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Subject: Re: If I buy pocket FritzII?

Author: Brian Thomas

Date: 20:33:17 08/04/03

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>Just look at the history of the companies behind the OSes. Look at how Microsoft
>forces everybody to upgrade by producing incompatibilities in their own line of
>Windows OSes.

This is exaggerated.  In general, compatibility is not an issue; when you
consider how far computers have evolved in the last 10 years, the fact that I
can still run some apps is great.

I don't see MS "forcing" you to do anything.  I hate to say it, but at some
point legacy code has to be abandoned, which is why you don't see
serial/parallel ports on some new machines.

The biggest problem facing Windows is that it was built on DOS, and to this day
maintains some of that code.  It has broken away from most of that with the
latest kernel.

>On the other hand just look at the efforts PalmSource is making in retaining as
>much compatibility as possible so programs written for PalmOS years ago (and
>still in use) keep working in their next version of PalmOS, while building huge
>evolutions in the OS itself (for example by moving to another processor
>architecture!!!).
>
>The cherry on the cake is that they go as far as contacting the developpers and
>telling them how to achieve ascending compatiblity.

I agree, that is outstanding -- and I don't say that sarcastically.  But Palm
and Windows is not comparable (although Palm to Windows CE/Mobile is).  Some
compatiblity issues are preventable with proper coding practices, some are
preventable with better versioning control (IE "dll hell").

>BTW I'm curious to learn for what purposes PocketPC might be "far superior".

I doubt your sincerity in this, and I made it clear that my choice of OS is MY
choice, and may not be right for everyone.  But since you are so curious (and
I'm sure some of this is possible with Palms as well):  seamless integration
with multiple Exchange servers, Internet Explorer that is compatibile with most
xhtml and other specs, an (obviously) scaled down SQL server/and .NET compact
framework.  The IE/Database functions are very important to me.  Generally, a
larger collection of software that interests me.  As a VB/C# web developer, my
work more easily translates on this platform.  Very easy to move data from say a
microdrive in my laptop to my PDA.  Because it is MS (love or hate 'em, your
choice), it more likely will support my development goals.

Brian






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