.KEYWORD palmsource
.FLYINGHEAD EVENT REPORT
.TITLE PalmSource Open House showcases what’s new in the Palm community
.FEATURE
.SUMMARY On September 26, PalmSource, Inc. celebrated the opening of its new headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA. Attendees had the opportunity to talk one-on-one with PalmSource’s executive team, licensees, partners, software developers, and staff. Jen Edwards reports in with her perspective on the event, including news of upcoming software releases!
.AUTHOR Jen Edwards
Things certainly are starting to buzz in the Palm OS community. The excitement in the air was almost palpable at the PalmSource Open House, which was both a showcase of some of the platform’s leading developers and a really great party. We’ve been hearing a lot about Palm OS 5 lately, with rumors of new devices and other information leaking out almost daily. And while we didn’t see anything like one of those rumored new devices at the Open House, there were still a few surprises.
But let’s start at the beginning-the press briefing held before the Open House event was quite informative. The PalmSource User Council was announced, along with Samsung’s renewal of their Palm OS license agreement and news of a partnership between PalmSource and Good Technology. The mayor of Sunnyvale even showed up, Palm i705 in hand. It turns out that he was there to participate in the ribbon cutting ceremony just after the press briefing, officially unveiling the new PalmSource corporate headquarters.
After that it was time for the real party at the Open House. There were so many developers there that it was actually tough to navigate around all of the tables. Fortunately, California weather allowed many of the developers to set up outside. And while there weren’t any OS 5 devices on display, I was struck by how many of the developers had chosen Sony Clie NR70s to showcase their software applications. I don’t think I saw any other kind of handheld at the event. Perhaps that’s to be expected, considering that the NR70 is the fastest Palm OS device to date. Or perhaps it’s just a sign of the times-many users seem to agree that Sony is doing a great job in bringing innovative new hardware technology to the Palm OS platform.
While there isn’t enough space here to highlight every single developer’s offerings, it’s possible to hit some of the highlights. One of those is from Llamagraphics, the developer of LifeBalance (at http://www.llamagraphics.com). The long-awaited Windows desktop version of LifeBalance is now in final beta and should be launched sometime in October. I didn’t have a lot of time to look at it, but from what I saw, it will indeed be just like using LifeBalance on the handheld, though of course with a much bigger screen and a keyboard. The Mac desktop version is already available.
I also got to see some of the latest accessories from Sony, including the game controller and their pocket keyboard. Honestly, playing Astraware’s Zap!2016 (at http://www.astraware.com/palm/zap2000/) has never been so much fun! Other news includes the announcement that TealMaster, from TealPoint Software (at http://www.tealpoint.com/softmstr.htm), is indeed compatible with OS 5. While not every single hack will work in the new compatibility mode, most of them should, and that’s great news for handheld users who like to "soup up" their systems to the max.
Another exciting bit of news comes from Cutting Edge Software (at http://www.cesinc.com). Their latest version of QuickOffice Pro adds QuickPoint, which allows users to view and edit PowerPoint presentations on their handheld devices. Presentations can be stored on expansion cards and printed wirelessly with Bachmann Software’s PrintBoy Office Pro (at http://www.bachmannsoftware.com). Handmark Software (at http://www.handmark.com) will be releasing several major programs in the MMC (MultiMediaCard) format in the near future, including Scrabble & Monopoly, PDABible, PDAPhoto, the Rand McNally Road Atlas, and TetrisClassic. Landware also showcased their Money Magazine Financial Assistant (at http://www.landware.com/money/index.html), designed to help everyone better manage their personal finances. The last major announcement is from Trust Digital (at http://www.trustdigital.com), which now offers a VPN version of PDASecure for secure client to gateway communications over wireless networks.
Several other developers were also showcasing products that haven’t yet been released, so I can’t share all of the details on those. But there was definitely quite a lot of excitement in the air-it’s obvious that good things are definitely coming for the Palm OS platform. That’s great news after all these long months of waiting, with nothing more than rumors of what’s to come to sustain the user community. The new devices are just around the corner, with the NX70 from Sony being the first available Palm OS 5 handheld, and announcements are expected from some of the other licensees, including Palm, within the next month or so. This is truly a great time to be a Palm OS handheld user.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on Llamagraphics, visit http://www.llamagraphics.com.
For more information on Astraware’s Zap!2016, visit http://www.astraware.com/palm/zap2000/.
For more information on TealMaster from TealPoint Software, visit http://www.tealpoint.com/softmstr.htm.
For more information on Cutting Edge Software, visit http://www.cesinc.com.
For more information on Bachmann Software, visit http://www.bachmannsoftware.com.
For more information on Handmark Software, visit http://www.handmark.com.
For more information on Landware’s Money Magazine Financial Assistant, visit http://www.landware.com/money/index.html.
For more information on Trust Digital, visit http://www.trustdigital.com.
For more information on Palm handhelds, visit http://www.palm.com.
.H1 Easy, flexible article reprints
ZATZ now offers a quick, easy, flexible and inexpensive way to use article reprints in your marketing and promotion efforts. You can now get article reprints for a one-time fee of only $200. For details, visit http://mediakit.zatz.com/reprints.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?50@@.ee7030f
