[greguti]

Hi all,

is there any chance to see Bonsaï running on the Windows Pocket PC operating system?
I use Bonsai with my Palm T3 but Santa Claus brought me a Pocket PC Loox 720...

[George]

We currently do not have any plans for Bonsai on PPC.

[mksql]

Might be worth considering. I don't own any PPC devices, but in my office, they are springing up like weeds i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif

Given Bonsai's excellent desktop app, Bonsai could be used in a collaborative sense, and supporting PPC significantly widens the audience.

[Timcallow]

I would have to agree on a PPC edition. As my Tungsten sees its last days, I am reviewing PPC vs Palm, and I have to say the new PPC's look better than ever. I am especially impressed with the seamless integration with the MS suite. But as I have read the forums and blogs, the one app that seems to be lacking is an outliner, with most of the crowd lamenting a loss of Bonsai as a reason to stick with Palm. Right now, that is my problem. Bonsai is too ingrained into my work and daily life, that I can't see getting rid of it. George, I saw a quote attributed to you that says you might look at it, what's the reality of the situation? Not being a programmer, but more of a marketer, I would say you have a hole in the market over on the PPC side, ready to be exploited......

Tim

[Volker]

May be the need for porting Bonsai to PPC won't be as pressing in the future as it is now. There is already at least one product on the PPC (and on the PC) that claims it can import and export Bonsai files, see www.PocketThinker.com. It looks like the desktop would be only an add-on to Outlook. But there may be other outliners to come. So this could be the time for Natara to make up their mind whether to take or trash the PPC market.

Hope they take it, :-)
Volker

[palmhiker]

I too am a long time Palm / Bonsai user, and I am contemplating the switch to an Axim x50v (I am playing around with a used Toshiba e740 right now, which is a surprisingly decent machine). Bonsai is really the only important application that I cannot seem to find a replacement for, on the PPC side.

I did purchase Pocket Informant, and it appears to have some advanced Bonsai-like task functions, but in my opinion, it is Bonsai's excellent desktop that sets it apart from everyone else, and I am going to miss using it.

Palm / Palmsource just seem to be losing ground very quickly to the WM camp. I respectfully urge the very capable Natara staff to give consideration to Bonsai on the PPC, I believe you could make a killing as nothing else is really comparable right now.

[cleve]

I have been a long time Palm supporter. I bought an Ipaq years ago, and quickly found out that it was just plain clumsy. With that said, if Palm produces a Windows Mobile version of the Treo and manages to hang onto the Zen of one-handed operation, then the end of the Palm operating system is near.

Bonsai is the critical piece of software that needs to be on the Windows side. Bonsai is the main reason I carry my PDA at work. Epocrates is a close second, followed by SpashID.

The communication capability of my Treo is amazing. Being able to send an email while walking down the hall - PRICELESS! Searching Google from the car - AMAZING!

[palmhiker]

Well, I took the plunge and purchased an iPAQ hx2415 a couple of weeks ago. Very impressive device - 520 MHz processor, fantastic screen (although only QVGA), dual wireless, decent amount of memory, SD and CF slots and smaller than the LifeDrive.

I am just about converted over software-wise. Pocket Informant is a good replacement for DateBk 5, and I have found replacements for everything else except Bonsai - Although, I did purchase an app. called TreNotes (both handheld and desktop), and it is about 75% of the way toward Bonsai from a functionality standpoint. For anyone looking for Bonsai-like functionality on the PPC side, TreNotes is pretty good.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for a PPC version of Bonsai some day...

[waytoomuchcoffee]

Well, this has taken on new urgency with the partnership of Palm and MS.

From Forbes

I had a Palm, moved to MS briefly about 2 years ago, and then went back to Palm just to get Bonsai. It's my sole reason to own a Palm right now (currently a T5). I disagree about Trenotes btw, it is no where near Natara. I shudder thinking about having to run something else in a few years.

[Shel]

Anyone here invest any time and brain power in trying to get "StyleTap" (www.styletap.com) to work? Website claims to run thousands of Palm Applications on your PocketPC.

[palmhiker]

Quote

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Originally posted by: ShelAnyone here invest any time and brain power in trying to get "StyleTap" (www.styletap.com) to work? Website claims to run thousands of Palm Applications on your PocketPC.

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I tried StyleTap, but it looks horrible on my iPAQ - it appears to only want to run in 160 x 160 mode which makes it unuseable for me. It is also agonizingly slow. I had tried it mainly to try and run Bonsai, and at the time, it didn't handle it (maybe still doesn't?). It ended up being about the same cost to purchase TreNotes, which contrary to the poster's opinion above, is, in my opinion, a good option on WinMob. It lacks some features of Bonsai, but adds some additional functionality in the form of text formatting, task management, etc. The more I've used it, the better I've come to like it.

That said, I would welcome a WinMob version of Bonsai, if for no other reason than to not waste the $30 or so I invested in it for Palm.

[waytoomuchcoffee]

Quote

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It ended up being about the same cost to purchase TreNotes, which contrary to the poster's opinion above, is, in my opinion, a good option on WinMob. It lacks some features of Bonsai

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You can say that again. Right now my task list has a category icon which I use to show whose "ball in court" it is (ala Expedition), a due date, the days until due (which is what I show on my palm to save space), and keywords that group my items by category. And I can see the priority of the item, all at the same time.

[Loyd]

This thread really depresses me. I hate the thought of the Palm OS going the way of the Dvorak keyboard, betamax, Netscape, Lotus, WordPerfect, the Mac, Ecco Pro, and all of the other superior technologies eventually overran by inferior but better marketed products. Elegant, simple, and powerful tools are too often trampled by the herd mentality of the suits in corporate management. The reason PPC is stomping Palm right now is simple. They (MS) have used their corporate desktop presence and name familiarity to get their foot in the door of the enterprise market for handhelds. Palm was never able to get widespread buy in from corporate America.

[palmhiker]

Sorry, Lloyd, but I have to take exception with you on this subject. Palm / Palmone / Palmsource has only themselves to blame for throwing away the commanding market share they once had for mobile devices. Microsoft's first few iterations of CE / WinMob were absolutely horrible, and all Palm had to do was innovate and give customers what they wanted - namely, dual wireless, good quality, and reliable solutions.

I had a Tungsten C, which was a great unit, but it lacked bluetooth to go along with its WiFi, and I wanted a larger screen in place of the keypad, as did many others. What did Palm do? They consistently released worse devices than the T-C, while the WinMob makers slowly got their act together both with respect to hardware and software reliability. My current iPaq is at least as stable as my T-C was, actually more, when using the WiFi. The battery life is the best of any device I've owned, and it not only has dual wireless, but it also has a CF slot that now happily accomodates a 2 GB $70 card. Using Pocket Informant and Pocket Breeze, I am experiencing a level of productivity on a handheld that I always wanted.

Palm has bet the farm on smart phones, and that was the best thing they could do. Their WinMob Treo will sell very well, even though it lacks memory and power of competing devices - It is Palm's brand that will sell them in droves. Sadly, Palm's handheld device days are coming to a close, I only wish they would have released a dual wireless handheld 2 years ago, I would have bought one then.

If your only experience with a WinMob unit was a couple of years ago, I suggest you try one now, they really have caught, and surpassed, the Palm OS in reliability and capability, in my opinion as a user of both platforms.