[missing-sync-palmos-talk] Entourage and Tungsten T3

[David A. Desrosiers]

> Palm (neither PalmOne nor PalmSource) ever notified Microsoft Mac 
> Business Unit in advance that they were changing their syncing 
> formats in OS 5. MacBU never found out until after the new Palms 
> with OS 5 were released, which was far too late in their cycle for 
> Office 2004 to do anything about it except prepare that alert.

 	Unfortunately, these new data formats still remain 100% 
undocumented. We've been working hard at reverse-engineering them 
(yes, byte-by-byte), and have Contacts done. Memos and Tasks is easy, 
but the Calendar part is going to be a bit difficult.

 	Of course, this would all have been easier, if they just 
documented the API that they used, and stopped switching across the 
old and the new with random OS5 Palm units. There's no unformity in 
which devices use which versions of these apps. Some new devices use 
the old apps, some devices use the new apps.

 	Not fun, from a developer perspective.

 	But I'm not a MarkSpace officer or representative, I'm just a 
developer who works on the same kinds of conduit issues every single 
day.

> I would really hope that now that Mark/Space Missing Sync has 
> officially taken over Mac synching to Mac, and must have some sort 
> of arrangement with Palm, that Palm will at least notify Mark/Space 
> in future when they're planning a change to their OS, and that 
> Mark/Space in turn would notify Microsoft and other desktop PIM 
> application makers as well as Apple so that accommodation can be 
> made in good time.

 	Unfortunately, Palmsource hasn't documented these new formats 
to anyone, including their "Platinum Partners". Presumably, if the 
rumor is to be believed, they aren't documenting them because they 
know they're going to change again (to full Schema format databases), 
and they don't want to have to go through documenting them twice.

> It's in everyone's interests to do so, and Mark/Space is certainly 
> nothing if not on the ball. I still worry about Palm though...

 	Its in everyone's interest, except Palmsource, of course.

 	Your frustration is echoed by literally hundreds of thousands 
of users and developers who are restricted from taking full advantage 
of their devices, by these bad decisions on the part of Palmsource and 
partners not to document the APIs as they change.


David A. Desrosiers
desrod at gnu-designs.com
http://gnu-designs.com