The Future in the Palm of Our Hands - Software for PDAs
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New hardware inevitably includes new software. The major software players are Palm, PocketPC, and Linux. palmOne™ recognizes the demand for reliable and diverse programs on their handhelds and started the PluggedIn Program. The program aims to give developers access to the palmOne™ resource and Web services source code, and "encourage developers to create innovative applications, inspire new products, streamline the development process and get solutions to the market quickly." Prior to this olive branch, open source development for PDAs was hindered by the dominance in the marketplace by device manufacturers and the proprietary OS developers.
Open source development for wireless and handheld devices does exist and is necessary for software advancements and pushing boundaries, but has been slowly emerging. As devices are produced, manufacturers are more prone to using software developed in-house.
Consumers and developers alike are all too accustomed to larger systems with seemingly unlimited resources, power and memory. Both must adapt to the new wireless/handheld environment. Software developers are adjusting to the limited resources such as lower bandwidth, smaller screens, and memory.
An article on wireless software design published in May 2002 on Sun Microsystems states, "Developing applications for devices with limited resources requires skillful developers who are willing to learn and understand how the wireless environment operates, and able to make intelligent decisions regarding software architecture and performance issues."
Developers must also be aware that handheld operating systems may vary from model to model, unlike Macintosh or PCs running some form of Windows or Linux. Users should also bear that in mind when deciding to beam files over to a friend or business associate's PDA from a different manufacturer.
The biggest software problem lies in Web development. Most of the Internet consists of a mélange of HTML, DHTML, CSS, PHP, and XML formatted websites. Some can be viewed with minimal difficulty on some devices while others are completely unreadable. Given the basic user needs for PDAs - location, time, and personalization - a full conversion of every website ever created isn't necessary. Of all the current formats, XML seems to be the most compliant with Internet-infused handhelds. "If you stick with a standard like, say, XML, then you could develop an application in XML form and as long as the end client has access to a browser that can view XML, it doesn't matter which carrier they're on, which device type it is, or which OS it's running," says an interview with Alex Slawsby, a research analyst at IDC.
A growing number of websites are offering PDA versions of their pages, which are usually scaled-down text pages. Bloggers who feel the need to make their musings available to the universal public can syndicate their sites with XML or RSS. AvantGo offers a variety of PDA-friendly websites containing useful data including weather, news, stock prices, drink recipes, and more.
There is a vast amount of freeware and shareware applications already available for the PDAs, from silly to helpful. Among the downloadable goodies are dictionaries, menus, diet guides, almanacs, games, and even a version of the Kama Sutra. A user can download the application, sync it into the device and have a plethora of definitions, trivia and positions available within a click.
Next: Whither handhelds? >>
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