Jan Slodicka a �crit : > > Limiting > > your app to OS 5 will make it easier to develop and test while not cutting > > off many sales. > > That's what we did a few months ago. > But I meant this as a reaction to Ed's topic. I think that even for > non-multimedia apps the situation will be similar - mainly because the > people who stick to outdated devices won't pay. (As you pointed to.) > > In my opinion supporting OS3- in new apps cannot bring any gain. (Maybe > except very special occasions.) > > Jan Slodicka
Here's my 2 cents: I develop a cave survey freeware, a field where electronics are rather uncommon. Thanks to its innovative design and convenience, my program (first of its kind) is slowly reversing the cavers' avoidance of taking fragile gear underground. Most of my present users didn't even have a Palm before, they bought one just to use my program - I regularly get e-mails that confirm that. Of course, for underground use, they rather get a IIIxe on eBay than risk a T3; so I must support OS 3.x (I go down to 3.0 to cover some Palm Pilots). The PalmOne/PalmSource executives, apparently much focused on MP3, video and high-end Treos, may think glitter-less apps like mine are now irrelevant, but everyone knows how hard it is to attract a new customer - after all, my users have kept resisting PalmOne's marketing efforts. Indeed, for now, they prefer simple models with replaceable batteries (a day of caving lasts longer than a battery charge on newer models...), but after a while, I assume many will start using their Palm for things other than caving and may then decide they want something more exciting than a IIIxe. So in the end, PalmOne/PalmSource gains, but in the meantime, I must keep supporting OS 3.x. The reason these ROMs should remain available is simple: the Xerox lawsuit didn't wipe out the installed base nor exhaust the supply of brand new obsolete units. And myself, what do I gain? No money, that's for sure, but life is not just about earning money. I get to meet or know more people in the caving community worldwide, and I get invited to exclusive caving spots. That's good enough for me :) And as far as testing my app goes, I'd rather stick to pre-OS 5 to use good'ol POSE than the crash-prone Simulator. Microsoft must be ROTFL with all those fatal error reports... -- Luc Le Blanc Montreal, Quebec, Canada Take your PDA where the sun never shines... Go map a cave! http://www.speleo.qc.ca/Auriga -- For information on using the Palm Developer Forums, or to unsubscribe, please see http://www.palmos.com/dev/support/forums/
