Once Again, Sigh

Palm strikes once again. They just don't get it. Probably more like they just don't care. I have had problems with Palm software for several months syncing in virtual machines. I have abandoned Windoze software with the exception of about four programs that I have found no Open Source equivalent. One of these is a third party Palm program I have had for years and use frequently. I have had to jump through hoops to make it all work because Palm sync will not work in a virtual environment.

At Christmas I bought my wife a new laptop. Since she is a regular Windoze user both at home and at work, I decided to buy a machine with Windoze 7 rather than a refurbished unit with XP installed. The logic being she would be comfortable with W7 when her company inevitably made the switch.

All was going pretty well with the setup. I found one of her programs required compatibility mode settings, but did run OK once set up that way. I then tried to setup Palm for her to sync her AT&T Centro  phone contacts, calendar, etc.  No matter what, it wouldn't connect. The funny thing was it was acting just exactly like Palm in the virtual machines. It was an issue with USB connection.

I went to the Palm site and searched for W7 compatibility issues. Nothing. I dug around in the forums and finally found it. Lots of it. Straight forward search parameters wouldn't find it but it was there. Lots of people were having problems and it seemed Palm didn't want it known. The general gist was if you had a 32 bit processor there might be a way to get it to work, but no instructions or links provided. If you had a 64 bit processor you were just up a creek. It would not work. One forum user asked the moderator when they might have a solution? His response? “I doubt that Palm (or Access, the company that owns Palm OS and Palm Desktop) will be releasing any updated drivers for Palm OS devices.”   Link:  http://forums.palm.com/palm/board/message?message.uid=246625#U246625

Some of the users responses:
I have no idea when palm will have drivers for windows 7. You can't talk to anyone. No one can help. It is now 2 hours that I have been sitting home waiting for PALM "technical support" to call me back. Now I have a palm full of data and programs that I need for work that I can not use. I have spent eight hours of my day off on the phone with nothing solved.

Another: I have close to 10 years of customer notes and contacts in my palm pilot. This is indeed a disaster.

These are TX users and they were eventually able to sync with wifi. The Centro has no wifi. They say you can do it with Bluetooth, but the new laptop has no BT and there are apparently no W7 compatible BT adapters available? My TX died a crushing death and I am using an E2 for right now.  So, we have two Centro phones and two E2s that will not work with W7?

We have been Palm users from the start. We have had twelve Palm devices that we can remember. And they doubt they will develop drivers for “legacy devices”? What are we supposed to do? Oh, I know, just throw them away and buy new Palm Pre units. Right. So they can do it all over again? Besides the Pre is not available on my network, so they want me to change carrier as well? No, I think I'll try something else. Oh and don't get me started on Motorola. Maybe a Nokia. I had one of those a long time ago. It was a great phone. Maybe I'll  spend a little more and get an N900 (runs Linux, no connection to Micro$oft or Palm and is getting great reviews).

I'll be damned if I'll give them another chance to screw me up a third time and I'll bet there are many more who trust their business interests to M$ & Palm with the expectation they will not be abandoned. Not a chance, even if they finally decide to fix all the problems they should have already corrected (they've know this a long time). They just don't get it. Your customers are your most valuable asset. Without them, you loose. My Palm days are history. Just as fast as I can make it happen. I'm tired of spending money to be treated this way.