You aren't in good hands with Palm

Once again, Palm is the last on its block to stay abreast of the situation. It might be time to ignore its products completely.

Forget everything I've ever written on the subject: Palm is evil and must be banned from your enterprise.

To start at the beginning ...

I'd nearly finished the new version of my website (www.issurvivor.com -- come take a look) including the labor-intensive process of converting and categorizing all 650-or-so columns in the archives. I was getting ready for my annual seasonal one-week break from writing Keep the Joint Running.

And then my wife's computer died.

We bought a replacement, got the basics working, and then it was time to get her Treo operational.

Surprise! The new system was Vista 64. And guess what.

Oh, you can figure this one out. It should be easy, since we're talking about the company that needed a full year to get its drivers working properly with Vista 32.

But why should I paraphrase. Here's what Palm has to say about the situation:

64-bit edition support

Palm does not support Palm Desktop or HotSync synchronization with Microsoft Windows 64-bit editions. Palm Desktop runs on 32-bit and 16-bit editions of Windows only. Synchronization via Exchange ActiveSync is unaffected by this limitation.

My first question is, how hard can it be? My second, more important point is this: If you decide to sell a product in a marketplace, you're making an implied commitment to your customers. This is the sort of behavior I'd expect from Apple.

And so, instead of basking in the soft, warm glow of the holiday season, Palm has me feeling more like the Grinch.

This time it's personal.

- Bob

PS: If this is the worst problem the two of us have this year, it will be a wonderful year. Have a happy holiday season.