Recently in Palm OS Category

Virgin Mobile user? Own a Palm Pilot with Bluetooth? Want to access the Internet on your Palm OS device? Annoyed by this?

Don't worry. There is a way to get everything working.

Access, which bought up PalmSource, has confirmed that the future Palm OS will be Linux-based. You'll be able to run Linux apps on future Palm devices that use the OS, but you'll also be able to run current Palm apps (well, most of them).

PalmSource was already walking down the Linux path when it was acquired by Access. This was partially because of the complete failure of any device manufacturers to license Palm OS 6, the next generation version of the current Palm OS 5 that incorporated lots of lovely technology from the acquisition of Be's technology. The question is, will anyone bother with this new Palm OS either?

Sure, it's easier to find Linux developers than Palm OS developers. But the last big Linux PDA, which was produced by Sharp, is no longer available in the UK because of lack of popularity. Ultimately, what made Palm successful was the Palm interface in combination with existing software. If there are no good reasons to move to the next OS, you lose compatibility with a swathe of software and the Palm interface gets replaced with something more Linux-y, why bother migrating?

I get the suspicion that by the time the last Palm device gets made, it'll still be running Palm OS 5, not Linux.

If you use Missing Sync or other Palm syncing tools, you'll occasionally get duplicates in iCal. Although I can't claim much credit for it, I've posted a duplicate eraser, iCal De-Dupe, to my site. It's based on an existing AppleScript, but I've modified it to run automatically and turned it into application.

I find it useful: I hope you do, too.

Technorati Tags: iCal

If this report is true, the apparent slowness of Microsoft to address bugs, add new features and develop apps in its Mac apps is probably due to the scaling back of the MacBU. Certainly, the vibes I've been getting of late are that only a few significant developers are working on things such as SyncServices support in Entourage and so on.

However, that's more or less how it always used to be: AppleScript development in Entourage was more or less the work of one man, Omar Shahine, who also did most of the Palm conduit development. Since he's moved on from the MacBU, it's been noticeable how little improvement and how many more bugs and problems have appeared in Entourage's AppleScript support; there's also been little or no development of the Palm conduit since the Office X version, despite its many, many flaws.

So despite the announcements at MacWorld and the constant boasting about how MacBU is the largest Mac developer other than Apple, don't be surprised if Microsoft's Mac work tails off even more over the next couple of years.

Technorati Tags: macworld, Microsoft

Missing Sync still has some way to go before I can roll it out Chez Buckley. Although I did greet its arrival with happiness, I'm finding it's a tad buggy.

Things don't get synched, they get synched to the wrong fields, categories behave strangely and get truncated: although it's very tempting to blame Apple's SyncServices, I think we have to regard Missing Sync as a work in progress at the moment.

I'll let you know how the next beta pans out when it becomes available

Technorati Tags: Macs, Palm, PDAs

Missing Sync 5 is out! O frabjous day! Calloo! Callay! As well as a host of lovely extras, such as conduits for iTunes and iPhoto syncing, Missing Sync 5 now has conduits for replacing the Apple Palm iSync conduit. Finally, categories sync properly with iCal calendars. Pictures and other fields sync up properly. Everything is good!

As soon as Microsoft releases the SyncServices-compatible version of Entourage, Mac Palm owners will have almost complete happiness.

Updates and related entries
November 9, 2005: Missing Sync still has some way to go before I can roll it out Chez Buckley. Although I did greet its arrival with happiness, I'm finding it's a tad buggy. Things don't get synched, they get synched to the...

It's just been confirmed by Paul Berkowitz, one of Microsoft's volunteers and long-time Entourage developer, that come the much-anticipated Sync Services update later this year, Palm users will have to make a switch.

Updates and related entries
January 12, 2006: The apparent slowness of Microsoft to address bugs, add new features and develop apps in its Mac apps is probably due to the scaling back of the MacBU.