Re: future of gnome-pilot, or lack of it

[Andrew Greig <algreig bigpond net au>]

On Tue, 2012-07-24 at 15:34 +0100, Matt Davey wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> I am no longer in a position to be able to develop and test gnome-pilot,
> as I am no longer using a PalmOS PDA.  My last working device was an old
> PalmV, which continued to limp on after my Clie and Tungsten had packed
> up.
>
> Based on the activity on this list, and email correspondence, the number
> of users is now very low, and I suspect the people typically interested
> in contributing code have moved on to newer, shinier devices.
>
> If there are developers tuned in who are willing to contribute code,
> please get in contact.  Otherwise, I'm likely to announce end of life
> for gnome-pilot.
>
> Matt
Hi Matt,

As a former Palm user, I would like to thank you for your continued diligence and effort on behalf of those who had the devices but not the developing skills.  Back when Palm made the decision which later proved fatal to their business, I wrote to Palm on many occasions, begging them to abandon the MS solution and embrace Linux as the basis for their new OS.  They could have written it in those days so that OpenOffice.org (OOo)  would synch with the Palm.  This would have introduced the largest user base of any PDA manufacturer to OOo and struck fear into the heart of MS, as it was Docs2Go for Palm assisted MS.  But a pure synch with OOo products would have been a game changer.  With the Treo Palm lost a lot of their user base, people retained their excellent Palm devices and avoided the power hungry Windows Mobile OS in their millions.  MS was the end of Palm and even when they developed the WebOS it was too little - too late, and HP have been unsuccessful in resurrecting it.

I have moved on from Palm.  I threw my LifeDrive in the bin the other day, the pain was real, but bearable.  I have been using Android for 3 years now.  MS looks like it will be the kiss of death for Nokia and at last Windows is becoming increasingly irrelevant.  Pundits have been saying that the integration of MS Office into the Windows phone platform will give them an increasing share of the Mobile Market.  But my view is that businesses which needed a business device in the past used Blackberry, but even Blackberry is slipping.  Android is rising, iPhone is returning to the clutches of Fanbois, and the unaligned Apple users, the agnostics as it were, will gradually move to Android because the Telcos can subsidise Android phones but Apple gives them no room to bargain.  

So it was good while it lasted.  And again, thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for a job well done for a long time.

Andrew Greig
Melbourne, Australia