Funniest Cobalt Comment of the Day!

[Bob Russell]

Everyone is longing to finally see some Cobalt devices.
So I couldn't help but laugh at the following exchange over at PalmInfocenter.

RE: Correct me if i am wrong
mikecane @ 6/25/2005 9:07:00 PM #

>>>Cmon, I'm waiting for you! Cobalt, come here!

Maybe we should set a trap with some food to lure it out. What do Cobalts like to eat?

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RE: Correct me if i am wrong
Texonite @ 6/25/2005 11:02:36 PM #

Fresh Protein Software I believe

Cmon, I'm waiting for you! Cobalt, come here!

Hmmm... I wonder if Cobalts have fur coats?
Do they have humps like camels?
Does Protein Software taste anything like a Protein Shake?
So many questions!

[Bob Russell]

And (not Palm related but fits the thread), I must be in the mood for silly jokes tonight, because I also really enjoyed this comment on Slashdot in the midst of a discussion about ways to archive large volumes of data. There were tape solutions, optical solutions, RAID solutions, etc. All a bit boring and repetitive. And then this comment from someone with a fresh take on the issue.

by vjmurphy (190266) on Saturday June 25, @10:37PM (#12911826)
[size=-1](http://strangematter.net/)[/size]
"How do other Slashdotters back up their important data?"

I memorize it.

I have to admit... that's an approach I never thought of!!!

[hacker]

While we're at it, here's one I heard recently that I couldn't stop laughing at..

Q: How many voters does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: None, voters can't change anything.

But back to Cobalt... why the hype? This Windows-centric "upgradeitis" has to come to an end, its getting a bit tiring. Running the latest, greatest, bleeding-edge versions of everything doesn't make you any more productive, nor does it make you any "cooler" to your peers, and it most-certainly doesn't give you any bragging rights in any circles.

So why the hype? Are we back to this multitasking/multithreading issue again? Without third-party applications to take advantage of Cobalt (i.e. 6 months at least after Cobalt is released to the public), it doesn't make sense to "demand" it.

I just don't see the need, my Palm devices (pilot 1000 to T3, about 20 PalmOS handhelds) all work fine for what I use(d) them for, and I do some really REALLY wacky things with my Palm handhelds.

But maybe people just want to keep trying to morph them into a PocketPC device, so they can then say how much it sucks in comparison. Just like a 4x4 Jeep sucks racing the 1/4 mile against a Porsche.

The reports I've heard from "insider developers" that have had their hands on pre-release Cobalt devices are very unfavorable. The devices are ridiculously slow (about 2-3x slower than today's current handhelds) and they have all kinds of underlying annoyances. Yes, they'll probably work these bugs out in time, but Cobalt is most-definitely not ready for prime-time yet.

This isn't Windows, you don't need to upgrade unless something is broken or there's a security issue involved that necessitates a patch to fix it. Remember, "Newer" is not always "Better", and in most cases, it won't be.

[surur]

Originally Posted by hacker

But back to Cobalt... why the hype? This Windows-centric "upgradeitis" has to come to an end, its getting a bit tiring. Running the latest, greatest, bleeding-edge versions of everything doesn't make you any more productive, nor does it make you any "cooler" to your peers, and it most-certainly doesn't give you any bragging rights in any circles.

Hacker, you need to move into better circles. Running WM 5.0 will make many people more productive, having Direct X games and desktop quality video will certainly make you cooler to most young people, and having push-type e-mail will give you bragging rights over many older business-type ones.

You need to get into the right circles, man.

On an more serious note, the reason people want to upgrade is because Garnet is a dead end currently, and groaning under the load, and people want to get to Cobalt sooner so that the painful transition period can get put behind them, and they can have an OS with the ability to grow. The more they put it of, the worse it will be.

Surur

[Laurens]

Originally Posted by hacker

This isn't Windows, you don't need to upgrade unless something is broken or there's a security issue involved that necessitates a patch to fix it. Remember, "Newer" is not always "Better", and in most cases, it won't be.

Then why do you have 20 handhelds?

[volwrath]

Originally Posted by hacker

This isn't Windows, you don't need to upgrade unless something is broken or there's a security issue involved that necessitates a patch to fix it. Remember, "Newer" is not always "Better", and in most cases, it won't be.

