Which Palm Desktop for Windows? v6.2 or v4.1.4e ?

[Miguel]

Hello everybody,

I may need to reinstall Palm on my XP box and am considering reverting to v4.1.4e (shipped as 4.2 on the CDs) BECAUSE of the color categories (which went missing in v6.2).
I am aware that I will not be able to upgrade to windows 7 or 8.

Colors are important and presently I completely gave up on them, as the desktop is black-and-white and on DJO every time I do a sync the colors change.

SUPPORT: Is there any technical reason why I shouldn't revert to v4e? I know the v4 Palm DB has a different format. Does that make it more difficult for CL to sync? Any known issues? Will the colors hold after a sync?

Does anybody have any experience with comparing both versions?

Thanks for your help!

[RobFreundlich]

My wife made the switch to 6.2 and hated it (missing colors, performance, and I forget what else - she dropped it and went all-Google a while back). I never switched, and so have been using 4.1.4 for years: with my Palm devices way back when, with my Moto Droid X for a couple of years (using DJO), and now with my GN2 (also using DJO). I've had no problems at all with it - DJO handles it very nicely.

By the way, you can use 4.1.4 with Widows 7 - I'm doing it. I think I had to set some of the compatibility settings, but I don't recall which ones off the top of my head. If you're interested, let me know (either here or via PM), and when I'm at home in front of that machine I'll take a look and get you the details.

[Miguel]

Thanks Rob. That was helpful. I've heard there is a compatibility mode in Win7 to enable USB sync. You may not need it if you use WiFi. But for now I'm OK with XP.
You are not aware of any new features from v4 to v6, are you? I couldn't find any POSITIVE new features after browsing the internet but ask myself - if somebody updates a software - wouldn't they try to fix or update some user features too??? Weird...

DJO support: is there any reason from a DJO / CL compatibility point of view I should NOT switch back to 4.1.4enhanced?

[RobFreundlich]

Thanks Rob. That was helpful. I've heard there is a compatibility mode in Win7 to enable USB sync. You may not need it if you use WiFi. But for now I'm OK with XP.
You are not aware of any new features from v4 to v6, are you? I couldn't find any POSITIVE new features after browsing the internet but ask myself - if somebody updates a software - wouldn't they try to fix or update some user features too??? Weird...

I believe the move from v4 to v6 happened when ACCESS bought the technology from Palm (or US Robotics, or whoever owned it before them). v6 was a rewrite (I think in Java) using a different storage technology (a database instead of flat files, IIRC). It's pretty typical when doing that sort of major rewrite to not introduce new features (and, unfortunately, to drop or "misplace" existing features along the way).

[DJOCTO]

Miguel and Rob. As a long time user of Palm Desktop, I would recommend 4.0 although I use PDT 6.0 right now.

Palm Desktop 4.0 is a direct successor to the original, written in 1995 or so by Windward Group. What is interesting is that they weren't very experienced in Windows (They were a Mac shop, as was Palm in 1996). So they just "serialized" the data storage. CompanionLink works by reverse-serializing the data using 1995 Microsoft C technology.

Palm Desktop 6.0 was created by the 2nd Palm company (in all there were 3). That is, the original Palm sold to US Robotic, sold to 3Com. Then the founders created Handspring which made the Treo, and bought Palm back from 3Com, joined it, then split it. So the 2nd Palm was originally Handspring. In 2004 they rewrote Palm Desktop and also the Palm Outlook Sync, probably to avoid paying royalties to Windward and Chapura. Palm Desktop 6 is based on 2004 Visual Studio technology and uses MDB files for storage.

The 2nd Palm Company got sold to ACCESS in Japan, and the Treo Hardware division renamed themselves to Palm (3rd Palm) took on the stock symbol and made Palm webOS.

CompanionLink has been a developer for all three Palm's, and I was in their offices off and on for nearly 16 years. We're still here, they are not.

