DataViz on the Foleo Cancellation

Posted By: Tim Carroll Tuesday, September 18, 2007 11:14:39 AM

DataViz CEO Dick Fontana has posted a (very) brief statement regarding the Foleo cancellation on their Office Mobility blog. In short, they're taking this one on the chin:

"Palm has been a valued partner of ours for over ten years and we have been involved with Foleo for over three of them. As such, we have put a great deal of effort into building a Linux-based Documents To Go for the Foleo project. We see this Linux project as a necessary step in our journey and partnership with Palm. The decision to cancel the launch of Foleo is something that comes with the territory. It is a necessary bump in an otherwise great journey, and bodes well for Palm as it indicates they have tighter focus and better opportunities calling.”

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3 Years

LiveFaith @ 9/18/2007 10:22:24 PM # Q
Wow. So they really were involving these folks from the beginning. Palm was obviously at it longer.

Makes one wonder if this vision is still truly alive in the camp or not. That is one huuuuuuuge amount of focus (resources) to invest, only to stop and just "make better Treos".

I for one was actually interested. The Foleo (as advertised) could have been a productive device for me. That being said, the inability to print and lack of the "entire" web, made me wonder if I would regret screwing my Dell Lagtop to my office desk. I was hoping for a little good news at release to push me over the top as assurance that I could take this exclusively on the road.

Who knows if new management has just tossed this concept or embraced it. Palm never says anything it seems. Is it living on after some soul searching on all the reasons everyone said it would die? Are we talking 12-18months for this too? Anyone have a clue?

Beers, what's the scoop? Are you now working on "new projects for Palm that you cannot discuss"?

Pat Horne

RE: 3 Years
freakout @ 9/18/2007 11:28:37 PM # Q
Rev,

I actually put a lot of those questions to DataViz - the same ones that I put to Tealpoint. "Are you working on the new Linux platform? etc". The response I got from spokeswoman Jena Figueroa was a link to the above blog post and "I really can't comment on your other questions as it may hinder our relationship with Palm."

Which either means they're really pissed off at Palm, or they *are* working on the new one and not at liberty to spill the beans. Who knows?

RE: 3 Years
Gekko @ 9/19/2007 6:59:51 PM # Q

yes - you could have written your sermons on the fooleo and then with "instant on" booted up that bad boy right from the pulpit and spewed your fire and brimstone for a good 5 hours (assuming the pig didn't crash).

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Wow, three years?

philpalm @ 9/19/2007 1:26:49 PM # Q
Or maybe it was also working with Treo/linux application? Or is it the OSII project too? I think maybe they exaggerated the timesheet to help get a bigger writeoff...

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re: DataViz on the Foleo Cancellation

jwc194 @ 9/19/2007 4:58:33 PM # Q
The Foleo cancelation was disappointing, but I certainly wouldn’t say we’re ‘taking it on the chin’. On several occasions Palm has talked about their commitment to Linux going forward, and we’ll continue doing whatever we can to help make their new devices and new OS as successful as possible.

As I’m sure you’ll understand, the nature of our business and partner relationships makes it difficult for us to comment on some of your questions. However, we do appreciate your insights, feedback and comments and we’ll continue to keep an eye on what you have to say - and maybe add our thoughts from time to time!

Jason Coup
DataViz, Inc.

http://mobileofficeblog.dataviz.com/


RE: re: DataViz on the Foleo Cancellation
Gekko @ 9/19/2007 6:57:16 PM # Q

we can read between the lines.


RE: re: DataViz on the Foleo Cancellation
mikecane @ 9/20/2007 4:30:04 PM # Q
You know, the Asus Eee runs Linux. Give you any ideas?

RE: re: DataViz on the Foleo Cancellation
hotpaw03 @ 9/21/2007 2:33:23 PM # Q
At the rate the Eee is going up in price, it will cost as much as the Foleo would have by the time it actually ships. The real problem is the rumor of an Apple spindle-less subnote-MacBook. If it appears in the next 6 months, sure it will cost twice as much, but it will be so much more polished than the Eee (while still running *nix). If it is real, I wouldn't be surprised if so many people buy the kool-aid that the Apple subnote outsells both the Eee and the potential Foleo.
RE: re: DataViz on the Foleo Cancellation
mikecane @ 9/21/2007 4:37:32 PM # Q
The Asus Eee seems to have maxed out at $400 for the upper-end model (which I think is the only one worth buying -- and are you seriously going to gripe at **$400** for a *subnotebook* with enough software on it to be used out of the box like a Mac notebook?!!? $400 is PDA price country!! Go ahead and buy a TX and BT keyboard. Suckers.).

They will have economies of scale on their side that will drop prices just like Apple has done with the iPhone.

Asus is something Palm has not been in a good few years: Serious and Aggressive.

RE: re: DataViz on the Foleo Cancellation
Gekko @ 9/21/2007 4:49:41 PM # Q

you will rue the day when you buy a linux/open office device.

RE: re: DataViz on the Foleo Cancellation
mikecane @ 9/21/2007 5:13:19 PM # Q
We'll see. It has Firefox. Beats the hell out of Opera on a Nokia Anti-Internet Tablet (or Foleo!) any damn day.

I'm not looking for PC-level productivity out of it (I lie lie lie!). I want a mobile blogging machine.

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Great. Now how about getting Docs to Go running on the Treo??

joad @ 9/20/2007 5:26:22 PM # Q
I was shocked to find the same outdated (by a year) 8.00 version of DTG etched into the ROM of my 755s. It was outdated the day they put it into the 700's ROM (version 8.003 is/was current 8.x version), and it's no less outdated today. Gotta fill up the RAM with 4MB of "updates" which will conflict with the older ROM versions if you put them over to the card with the Dataviz tool. And even in RAM it's buggy as heck. Opening attachments directly from email is hopeless - gotta workaround with a save-to-card then open DTG to access if you want to avoid continual soft resets.

I'm glad the Fooleo is off the table for now. Maybe Dataviz can devote resources to working with Palm to fix all the problems with their Treo apps (how about switching to a stripped-down version of 10.x, or at least get a firmware update released to get the old one out of ROM so we can use Quickoffice?).

Part of my Treo purchase price MUST be paying for the licensing fee for DTG, and I can definitely say I'd pay to NOT have it for all the troubles it has. Also to mention the PITA it is to "register" this insulting outdated (2 versions + bugfixes back) version that doesn't even work with Office 2007 (Treo 755 released loooong after Office 2007 released). I call yanking the battery out of my 755 "Docs to Go emulation."

|
**Another vote for a >100MB RAM Treo**

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