Why is Windows eating Palms lunch right now? The consumer has voted and says they do want more functionality.

Besides you should see the babes I get after I whip out my X50v. My wife doesn't care for that too much

[hacker]

Originally Posted by Laurens

Then why do you have 20 handhelds?

Because development on them requires physical access to the hardware, to work around OS-level issues that are inconsistent with what is documented in the Palm SDK, from an on-Palm and conduit-level perspective. The T2 and T3 for example, are DRAMATICALLY different when you start poking at the actual low-level OS functions (not the application data, but actual OS functions themselves).

An OS 3.3 device for example will hard-reset if you try to call SetSysDateTime, but it works on the Emulator and on 3.2 and later versions. Its things exactly like this that drive the need to have physical access to the device hardware itself.

[Bob Russell]

Originally Posted by volwrath

Why is Windows eating Palms lunch right now? The consumer has voted and says they do want more functionality.

Besides you should see the babes I get after I whip out my X50v. My wife doesn't care for that too much

Win Mobile may not be dominating the way it sounds in the press sometimes. For example, if I remember correctly (and I'm too lazy to go look it up right now), Palm's share of the traditional handheld market is still pretty steady. Don't get fooled by all the studies and how they start messing with definitions to get funny results. And as far as smart phones, I think that one PalmOS smartphone (don't remember if it was the Asian one or a Treo) had outsold all Windows smartphones combined. We could debate the numbers all day long, but I'm just saying it may not the kind of domination it sounds like, and a lot of consumers still seem to be voting for Palm.

And you must be much better looking than me, because my Treo sure doesn't bring any "babes" when I whip it out!

[surur]

Originally Posted by BobR

Palm's share of the traditional handheld market is still pretty steady.

This is an odd thing to say, because its exactly in the traditional handheld market where Palm is especially tanking. Q1 2005 They shipped 26% less traditional handhelds than last year, while win mobile is only up and up.

The Treo is saving their bacon at the moment, and thats mainly in USA (80% of Treos), because all the wonderful Win Mob smartphones are GSM.

Surur

[Bob Russell]

Originally Posted by surur

This is an odd thing to say, because its exactly in the traditional handheld market where Palm is especially tanking. Q1 2005 They shipped 26% less traditional handhelds than last year, while win mobile is only up and up.

Yea, I'm not too sure about how to read that one because the more promising figures I've heard were from various PalmSource sources, and there wasn't enough detail to nail it down. But I still think Win Mobile might not be dominating the way it sounds in the press.

Originally Posted by surur

The Treo is saving their bacon at the moment, and thats mainly in USA (80% of Treos), because all the wonderful Win Mob smartphones are GSM.

Surur

That's an interesting observation about GSM. But maybe things are catching up now on the non-GSM WinMobile side. Just before I bought my Treo, I was looking at a Verizon AudioVox 6600, which I guess has many other names like HTC or AV with another number, etc. It's not VGA, but it's quite impressive and has a nifty slide out keyboard with bubble keys that are much better than you'd expect. The screen is very nice looking also. Plus the pda form factor is the traditional PPC look. If I was on the PPC side and had some extra dollars to spend, I'd get one of those (but probably from someone like Sprint with a better deal on the data plans).

[surur]

Of course I would not put down the Treo. The form factor is very nice, as is the integration of the keyboard with the OS. The competition is lacking in these specific areas only. In 6-12 months however the Treo will be surrounded by many more worthy competitors.

Surur

[volwrath]

Actually Verizon has just released its treo-killer the i730. The only place the treo has it beat is resolution and price tag ~$200 cheaper . it looks soooo sweet!!

Still all i want is a fast 1xrtt or evdo bluetooth phone that i can tether my axim X50v to. Is that too much to ask, Sprint?!?

[TadW]

Originally Posted by volwrath

Actually Verizon has just released its treo-killer the i730. The only place the treo has it beat is resolution and price tag ~$200 cheaper . it looks soooo sweet!!

It does look sweet, I admit. But would I buy it (if I had the cash and were a Verizon business customer)? Not really. There are some small obstacles that would bother me like mad. Like with WiFi on, you cannot receive phone calls. What were they thinking? Also, with Windows Mobile 2005 ahead and no promises of future upgrade possibilities (WM OEMs are known to be reluctant to offer upgrade services), I'd not spend a single buck on this device right now.