- Fair,

- Re: The Digest V1 # 729 2- Psion Wannabes -Rolfs Statement

- Fairness

- Ydata, diaries, two machines

- Re: Recycle Bin Macro

- Psion Wanna-be's

- Does Nokia 9500/9300 have Data Adaptor?

- Treo 650 review, email question, GlucoMon

- Repair centre in Vancouver or North America

- Treo 600, Freeware (and shareware), Route software/hardware,

- Re: Freeware (and shareware)

- Oblidged - Therbligs - Freeware requiring registration

Date: 11 Apr 2005 13:38:42 +0700
From: Itamar Engelsman <address truncated>
Subject: Fair,

Answer to: ian chapple & Phil

Re.: Fair - The word "fiar" is not that easy to define. Collins dictionary says either "in conformity with rules or standards" or "in a correct or just way", the other descriptions not being applicable here. I don't think there are set rules or standards about free software so it leaves the correct or just way. Now, the problem is that what is correct and / or just is very subjective to different people. Phil accordingly finds it "unfair" and you don't. All I would like to add is that of course it would have been nicer had the software author taken the trouble to unlock his software for future use.   
Having read no. 728, Phil, how can it be not allowed to give away something faulty ? If you accept to receive something faulty from me, no-one can stop me to give it to you. You can decide you don't want a faulty item and not accept it. He, the guy just stopped all his involvement in Psion and EPOC like so many others as it is a "dead" platform and not worthwhile for most to develop anymore. For us diehards that is disappointing but more you can't really say in my opinion.

Best regards,
Itamar Engelsman
London, UK

Date: 11 Apr 2005 16:54:10 +0700
From: Martin Hofer <address truncated>
Subject: Re: Psion Wannabes -Rolfs Statement

Normally just lurking- this time i have to admit, that i completely agree with Rolfs posting: the 9300 (and other communicators) arent psion clones - (although it would be nice to have some of the old psion features build in... ;-) )
but on the other hand: i loved me revo, but i hated the 6! repairs for the battery problem... today i wouldnt love to miss bluetooth, a card slot, the colour screen, the phone function andandand
Lets be happy that at least one company produces clamshellphones with a thumb-keyboard that works- and at least are truly pocketable (size AND WEIGHT factor..)
and the sync process may be slow, but it still works FINE and without any problems
i am happy with this piece of hardware, nevertheless there are many things i would like it to have as extras... but posessing around 20 pdas and having used morde than 30 mobile phones i am sure, that there will always be room for improvement- especially from my very personal point of view :-)

best regards

martin

Date: 11 Apr 2005 20:52:36 +0700
From: ian chapple <address truncated>
Subject: Fairness

Chris,

>> "And fairness *is* implied simply by releasing the software."

I'd tend to agree with this - in my terms, I would say that any author who releases something (free or not) is doing so with some implied obligations.  The kind of obligations depends on how he released it.  When I attempted to write-down these implicit obligations, I came up with this:

...

* Freeware; the author gains no money, but by making his software publically available he is implying that he will provide limited support - he is obligated to fix bugs, but is not expected to add requested features (however he may do so).
...

This is an except from the "Theory of author's responsibility" section which can be found near the end of the Help file for both FastBackup & TubeRoute.

I should also mention that I expect that some people will disagree with my list of implied obligations.  It was only ever meant to be a starting point for discussion, although I haven't ever recieved any comments (positive or negative) about it...<<

What you say makes perfect sense, but I still disagree with Phil's use of the word unfair. What you have said about freeware covers the current situation exactly; Ken released some freeware requiring registration, which can be construed as providing "limited support", and now no longer supports this piece of software, thus ending his support. Not unfair in my book; unfortunate, but not unfair.

I also think you have to be a bit careful when using words like "obligated" when relating to freeware; I agree that any author worth his salt *will* provide some support, *will* fix bugs and may implement suggested improvements, but I do not believe that he is obligated to do so. He may, out of a sense of "professionalism", for wont of a better word, feel that he must provide this level of support, but this feeling of obligation comes from the author himself and not from anyone else.

Let's face it; you're lucky if you can get any decent support from companies selling software for 10s or 100s of pounds (or euros or dollars), and the level of support provided by many freeware/shareware authors is far better.

On a far more basic level, we don't even know the background to this case. Maybe Ken has moved to another platform, emigrated, or simply changed his email address. Maybe something more serious has happened, we just don't know.

Cheers, Ian.

Date: 11 Apr 2005 21:54:01 +0700
From: Kevin Thorne <address truncated>
Subject: Ydata, diaries, two machines

I've just tried Ydata on my 9500 and I like its simplicity.  I'm trying to find an 9500 replacement for the wonderful Psion Data app and this looks as though it could be what I've been looking for.  I want to import a number of databases from my S7 Data app to Ydata if possible but I'm not quite sure how to do it.  My most important file has 1040 records with around 20 fields each - could Ydata cope with that size of file?

I'm also looking for a way of keeping a diary on the 9500 (as I did on my S7) but find the built-in Calendar app a little bit unweildy for this - great for appointments but maybe not so geat for a daily journal.  Is there anything available for the 9500 that can offer an alternative?  Also, I can't find a way of keeping two Calendar files open at the same time.  If you Ctrl-O to open another file, the original one closes.

I'm gradually running down my S7 as my main machine as I am now fairly convinced the 9500 can replace it as my main palmtop.  I'd love to hear other Digestee's experiences if they have actually moved away from a Psion to a Communicator.

