Saguaro Sneak Peek Review

Like X-master and such? An attempt to bring Garnet into the 21st century?

It certainly does look like iPhone for Palm OS.

What kind of multi-tasking can it bring to Palm OS? It looks like it could only multitask applications specially designed for it.

It is certainly cool to be able to see multiple applications or widgets on the same screen. But if the widgets cannot replace all basic Palm applications, such as the Phone application or PIM, users will still require to switch back and forth of the environment, isn't it?

--
With great power comes great responsiblity.

1) Developers are abandoning the Palm platform en masse. The stench of death is now upon Palm and Palm doesn't seem too concerned about placating the fears of developers. Could it be because developers are no longer considered important in the SPINNING of the platform's strengths? Could it be because third party applications are of no use to Palm now? Could it be because Palm is about to stab their "beloved" third party developers in the back by releasing (3 years too late to matter, by the way) software solutions that will cannibalize the few remaining sales for all but the best third party apps? Not good news for developers, but Palm finally relized what I'me bee saying for YEARS is true:

a) Palm's in-house codemonkeys are clueless.
b) The average Joe/Joanne cannot be expected to do the work of looking for, downloading, installing + paying for third party software to enhance their PalmOS devices.
c) Every PalmOS device needs to ship with a complete selection of best-of-breed software.

How many of these apps will be part of Palm's device ROMs in 2007-8?:
Chatteremail, Comet, Crash, Directory Assistant, Documents To Go, GoogleMaps, HandyShopper, McPhling, Pocket Tunes/AeroPlayer, Resco Backup, Resco Explorer, Resco Viewer, TCPMP/CorePlayer, TealLock, Uninstall Manager, VideoHound/Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, Weatherman, ZagatToGo...

2) Saguaro's current widgets are the equivalent of Desktop Accessories (DAs) on steroids. Unfortunately, given the facts that PDA screens are small and that PalmOS app loading is fairly rapid, these widgets are of limited practical use. What PDA Performance needs to do is get developers to sign on to make their apps compatible with the Saguro's framework. And that won't happen unless it's made a standard framework shipping on ALL Palm devices. In other words, this system would never have a chance to survive unless it was bought out and developed by Palm. The problem with extending multitasking to the point where it would be truly useful on a PalmOS PDA (e.g. having multiple browser windows, a push email program, a document editor, a stock ticker and an address book all open at the same time) is the fact that Palm has underspecced it's PDAs for years and most devices lack the power to handle the load of multiple apps/windows being open at the same time. Cobalt was supposed to be the answer to the (pseudo)multitasking question and it blew up in Palm/PalmSource's face. Lowering the goals by using a framework like Saguro would have been a smart thing for Palm to have done in 2002, but in 2007 it would appear to be 2 little 2 late.

Saguro in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV5H0BF6eLw&mode=related&search=

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut... PalmLinux is coming! PalmLinux is coming! Uh huh. Don't hold your breath. Palm's MessiahOS - complete with multitasking - cooks, cleans, does Windows™, and is good in bed as well. Or so they say. Sorry Bubba, but word on The Street is that this sordid mess is imploding as we speak. The internal code name for PalmLinux should be Snake Oil.

3) Chatteremail has been bought out by Palm. File that one away in the "Why The He11 Did Palm Wait So Long?" folder. Oldtimers will remember how Palm once bought the best PalmOS email program on the market at the time (VersaMail, née MultiMail) and proceded to destroy that app with first benign neglect and then some NASTY code updates created by Clueless Caged Codemonkeys. Fast forward 7 years and Palm has stupidly fumbled away the corporate "push" email market to Blackberry. Will spending a few million by buying Chatteremail, upgrading Exchange compatibility +/- bundling a backend product regain Palm a share of the market the they were previously in the ideal position to OWN? We'll soon see.

4) I see the apologists and other c0ckroaches have overrun Palminfocenter in my absence. Mike Cane's return apparently almost exactly coincided with my departure. Very interesting. As soon as the lights are turned out, the c0ckroaches and rats come out from their holes. Pathetic. Looks like it's time for the exterminaTVoR to deal with the vermin again.

5) Where is the brilliant discussion that was supposed to have magically appeared in TVoR's absence? Looking at the past few days of posting all I see are an endless burst of rantings spewed out by "Manic" Mike Cane as he sleazily advertises for his pathetic little blog ("Come see my blog!" "I've posted about this at my blog!" "I talked about this on my blog!" "This was on my blog first!"...). Time to check your lithium levels again, Mikey...

Where is Beersy? Where is just_little_me? Where are all the other dumb$$es that were "brave" enough to whine about TVoR from the safety of their parents' computer? Inquiring minds want to know...

6) Is hkklife the ONLY person contributing articles to Palminfocenter? What will happen when the (inevitable) day comes that he gets burnt out and throws in the towel?

7) As a Treo 700p victim, I find it interesting that it will take a YEAR for Palm to issue a patch that address only SOME of the device's most glaring issues. The horrible lag seen is a function of Palm's decision to cheapen out on the design and specs (Limited memory, limited processor, and speccing that Windows Mobile + Palm OS devices share the same hardware) and cannot be fixed with a mere software update. Sorry Palm, but (as George W. Bush once tried to say) "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me". I won't get fooled twice. Nor will anyone in my company. Good job, Palm.

8) The 4 year old CLIE TH55 is STILL the best traditional form factor PalmOS device ever made. Palm should be embarassed.

9) The 5 year old Samsung i500 is STILL the best PalmOS smartphone ever made. Palm should be embarassed.

10) The Secret Third Business (STB) is the modern equivalent of the Palm VII/VIIx. Palm will be embarassed. W T F were they smoking? All they had to do was ship a smaller, well-made Treo suffed with a COMPLETE set of apps and a STABLE OS. How hard would it have been to do THAT?
My old buddy Michael Mace must be laughing his head off these days.

TVoR

http://domoresoftware.tripod.com