There are many services out there that offer you cloud based PIM+ (plus email, photos, storage, etc.) Some are free, some are for pay. I think that 2009 will be the year that we see more competition for consumer mindshare.

Yahoo has been in the game for quite some time. They've got Yahoo Mail, which has free 'push' to Apple's iPhone/iPod touch platform (last I checked anyway). They've got an OK addressbook, calendar, notebook, and photo management through Flickr. The problem is that they haven't put it all together. They do have Yahoo! Go but results do vary from smartphone to smartphone and it's not available for all platforms.

Google provides superior email service (in my experience) and their calendar is pretty useful - although lack of iCal sync (for free) makes it less useful for me. Their addressbook stinks - big time! I really wish they would fix it. They too have photo management through picassa. The one problem with the google verse is that is only available on Android devices -although I guess separate apps could be available on other platforms.

MobileMe is Apple's paid service (and sometimes I feel like a sucker for using it, but I can use my nokia phone and my ipod, and my mac to use it, so I guess it's valuable).

Ovi is Nokia's platform for all things PIM+ - haven't used it much, and the sync times out on my Nokia N80, so I guess I won't be fully using it until I get a new S60 phone.

Finally Microsoft has announced SkyBox, it's own version of PIM+ that is set to be unveiled sometime this month.

There is of course the Danger sidekick PIM+, but I am not sure if this is sticking around for very long (I think it would be better to integrate it with SkyBox...but what do I know?)

The one problem I've got with all of these services is that they don't play nice with one another. On my Mac I can sync my contact data with Google and Yahoo. Awesome! What about my ToDo and Calendar? What about an Ovi plug in? I don't mind having a different cloud provider for my PIM data, however it's imperative for this data to be interoperable with each other.

So what will happen in 2009? I think we will probably see an improvement of services in order to gain mindshare. I don't think we will see much cross-sync compatibility - as much as I would love to see this happen.

Tags: technology, PIM, Nokia, windows, apple, cloud

So, recently I got a new computer at work. It's not really new - the hardware is a year old, but it's new to me. I asked for Vista on it since I was using Vista before on my aging Dell GX270. All I have to say is WOW. It makes such a difference to run Vista on capable hardware. I had no problems with vista on my aging GX270, even though boot-up was slow so I was not a hater.

Thinking about Vista's problems, here is what I think Microsoft should do with Windows 7

1. Vista is partly a PR problem. People think it sucks because people are running it on inferior hardware. Those people talk, and influence the thought of others. The stupid "I am a PC ads" don't work. They are...well...stupid! I think the Seinfeld+Gates ads were AWESOME! Get some better ads, bring back Seinfeld.


2. Get rid of legacy shit and let people know that you are doing so! Look at Apple. They buried MacOS 9. They made a mostly compatible layer called classic and shipped it with all PowerPC machines. Now with the Intel transition MacOS 9 is gone. Microsoft needs to get rid of Windows 3.x and 9x underpinnings. Make a separate sandbox for the old 3.x and 9x based apps, and let people know, given them a firm date on when you are stopping support. Work with your developers to make the transition smooth. People who need those old apps will still run XP but at least they won't badmouth your product.


3. Be more ridgid on what runs windows! Again, look at what Apple does. No need to support a million configurations, and no need to support el cheapo $500 PCs with Vista. Force manufacturers to get rid of those crapola cheap PCs and design an experience just like apple does. There is no need for experience and utility to be separate and mutually exclusive entities.


4. If you REALLY need to have cheap PCs and webtops running Vista,build a microPC version of Windows that runs MOST programs. Dont taint windows's name my trying to make it all things to all people. Look at the various linux webtops like the eeePC. Their version of the OS is not the same as one you would find on the desktop and for good reason. Maybe you could assist your developers to create those webtop versions and have a way of marketing that it works with Windows-the-desktop-version and Windows-the-webtop-version.

5. Other people have said this, maybe this time you will listen. Get rid of those stupid and artificial distinctions between home basic, home premium, business and ultimate. Your BASIC BASIC sucks and it's more expensive than MacOS X (os x being $129 and home basic being $200). Just give everyone the Ultimate experience at the same Apple price of $129! If everyone has the same experience, everyone has the same basis for comparison. There should only be three versions of Windows: Server, Desktop (aka Vista/7 Ultimate) and Webtop.


Thus concludes my advice to Microsoft. Now go forth and stop shooting yourselves on the foot!

