in article 48929@palm-dev-forum, David Fedor at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote on 5/10/01 1:56 PM:
>> 2) I'm wondering if there will be better access to
>> programs on the memory card, like the MSMount program
>> that is out there.
>
> Just checking - you do know that 4.0 devices with VFS such as the m500 can
> run applications "from the card"? (At least as far as a user is concerned.)
>
> I believe that MSMount does more than that, by pretending the databases are
> internal and read-only, but just making sure you realize that apps can be
> run from the card from a UI perspective. (They don't actually run from a
> card any more than a desktop app runs from a hard drive; they're loaded
> into internal memory like a desktop OS does, but that's a programming
> detail.)
What I would like to see are two things:
1) An OS-provided "card browser" application. This application would let
users manipulate (delete/copy/move) databases in local storage, and do the
same for databases and files stored on a card - anywhere on the card, not
just what happens to be in /Palm/Launcher. See an app called "McFile" for
something similar to this which appears to work for the Clie and the new 4.0
devices. This should be in the OS because users don't like to hear an app
developer tell them that they need to get 3rd-party program X before they
can access stuff stored outside of /Palm/Launcher.
2) An extension to the new "HotSync to card" feature to allow a user to
specify the subdirectory to which the data is to be synched (and the
equivalent functionality in the conduit API).
The combination of these two would make it unnecessary for many people to
buy a card reader/writer.
The way things are right now, in order to get data on a card without going
through local storage, a user must either buy a card reader/writer, or get
the Palm Desktop software shipping with the OS 4.0 devices and then be happy
with HotSynching data only to /Palm/Launcher (which means, I think, that
Clie, TRG, and Handspring users are out of luck). The only alternative is
to go through local storage, and use the launcher's "Copy" and "Delete" menu
items to work with databases in the launcher subdirectory only.
Apps that faithfully implemented things according to Palm's standards (put
app data in /Palm/Programs/App) are unnecessarily cumbersome to use (for
those with no card reader/writer) if they want to externalize the
hierarchical nature of VFS volumes to their users.
Mark Peters
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