Other than the Palm applications are running on Tandy/Casio hardware. Tandy
has always (until recently) had the attitude that everything in their box is
proprietary. Palm seems to have embraced this attitude.
>
>(2) Palm didn't want to release details of their file formats because to
>do so would imply that they need to continue to use and support those
>formats. They would only release details to companies that wanted to
>develop Zoomer apps which worked with the Palm apps.
Aren't these two sentences contradictory? Why else would you release the
file formats?
Just because I am not a company shouldn't mean that I can't be privy to the
formats. Given that the only way to get the Palm applications is to buy a
device which has them in ROM, they aren't very dynamic, are they? There is
no Schedule 3 which has a completely different format from Schedule 2 which
added new options not in Schedule 1... Also, no one is asking for support or
that they continue to use the same format in any future products. Just what
is the bloody format used by the device I'm holding in my hand? Not an
unreasonable request.
Why won't Casio release the specs on the IR port? Because it's proprietary?
The people with the know-how to design an IR port that we might be able to
build are denied the information. Why? It's not going to take any business
away from Casio -- it could actually cause people to want to buy a Zoomer if
they had a use in mind for the IR port.
Has anyone actually used their IR port? In over two years of Zoomer use, I
have never once used it.
Why is all of this information guarded like some state secrets -- available
only to the rich and powerful?
If you want to know about any internet protocols, the RFCs are freely
available to everyone. If you want to know the PCMCIA standard, can you
afford the $500? ITU standards are also cost-prohibitive to individuals.
Why aren't these companies trying to foster the development of products for
the Zoomer instead of always falling back on the catch-all of "proprietary"?
This subject is something that really torques me off. So many times I've
been trying to locate information only to run up against "that's
proprietary", "you don't have a non-disclosure agreement", "that information
is available for the nominal fee of $750", etc.
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Unix isn't computer science, it's computer scientology!
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Robert Bottomley
Internet: Robert.A.Bottomley.Jr@cdc.com or RBottomley@aol.com