source friendly submission requirements but their requirements during the beta period are what they are and if he wants it released now he needs to play by their current rules. If he wants to wait to see if the rules change, that's fine, too.
Seriously... Palm does get it. They've hired two outstanding people to lead the developer relations (Ben Galbraith and Dion Almaer). They've already reached out to jwz, who just spit in their eye(s). This seems nothing more than an overgrown toddler having a tantrum because he doesn't get his way now. I wrote about this on my blog. I tried to keep it a somewhat balanced article but seriously, his actions since just make him seem petulant. Is Palm without reproach in this? No, they're going through the pains of releasing an app catalog, SDK and an app approval process all at once. Things aren't as smooth as they could be but they're nowhere near 'kafkaesque'. This certainly didn't warrant a slashdot post and certainly doesn't warrant two of them.
Well, this is devolving into a private conversation. The pharmacist takes the medicare because he wants to be a neighborhood pharmacy. Turning away customers would turn people away from his store. Those people do occasionally buy cold medicines and other items from him so it's best to keep them as customers.
Best I could find. According to my father-in-law (yes, anecdotal) he cannot get fee-for-service. The doctors cannot (he says) take fee-for-service from medicare patients. Apropos of government run programs, doctors taking medicare say they cannot rely on when the government will actually pay them for the services performed.
Another story: My pharmacist says that medicare drug coverage specifies his -profit- on medicare prescriptions. He loses money on every one he fills when he factors in the labels, his time to fill, the paper bag, the cash register receipt and all that. Unlike CVS and others he doesn't make it back on all the other (high margin) products people can buy while in the store.
Murky but this post seems to confirm you -cannot- opt out of Medicare part A: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081205170432AAZmufJ
Let me fix that for you: He is -required- to use Medicare. Once you hit Medicare you are forced into the system, like it or not. Checking the Medicare Wikipedia page didn't exactly clear anything up for me, but it seems like there may be additional insurance options with it, but no getting out of it.
I've been developing applications for the Palm Pre for about a month and this article does a pretty good job of summarizing the state of the SDK. I was never a Javascript fan and was disappointed at first to learn that it would be the language for developing apps. However, I've since discovered that there's actually quite a bit of power in Javascript. One of the big hurdles for 'traditional' developers approaching the Palm Pre is that you have to learn up to five new technologies at once: Javascript, HTML, CSS, the Mojo framework and, optionally, Prototype. None of these is difficult on their own. Diving head first into all of them leads to a bit of confusion at first as you wrap your brain around them.
I have set up a blog where I discuss some of the more user-facing aspects of the Palm Pre: Pre101.com. I hope to bring out a more developer oriented site later.
Seriously, if they'd just pushed a little harder they could have supported 1337 MHz RAM. I don't know what geek wouldn't have jumped at that.
This would be more informative if it told you -which- bridge.
Same thing for me. I decided finally to go with a Mac to see if it really was 'all that'. It's a nice piece of engineering but it's so far from the perfection claimed. There are many things Windows just does better (Keyboard shortcuts for example, even consistent keyboard shortcuts). I'm happy enough that I didn't take it back but I still do a lot in VMWare Fusion for business. I'd say I have to force quit applications about as often as I had to under Windows. I've had complete lockups several times where the only recovery is to power down completely with the power button.
Agreed. I had a coworker create a document for me in OO and send it to me in .DOC format. It was a simple document with only bold for formatting and embedded pictures. It -would not- load into word. I even tried using ODF converers for Word to load the original OO doc format. Even that didn't work. I had to redo the entire document from scratch wasting hours of time. OO is now not allowed at the office.
And yes, I needed it in .DOC format for the customer to edit.
I never bought it or played it. I'm thinking about plunking down the dollar to see what the hype was about.
Perhaps if "Linux" employed the ad agency Microsoft did you'd be seeing those articles?
I cringe at the thought of HP software guidelines. I can hardly think of worse software in general use than the stuff HP comes up with. Inconsistent interfaces that don't conform to the operating system standards, strange behaviors and defaults and who knows what else. They make good printers but I just hate to use the software included with them.
That's an extremely good point. I was just extrapolating based on what I've read. You can take my response as a response to people who say it's an experience issue and move on.
... would advocate ... I are good grammar using.
I've not seen any proof of problems with ethics and accountability. There may be some questions but the e-mail hack put some of those questions to bed (though that didn't stop people from claiming it confirmed them). The biggest issue I see is that she's a woman who's attained a relatively high office and isn't beholden to the Feminist movement. They -can't- allow her to succeed. She's not cut from the right mold.
As to why McCain picked her, I've got no clue. But, I suspect that it has something to do with her helping break the back of the Republican machine that ran Alaska, including (I think the Slashdotters would like this) Ted "Tubes" Stevens. It was clearly a risky choice picking her but I've rarely ever seen such vehemence directed towards someone as I've seen directed towards Palin. It was mad poo-flinging from Daily Kos and everyone else as soon as she was announced as they hoped something would stick.
Lastly, I find it sad that you would advocating assassinating people just to get to someone you like if the election weren't to go your way.
I find your claim that Sarah Palin might become President is a sign of idiocy laughable on its face. Aren't the dems the ones who keep saying that no experience can prepare you for president (since Obama has no experience)? And yet, they keep saying that Palin is inexperienced? Pot? Kettle?
Which is odd, since she has more executive experience than the other three folks involved in the race -- combined.