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/compare-editions/default.aspx

Tags: technology, microsoft, windows, opinion, vista

Thinking of retro operating systems, I had a bizarre realization the other day: out of all of the original PDA operating systems, Windows CE is the only one still evolving! If you think about it, the original PDA operating systems were these:


Apple's NewtonOS
Palm's PalmOS
Sharp's Synergy OS
Sony's MagicCap OS
Microsoft's Windows CE


Now Apple, Sony and Sharp came out of the PDA market and killed off their operating systems. Now I know that the Newton community still keeps the Newton current, but there is only so much enthusiasts can do with what they are given as building blocks. Palm is pulling a Commodore on us and keeps messing with the release dates and updates to the PalmOS. For all intents and purposes the PalmOS is dead.


Now Windows CE is really the only one that has endured! Sure the first versions were awful, but ten years later, it doesn't stink as much, and some people like it! (well some people like S&M too but anyway).


I find it interesting that Microsoft and Windows CE is the 'old school' that won the "PDA OS wars" and Apple and Google are the new guys entering the market.

Tags: technology, windows, Newton, palm, magiccap, PDA

I saw this graphic the other day when I was browsing Danger's website.


Now I would love to try a sidekick out, but there is no way to synchronize my PIM data on my mac with the Sidekick OS - mark/space used to provide a Missing Sync solution but they discontinued it when the Sidekick 3 came out.


So browsing Danger's website, I was a bit happy to see the graphic depicted here because obviously that is a Mac! I decided to read the details of synchronizing and what do you know - No Mac solution! Still the old windows-only sync!


Graphics designers need to pay better attention to what they use!

Tags: technology, Graphics, design, sidekick, incogruity, macintosh, windows, sync

Windows Status report... The thing decided that I am a valid, non-pirated-version, user.

Thank you Microsoft!

Tags: windows, vista, weird, microsoft

Since the semester is over, and the customer traffic has died down for this week, I decided to do some spring cleaning on my Vista machine. Over the semester I had installed many applications that were one-use apps, or used them a few times when the same patron came back multiple times. Since the summer usually has different students coming in, and there is no guarantee that the Fall will bring the same students back, it’s time to speed up this old windows PC.

One of the applications that I uninstalled was Netscape Navigator. I used to use this browser since version 2.0 on my 68k Mac (and 96k modem!). Since Netscape killed it off last February, there was really no point to leaving it on my hard drive. If a patron calls and has a problem with the browser, the answer is simple: Upgrade.

Tags: technology, netscape, navigator, uninstall, vista, windows

It has been about ten days since my Mac went all wacky on me and it only functions in Safe Boot mode.
I've since been using it daily for almost everything that I used it before it started acting all wacky in normal mode. I surf the internet, I open and edit all popular Microsoft office formats, I use RapidWeaver to publish on my blog and I download my podcasts on iTunes.

The only limitations are that I cannot use WiFi, I need to be plugged into an ethernet cable, and I don't have any audio. This lead me to think back...back to last January when I upgraded my Dell GX280 from Windows XP to Windows Vista (and office 2007). I must say that my older Mac running in safe boot is actually faster and more usable than a newer Windows PC running Vista! Simply Amazing!

Tags: apple, microsoft, windows, vista, functionality

OK, file this under 'murphy's law'
I mean, WTF ?! My Visual Studio installation was working fine (albeit slow since it's in virtual PC, but that is beside the point).
There were 96 windows updates (since I only installed Windows XP SP2 on my virtual machine), so I decided that I would do the updates and keep my virtual machine safe. Well this fubared my visual studio installation! The C# components no longer work Aaaaaarrgggghhh!
I spent yesterday reinstalling components of VS, but nothing... I will give it another try today with repair. Hopefully all will be fixed before tonight's presentation!
I hate windows

Tags: windows, XP, visual studio, microsoft, virtual PC, FUBAR, updates, development

I am stuck doing documentation and feeling kinda bored.
This is weird, because normally I really like documentation! Countless times (at least for work) I have come up with manuals, cheat-sheets, assisted in writing departmental policies and SLAs, and it did not really bother me to just sit and write. I like documentation because it's concrete. You can document something and know what it is, what it is about, how it works, and how to fix it if it does not work properly - if written correctly of course!

When I code though, or if I am involved in software development, it's like there is a switch that goes off and I really get bored doing documentation. Eh! maybe I just need a break... gonna go grab a cola and motivate myself to finish it up.

Tags: coding, development, visual studio, windows, virtual PC, homework, school