Interesting developers take on PalmOS

Bob Russell · 01-10-2006, 02:00 PM

Jeff Mitchell is the owner and Software Engineer for CodeJedi, and author of one of the premier outliner programs for PalmOS - ShadowPlan. He is an amazing developer who also has a passion for game emulators. If you read any of his stuff at all, and especially any of his support or forum writings, you learn in no time that he has not only an amazing clarity of mind with respect to software, but a passion for his work and a generous nature. His ShadowPlan software is a significant software system. It includes support for many PalmOS devices, it includes frequent updates, and has multiple versions of the desktop companion software for multiple platforms. And yet with all that, he continues to give free updates to his customers. I'm proudly a member of that group and enjoy the opportunity to toot his horn when I can.

Due to both a shortage of time for this post and a little concern of the reaction if I put this on the front page without enough time to shape the context under which it is read, this is remaining in the Palm topic category as opposed to the front page. Content is worthy, but presentation is not.

So in brief, let me tell you the heart of the matter I'm presenting...
First of all, I want to let people know that Jeff has a great blog. Secondly, I want to point in particular to a great entry that talks about what it's like to develop for PalmOS. The entry is meant to be a venting of frustration, so you'll see mostly complaints, but he's also a big fan of Palm. It's just that the focus of this entry is about the hard things about developing for Palm devices. He talks about numerous topics, including bugginess of device software that is a headache for developers, too many versions of APIs, lack of good developer tools and even documentation of changes. Certainly he is not alone in his frustrations. We've even seen recently here how we may have lost Fitaly input method on the PalmOS platform (but for now is recovered unofficially thanks to some good work by Alexander Pruss and the original author of Fitaly). Other developers have just left the PalmOS world out of frustration and uncertainty for the future.

But in the midst of all the complaints, there's something great about PalmOS and both developers and users remain remarkably loyal despite uncertainty or frustrations. And Palm still manages to put out some great products, with the latest models being some of the most solid and well-designed ever produced. (From the consumer's point of view at least!)

Jeff also indicated that there are problems on the other side of the fence also, with Microsoft and Windows Mobile for example, so we may see a little venting related to other platforms also.

If you read the article, you can see why I shy away from a front page post. It's a very emotional and candid post from Jeff, and "Palm enemies" or people that are naive about software and development work could very easily twist it into something that he did not intend or even imply. But we've got some really sophisticated and non-judgemental readers here at MR, so I should be able to share this without fear, right!?

Thanks to Jeff for an inside look at some frustrations from a developer's point of view. He is one of my favorite developers and I hope he finds continued success on whatever platforms he chooses to develop on.

Again, sorry if this is a rambling or confusing entry, but I'm short on time, and it was something I really wanted to share. It's good stuff.

BTW, if you check out his blog, you'll also find that he just got one of those new Linux-based GP2X gaming devices. He's got some pics and initial thoughts, but with his skills in gaming I can't wait to see what he does with it and what he thinks of it!

Bob Russell · 01-10-2006, 02:08 PM

And interestingly PalmSource finds Jeff to be a success story also...
http://www.palmsource.com/developers.../codejedi.html

The article is probably a bit outdated, but he is quite a success for Palm and PalmOS.

Antoine of MMM · 01-11-2006, 04:16 PM

That was a great article BobR. I have to say that I was familiar with some of those items, but not to that degree. I shall be more kind to my developer friends when asking for a feature update or a bug fix for my device(s) from now on.

And even more as I work closely with a web app developer everyday, I am seeing the more how the developer community and user community are kept in the dark by simple feats of undocumentation and $$$. Its a shame. Mobile computing would be so much better if shared accountability with all (dev, user, company, os, etc) could be stressed more than getting the next slightly refreshed thing out that barely works.

01-10-2006, 02:00 PM	#1
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Interesting developers take on PalmOS Jeff Mitchell is the owner and Software Engineer for CodeJedi, and author of one of the premier outliner programs for PalmOS - ShadowPlan. He is an amazing developer who also has a passion for game emulators. If you read any of his stuff at all, and especially any of his support or forum writings, you learn in no time that he has not only an amazing clarity of mind with respect to software, but a passion for his work and a generous nature. His ShadowPlan software is a significant software system. It includes support for many PalmOS devices, it includes frequent updates, and has multiple versions of the desktop companion software for multiple platforms. And yet with all that, he continues to give free updates to his customers. I'm proudly a member of that group and enjoy the opportunity to toot his horn when I can. Due to both a shortage of time for this post and a little concern of the reaction if I put this on the front page without enough time to shape the context under which it is read, this is remaining in the Palm topic category as opposed to the front page. Content is worthy, but presentation is not. So in brief, let me tell you the heart of the matter I'm presenting... First of all, I want to let people know that Jeff has a great blog. Secondly, I want to point in particular to a great entry that talks about what it's like to develop for PalmOS. The entry is meant to be a venting of frustration, so you'll see mostly complaints, but he's also a big fan of Palm. It's just that the focus of this entry is about the hard things about developing for Palm devices. He talks about numerous topics, including bugginess of device software that is a headache for developers, too many versions of APIs, lack of good developer tools and even documentation of changes. Certainly he is not alone in his frustrations. We've even seen recently here how we may have lost Fitaly input method on the PalmOS platform (but for now is recovered unofficially thanks to some good work by Alexander Pruss and the original author of Fitaly). Other developers have just left the PalmOS world out of frustration and uncertainty for the future. But in the midst of all the complaints, there's something great about PalmOS and both developers and users remain remarkably loyal despite uncertainty or frustrations. And Palm still manages to put out some great products, with the latest models being some of the most solid and well-designed ever produced. (From the consumer's point of view at least!) Jeff also indicated that there are problems on the other side of the fence also, with Microsoft and Windows Mobile for example, so we may see a little venting related to other platforms also. If you read the article, you can see why I shy away from a front page post. It's a very emotional and candid post from Jeff, and "Palm enemies" or people that are naive about software and development work could very easily twist it into something that he did not intend or even imply. But we've got some really sophisticated and non-judgemental readers here at MR, so I should be able to share this without fear, right!? Thanks to Jeff for an inside look at some frustrations from a developer's point of view. He is one of my favorite developers and I hope he finds continued success on whatever platforms he chooses to develop on. Again, sorry if this is a rambling or confusing entry, but I'm short on time, and it was something I really wanted to share. It's good stuff. BTW, if you check out his blog, you'll also find that he just got one of those new Linux-based GP2X gaming devices. He's got some pics and initial thoughts, but with his skills in gaming I can't wait to see what he does with it and what he thinks of it!

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01-10-2006, 02:08 PM	#2
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	And interestingly PalmSource finds Jeff to be a success story also... http://www.palmsource.com/developers.../codejedi.html The article is probably a bit outdated, but he is quite a success for Palm and PalmOS.

01-11-2006, 04:16 PM	#3
Antoine of MMM Mobile Ministry Magazine Posts: 119 Karma: 4507 Join Date: May 2005 Location: Charlotte, NC Device: Nokia N75/N800 Internet Tablet	That was a great article BobR. I have to say that I was familiar with some of those items, but not to that degree. I shall be more kind to my developer friends when asking for a feature update or a bug fix for my device(s) from now on. And even more as I work closely with a web app developer everyday, I am seeing the more how the developer community and user community are kept in the dark by simple feats of undocumentation and $$$. Its a shame. Mobile computing would be so much better if shared accountability with all (dev, user, company, os, etc) could be stressed more than getting the next slightly refreshed thing out that barely works.

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