To me this is the real question. With PalmOne bringing in new PIM apps for the T|E and T|T3 (and causing various sundry headaches for developers as the price of progress), then are these new PIM apps on the TH using new databases as well?
(Though we don' t know much about OS6 PIM databases yet, nor whethor PalmOne's new apps are OS6 format databases or intermediate...)
One of my largst worries is that the PIM applications will become major selling points and major fragmentation will occur between the licensees. ie: Will PalmOne ship with entirely different PIM software than the Sony models? Do they uses different and incompatible databases, or different and compatable? How well will they export/import to standard internal models that applications can use, or will there have to be brutal hacks.. ie: Will DateBk5 and Agendus have to live on in their *own* databases (old ones, or new ones, or OS6 ones), or will they be able to live in these new ones without causing troubles for one licensee or another?
All these TH55 reviews and no one tried DB5 yet?
If the databases are new, custom, OS6 style or who knows what.. all the DB5 and Agendus fans will certainly need to keep an eye out to see if their favourite apps will just work, or take a few months before new items in DB5 show up in DB5 and the new local PIM apps for each licensee.. ugh.
But lets hope it "just works, more or less" if it doesnt' work fully. Like with the T|T3...it mostly works, but doesn't for all the details... but at least people can get by :/
It wll be an interesting next 6mo for sure, to see OS6 come out and what directoins the licensees take.. lets hope they all remain compatible, or life could get really nasty for us developers :/ ie: Will the licensees look at the OS as just a backend, for building on top, or as the front end thats done? Sony is increasingly shoewing that it differentiates through its own software (all the movie and still viewers, etc etc), so if the OS just goes under the hood, it coudl mean we'll end up with a lot of s/w divergence between the licensees.. is that good or bad? hard to say, but a lot more work :/
jeff
Aside.. perhaps the unit comes with the traditional PIM software as well as this fancy new one. That woudl be interesting, but then perhaps we have fragmenttion within even the machine.. ie: The new posterboy software makes datebook or calendric entries that dont' show up in the traditional software, or DB5/Agendus and vice versa? Or perhaps just the fancy ink-text annotations go into anoterh database and the other content is in the old style databases, so apps must be careful not to orphan one side or the other? Security implications? Too maqny questions
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