[RobFreundlich]

Palm Desktop 4.0 is a direct successor to the original, written in 1995 or so by Windward Group. What is interesting is that they weren't very experienced in Windows (They were a Mac shop, as was Palm in 1996). So they just "serialized" the data storage. CompanionLink works by reverse-serializing the data using 1995 Microsoft C technology.

I knew they were just serializing the data structures, but never knew why. Thanks! Do you know of somewhere on the web that has the 4.0/4.1 structures documented? Everything I can find (e.g. Helphand's Not-so-FAQs) is 3.X and earlier, and when I've tried to write something according to those docs, it's proven to be inaccurate. Not surprising, given that 4.0 introduced new features.

[history snipped ...]

CompanionLink has been a developer for all three Palm's, and I was in their offices off and on for nearly 16 years. We're still here, they are not.

I think I used your early product to sync to Outlook back in the late 90's. Mirror something? Was that you guys?

[Miguel]

Merry Christmas everybody! Thanks DJOCTO for the thorough explanation.

Shortly after writing the last post in this thread I DID CHANGE BACK TO 4.1.4e. Results?

AMAZING, AWESOME, GREAT, WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THIS EARLIER, etc.

All my sync problems have gone away, I have the calendar colors back, the program opens and closes (saves) lighteningly fast, I am not missing any features, and the best is the "remove duplicates" add-on which lets you preview the duplicates before you delete them. ONLY GOOD NEWS.
If anybody wants to follow my example, remember to do double and triple backups. I used the DJO database on the phone as the go-in-between.
The remove duplicate feature lowered my calender from 9000 to 7000 entries.

So I am again a very happy customer of DJO and Palm. Thanks to everybody and have a great new year!

[RobFreundlich]

Miguel,

That's awesome news!

Rob

[RobFreundlich]

Palm Desktop 4.0 is a direct successor to the original, written in 1995 or so by Windward Group. What is interesting is that they weren't very experienced in Windows (They were a Mac shop, as was Palm in 1996). So they just "serialized" the data storage. CompanionLink works by reverse-serializing the data using 1995 Microsoft C technology.

That explains why the format is so bizarre, and why all of the references I can find are version-specific: as they added features, the serialized format would radically change. Unfortunately, it means that in my quest to write something that can read/write 4.X files, the references I've found (such as HelpHand's Not So FAQ's) are of limited use, since they are all 3.X. Anyone got a reference for the 4.X formats?

... interesting history with more detail than I knew snipped ...

CompanionLink has been a developer for all three Palm's, and I was in their offices off and on for nearly 16 years. We're still here, they are not.

Were you the folks who put out a very early sync to Outlook, called "Mirror" or something like that? I used that in the '96 to '98 timeframe when I was working for a company that required us to use Outlook.

[DJOCTO]

Rob, You are talking about Chapura PocketMirror. They popped up again for Palm Pre, but have gone out of business since then.

Funny story. Palm called me in 1996 to ask about sync. Just a chatty call. I mentioned that I had trouble finding good tech people. About 3 years later the manager shared that they bypassed us for Outlook sync based on that. I'm not sure whether to be happy or sad about it. We're still here. I think in their time, Chapura made a lot of money. My goal with CompanionLink was to have a long-term company rather than a flash in the pan. I guess I got that goal...

[RobFreundlich]

Rob, You are talking about Chapura PocketMirror. They popped up again for Palm Pre, but have gone out of business since then.

Funny story. Palm called me in 1996 to ask about sync. Just a chatty call. I mentioned that I had trouble finding good tech people. About 3 years later the manager shared that they bypassed us for Outlook sync based on that. I'm not sure whether to be happy or sad about it. We're still here. I think in their time, Chapura made a lot of money. My goal with CompanionLink was to have a long-term company rather than a flash in the pan. I guess I got that goal...

I got the PocketMirror part right, and knew it was Csomething ...

I'm a strong advocate of long-term over flash-in-the-pan. Keep doing what you're doing, the way you're doing it!