On Nov 30, 2005, at 7:20 PM, Lisa Dusseault wrote:
What do people think about using a client/server protocol to get
calendar data to the Palm/mobile device?
Does this mean that we have to write new clients that will run on the
device? If so, then we are talking about a very large undertaking.
- It's the only usable approach for email -- I know people who
love their IMAP or POP clients for treo or Palm, and I don't think
PC synch is even an option here
- Contacts are feasible as a PC synch approach because contacts
data is relatively static
- Calendaring is somewhere between the volatility of email and
stability of contacts, but... in a world where more people are
moving their calendar data to a server, isn't PC synch going to
feel awfully clumsy?
Heres my personal work style (yes, I recognized the worthlessness of
single data points)
The device: Nokia 6600, a Series 60 phone
Email sync - The Nokia does IMAP and has a built in client
I do sync Contacts and Calendars to the built in Series 60 apps. I
have a periodic Applescript that wakes up before I do and syncs
contacts and calendar with my phone. The desktop sync takes less
that 60 seconds to do it's job at any time, which is roughly the same
amount of time it takes to get my GPRS connection going.
I know I'm showing my biases here, but even trying to discount
those, I still think this is the future for mobile calendaring.
The question is how far away is that future, and how long will it
take a substantial portion of our user base to have devices and
software that can do this. If device sync is a blocker for adoption,
then we can't really afford to wait or to do something that is
unworkable on the installed base of devices.
Ted
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