Mobius 2002

Steve · 10-14-2002, 04:24 PM

Read the full trip report at http://www.brighthand.com/article/Mobius_2002

EdH · 10-14-2002, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Pocket PC 2003 Update
Microsoft took the opportunity to announce the third Pocket PC 2002 update. This includes Windows Media layer 8.5, which offers improved performance and playlist management, plus integration with the Connection Manager. The update also adds tab support to Pocket IE, a new default Today theme, and other bug fixes.

SHouldn't that say Pocket PC 2002 update in the title? I got all excited when I saw PPC 2003.

ptorrone · 10-14-2002, 05:57 PM

great write up ed, it was great to seeya there too.

i posted some pics here, enjoy...

www.pocketpcmagic.com/mobius2002

cheers,
pt

Ed Hardy · 10-14-2002, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by EdH

SHouldn't that say Pocket PC 2002 update in the title?

Thanks. Fixed.

Scott R · 10-14-2002, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Microsoft footed the bill to fly these people to Redmond where they learned about the latest Microsoft-related mobile products and even received some samples. For example, each attendee was given a T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone.

My understanding is that the actual "press kit" consisted of:
- $60 of "funny money" (money you could use in the Microsoft store to buy, say, Office XP for $10)
- Pocket PC Phone Edition.
- IOU for a ViewSonic Pocket PC.
- IOU for a SmartPhone 2002.
- A bobbling head Ed Hansberry.

Well, maybe not that last one.

My sources tell me that Palm, Inc. will be holding their own version of Mobius this year and attendees will all be able to buy a Palm Zire for $5 off list price (plus tax).

Scott

imported_mobileMike · 10-15-2002, 07:01 AM

It sucks that the new update will include all previous corrections.

Compaq included EUU1 in their latest ROM update. Great because it doesn't waste valuable RAM. If EUU3 includes everything from EUU1 and 2 then I will have corrections in RAM which I already have in ROM.

Of course if Compaq offeres a ROM update, I won't be complaining.

/ mike

Steve · 10-15-2002, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Scott R
$60 of "funny money" (money you could use in the Microsoft store to buy, say, Office XP for $10)

No, Microsoft did not give out $60 worth of "funny money". They simply allowed attendees to spend $60 of their own money in the company store.

Timothy Rapson · 10-15-2002, 08:19 AM

Did they have a phone there that was competitive with the Treo? I have been reading about the PPC smartphone edition (not the Mondo one, the Seno one) for a year now. Is is a real product?

Did they have a model with a camera built-in as in the Japanese Zaurus line or the Clie?

They must have been showing PPC 2003? If you can't tell us what is in there, can you tell use when it will ship and whether the current models will all be able to upgrade to it?

Ed, if you can excuse the personality gawking, have you been to Mobius before? Were they as much fun, and as fair about the battle between Palm OS and PPC OS behind the scenes as I have found most of them to be in public discourse?

Timothy Rapson · 10-15-2002, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Scott R

My - A bobbling head Ed Hansberry.

Well, maybe not that last one.

My sources tell me that Palm, Inc. will be holding their own version of Mobius this year and attendees will all be able to buy a Palm Zire for $5 off list price (plus tax).

Scott

This is a tough part of the PPC scene for me to get a handle on.

In fact, I went to a PPC club meeting in Springfield, IL where Beth Goza (whom I have never met according to some here

). My son and I won two prizes, one a copy of Windows Office Pro XP. Beth herself said that if any of us had no use for something we won, that was what Ebay was for. I sold it for $300. I suppose these things do get Microsoft's foot in the PDA market door. It made up for the $300 I wasted on PPC stuff to fully setup my worthless Mono Ipaq.

75% of me sees these events as just another way for Microsoft to bully it's way into a market that they should not mess up. 25% of me says, well, it's a free world. Let them go for it and push Palm, as long as they push legally.

I wish Microsoft would have spent the money making sure the Ipaq didn't lockup all the time. Hopefully PPC 2003 will be as crisp and stable as Palm OS 4.1 on my Clie NR70V. It certainly has become as reasonably priced in some models, and far better priced in others, as the Palm OS models.

Timothy Rapson · 10-15-2002, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Steve B

No, Microsoft did not give out $60 worth of "funny money". They simply allowed attendees to spend $60 of their own money in the company store.

Still funny money. At least it is being publicly reported, but the reports state that the $60 can buy hundreds of dollars worth of stuff. I suppose this kind of thing may not sway everyone there (it didn't sway me when I won Office XP.), but I would imagine it would sway some, if only to make them a little less likely to say something as harshly as they otherwise might have.

I think what was far more valuable for Microsoft in these events, and in folks like Derek (Brown?) coming on here and exchanging info and ideas, is that it develops real relationships between people. That helped bring the Palm OS world together to produce some amazing things. It helps PPC world the same way.