I agree completely, NickGB. Completely. Well said. For security reasons alone I don't want convergence. I can use the phone while information on the T3 is locked/encrypted/safe. I can also have frequently called numbers on the phone, so that the number is fewer than the gobs aI have on the T3, and Voice recognition dial doesn't get confused between "3 different Bobs." I can also give the phone to someone and take a leak without worrying "stuff" is being looked up or stolen. I certainly don't want a "dumb terminal" relaying information to and from a "Yahoo database," and subject to every hacker on Earth. Do you think Lockheed, Raytheon, WalMart, Walgreens do??? Or they all expected to react to the fear and pay extra for private "closed networks?" What if JUST ONE of their execs keeps his stuff "outside the security net" and gets it stolen? It HAPPENED to a good friend of mine's own company - some idiot let the cat out of the bag and private information ws disseminated. It hurt them. A lot. Christ, MS (and I'm a Gates defender - he's done a hell of a lot) can't make a BROWSER keep up with security leaks.
There's also the simple extra protection against hardware LOSS - if stuff's in two places it's safer against theft and breakage. I don't like the ergonomics of holding a PDA to me ear, either. I want the Bluetooth earpiece on the phone and I'll decide if the PDA stays in a brief case, my dresser or my hip (where it usually is). It's odd that Verizon, the company that DISABLED bluetooth on a Motorola v710 BT phone to anything OTHER than Motorola, will now profess to have more "connectivity" using a Treo (that's windows based and won't do what I need). Now the phone and PDA talk to each other, because they're the same unit - but I've lost the PDA program ability/conformity with the apps that ALREADY do everything for me.
It's the same "things are gonna be great" techno-yawn-yarn that we heard when Windows 95 came out and was going to change the world, and then the thinkpad, and then BT phones, and WiFi - where are we? Did we see all the benefits? And how much did they cost us - if they worked?
Windows multi tasking is brought up in the link below - multi tasking WHAT? apps that don't do what you need them to?
SOMEONE is going to make an advantage out of this - I've never seen Palm "lay down," and for all we know . . . they haven't. Remember the Newton? I don't see that happening again here although it's painfully reminiscent, and there's always the "other deal" we didn't hear about.
If you've ever been a Palm fan or think you might be - NOW is the time to rally and make yourself heard. I'm sure going to with every contact within my "networking capability," I guess moving at the speed of Paul. Moose is seldom wrong - I hope to God this is a first, 'cause I'm not using the "latest and greatest" that
costs me more & does less. I don't care about initial unit cost - that's how they get you on printer cartridges - the printer's free, for heaven's sake. You either spend 75% of the purchase price again on new ink, or buy another printer.
I firmly believe that users won't be taken in by this and it will either flop or change. But the "Palm community" better speak up, developers and users alike. Don't fall for this Corporate Crap "interface, get on board and run it up the flagpole" banner waving over a bunch of hooey. It's NOTHING. It's NO BENEFIT. It's FLUFF. It won't DO. It's counter productive.
Here's a few more details from the dark day massacre:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050927/ap_on_hi_te/palm_microsoft