How to improve the popularity of Zaurus?

[Anonymous]

I\'ve been using both the PocketPC and Zaurus and the more I use both, the more I realize how much more advanced the Zaurus is when compared to the other platform.

I was thinking of reviving my website with the objective of educating users on what the Z has to offer.

Looking at how much the prices have gone down, there is a good reason someone might consider the Z.  

Some of the ideas I had on advertizing the Z are:

1] A side by side honest comparison of the PPC and the Z
2] A step-by-step guide to would be developers on how to get started on developing for the Z (target audience: Windows developers)
3] Some of the much awaited features of PPC platform if you happen to be aware off are actually laughable!  Most of them have already been implemented on the Z!
----On the fly rotation
----Clie style keyboard
----Usable VNC
----Decent FileManager [TreeExplorer is free on the Z and is very pwful]
----Able to edit/View Word/Excel files without losing formatting info (PP
C actually converts Word docs to some smaller format before copying it to the PPC)

What other suggestions do you guys have?

[lardman]

I think it would be a good idea, but you should also consider (and list) the fact that in some respects Pocket PC is better than the Z (no flames please, I have not joined the dark side ;-)).

Things like:
sync abilities and ease of use/setup.
How polished the apps are (actually this is more a Windows/Linux desktop thing but it might apply).

My point is to make sure your review is not completely one-sided (otherwise people will not pay attention to your opinions).


Si

[Anonymous]

I think it would be a good idea, but you should also consider (and list) the fact that in some respects Pocket PC is better than the Z (no flames please, I have not joined the dark side ;-)).

Things like:  
sync abilities and ease of use/setup.
How polished the apps are (actually this is more a Windows/Linux desktop thing but it might apply).

My point is to make sure your review is not completely one-sided (otherwise people will not pay attention to your opinions).


Si

Lardman very true.  In fact it should help Z users/developers to know where PPC excels and thus can work upon improving that.

It would no way be a MS bashing site.  (There are too many sites doing that!)

[V-Man]

If you set this up, message me.  I have a sorta detailed comparison of my 5500 and am HP2215 iPAQ.  The Z wins, but just barely.

V-Man

[maslovsky]

The main problem for me with Palm and Pocket Pc is that they are boring. Period.

[ScottYelich]

amen

[grey_moon]

ppc hand writing recognition is very well done

[lardman]

This is the kind of stuff which would be interesting for people to read (with some more details and examples, etc.), just as long as it doesn\'t dissolve into some kind of slagging match (started by the other side of course ;-)), and as you say it would allow us to focus on what MS is \'doing right\' and where we can improve.

Go for it.


Si

[Anonymous]

I\'ll also need screenshots of pdaX rom and OZ.  I have tkc so I can manage that.  Will let you guys know when the site is setup.  (Thought showing windows users on the choice of roms available is a good idea!)

[zmike]

How to improve Zaurus
...well rumors claim that Apple may create a PDA (hard disk based). Sharp has some of the best engineers in the world and markets..um..not so well outside of Japan (being VERY charitable here). Rebrand the SLC-860 or its successor with an Apple and sell \'em like hotcakes.

You have a captive market that loves Microsoft alternatives and has recently been dissed by Palm (exiting their Apple support). This is the niche that they failed to find previously.

Linux interoperates very well with OSX via NFS or other technologies. Apple has the hard disk compact enough already in their IPOD. Sounds like synergy to me.

[dhns]

Rebrand the SLC-860 or its successor with an Apple and sell \'em like hotcakes.

Completely agree... ... if syncing would work well.

Linux interoperates very well with OSX via NFS or other technologies.

Well, that is just file access interoperability. SMB works more or less through USB and WLAN. (But Panther seems not to be bug-free in its SMB integration into the Finder).

What also is deparately needed is data and application interoperability. See my recent poll and the answers in the Mac Issues forum here in the ZUG. Therefore we run a Digital Companion (http://www.dsitri.de/wiki.php?page=DigitalCompanion) project working on that issue (independently from Apple & Sharp).

Apple has the hard disk compact enough already in their IPOD. Sounds like synergy to me.

The iPOD disk is not Apple\'s own technology. I think it comes from Toshiba. Others have the same. You can get a 1GByte HD in Compact Flash format from IBM since 2 years and now from Hitachi Storage. Recently they introduced a 4GByte disk as CF. So 4GByte capacity is no magic for all PDAs with CF slot.

-- hns  http://www.dstiri.de

[Mickeyl]

I think the Zaurus needs the following chain out of three things to attract more customers:

Support for Developers =] A strong developer community =] Really good applications.

Problem #1: Support for Developers must be done by the company which sells the hardware platform which is... uhm... Sharp. Which makes this a non-issue  Look at all the closed source stuff. SD I can understand because they\'re forced by the SecureDigital consortium. But the other things... libsl, AtiCore, Camera driver, Qtopia 1.5.4 - it\'s bullshit to keep these things closed - it just scares potential developers away.

Problem #2: A strong developer community can only arise when people work together. Which seems not possible - unfortunately. We have a few teams (e.g. the Opie folks and the Cacko team) but most people seem to be individual fighters, i.e. all the clever japenese guys doing programs and kernel patches seldomly work together. And they definitly don\'t care about the rest of the world, i.e. the people working in europe and usa on zaurus stuff, which is very sad.

Problem #3: Good applications can only be created if good APIs are around. To get a good API developers have to work together and peer review and improve stuff. Which leads us right to Problem #2 and forward to Problem #1.

[Anonymous]

We have to get used to the fact that Sharp is dead as far as the Z software is concerned.   Relying on sharp is no longer an option.  We have to continue on what we have. If they release the source that\'ll be great, but don\'t count on it.  

Anyone living in Japan who can speak/write Japanese and also is aware of this should write to Sharp Japan on the benefits of releasing the source.

[DrWowe]

Sadly, it\'s naive to think that a community can make a tech product more popular when the company behind it doesn\'t care.  History bears me out here.  There have been plenty of products in the same position with a vocal and loyal fan base but an indifferent company.  Examples include Amiga, OS/2, and Newton.  In all those cases there was a huge organized community marketing effort, but the product line eventually died anyway.  (anyone remember Team OS/2?) and most of those communities were much bigger than the Zaurus.

The only difference between the Zaurus and the aforementioned examples is that part of the Zaurus infrastructure is open source.  Open source has slightly different market economics than closed products.  IMHO, the people who want to promote the Zaurus and make it more popular need to press this advantage for all its worth.  The best way to do that right now is to support the development of OpenZaurus.  Having a rock solid completely open replacement ROM, which matches or exceeds the Palm and PocketPC in terms of features and polish would stimulate additional interest in the Zaurus.

Supporting OpenZaurus has an additional benefit.  Because so much of OZ is made up of components from projects like Opie which work on other embedded Linux platforms, even if the Zaurus as a product did eventually die, the fruits of development would live on.

[Anonymous]

 
  IMHO, the people who want to promote the Zaurus and make it more popular need to press this advantage for all its worth..

That\'s what this thread is all about!