Regards
Kevin Thorne

Date: 11 Apr 2005 23:10:12 +0700
From: Rolf Brunsting <address truncated>
Subject: Re: Recycle Bin Macro

Dear Phil,

You say to Ian Chapple that you "don't think the author doesn't have the *right* to do as he will". Software authors don't have that right, I'm afraid. Though copyright gives software authors the right to decide on a number of issues they can only make these decisions within the constraints of copyright.

<< ... Nor do I think that free software is necessarily free of copyright. Why you imply such is a mystery to me ... >>

Please note that I used a general observation as an introduction. That you take this personally is, I'm afraid, for your own account.

<< ... I wanted to make it clear that I do not insist that anyone does anything ... >>

I'm sorry but there's something very strange about what your write. You realise that copyright applies. You accept that software authors have the right to make certain decisions. And you don't insist that a particular decision is made by software authors. But you do use such words as "immoral" and "unfair" when dealing with Ken Emmanuel's
Recycle Bin macro. And in your previous message you mention that the same can be said of other software authors. Which demonstrates that you don't accept the consequences of your own words. When Ken Emmanuel and other software authors have the freedom to decide they have the freedom to come to a decision that's not in your favour.

<< .. particularly I don't insist that they abandon their copyright while abandoning their program >>

Abandoning a software application doesn't necessarily mean that the application is free from copyright as copyright applies for a fixed period as described in law. When the period is 15 years, and an author abandons his/her application after 7 years the author still has copyright for the remaining 8 years. It allows the author to decide on what 'abandoning the application' means.

<< And while you may think that fairness is an irrelevance I don't >>

Whether something can be described as fair or unfair depends on the context. It's within the context of Ken Emmanuel's Recycle Bin macro that fair/unfair doesn't apply as Ken has the freedom to decide.

It's equivalent to you having the freedom to decide on the colour of the car you buy. The car arrives after the delivery period, in your colour of choice, and is parked in the driveway to your house. Now,
your house is opposite mine. I look out of the window, see your new car ... and see a terrible eyesore of a car. Not only do I think it's a horrible colour, being sprayed on a car makes it even more horrible.
But the only thing I can say is that I wish you'd have chosen a different colour. I'd be the lauchingstock of the neighbourhood when
I'd started to argue that it's unfair, even immoral, for such an eyesore to be parked opposite my house.

<< People, myself included, are given the impression (often actually told) that free software, while not necessarily free of copyright, is otherwise free. We then find that it is crippled whilst unregistered so we try to register it. We can't >>

I'm sorry, but when copyright applies the rights that are assigned to the software author apply. Not your personal impressions nor what some people tell you. It's fine when you prefer software authors to release their applications either as open source, freeware, shareware or commercial. Thing is, you won't find these four categories in copyright law as it describes distribution in more general terms. Copyright needs to be sufficiently flexible to take account of new forms of distribution. Shareware being an example as it became a practical from of distribution after a number of technological developments came together. As distribution is described in general terms it means that software authors can choose one of the above categories. But they're also free to choose a form of distribution which is a mixture of shareware and freeware, as Ken Emmanuel has done.

What's more, when you say "I have not now, nor will ever, insist that *anyone* keeps a registration system running" you have to accept the consequences. That there's the possibility that a software author has withdrawn the registration service (long) before you discover the application, find it useful and want to register it. Which is an unfortunate fact of life but not an unfair one.

<< And in the UK there *are* legal constraints on "free" stuff, whatever it may be >>

The constraints are that what's supplied for free needs to comply with the applicable standards and regulations. When you get a free clock radio when you buy a television set both television and clock radio
have to be CE approved, for example. And when the clock radio proves to be electrically unsafe the retailer has to take it back, repair it or replace it by an equivalent clock radio that's electrically safe.

When you want to fall back on these legal constraints you have to make it plausible that Ken Emmanuel's Recycle Bin macro is a sub-standard product. You no longer have to prove it according current EC
regulations - a reasonable suspicion is sufficient. I'm afraid that Ken's protective measures against reverse engineering (REVTRAN) don't count. That the unregistered version has a reduced functionality won't count, either I'm afraid. Ken's macro needs to be of the same standard as shareware and commercial applications which aren't for free. The release of functionally reduced shareware for evaluation purposes is, after all, an accepted form of distribution. While protecting copyright by making life more difficult for those who want to reverse engineer your application is allowed.


To conclude, I've no problems with your dislike of Ken Emmanuel's registration scheme for his free Recycle Bin macro. It may have been better for Ken to conform to the well known freeware and shareware categories. But this doesn't make his registration scheme unfair. And
it certainly doesn't make it immoral. Ken was entitled to do what he did. Which begs the question why Ken decided to use a registration scheme. One possible answer is that his Recycle Bin macro is a protective measure against one of the things we fear : Deleting a very important data file and having to spend hours and hours to rebuild it. The most important requirement for the Recycle Bin macro is that it's fail-safe. It's difficult to guarantee that the macro is fail-safe as you have to think about all eventualities. It's therefore possible that there's a loophole in the macro. The registration scheme allowed Ken to inform users that a loophole has been found and that a revised macro is on its way. The incentive to register is to make the unregistered macro less functional than the registered one.

---
Kind Regards,
Rolf Brunsting - Beilen - Netherlands

Date: 12 Apr 2005 01:48:06 +0700
From: g y reyes <address truncated>
Subject: Psion Wanna-be's

At 03:03 PM 4/10/2005 +0700, you wrote:
>Date:  6 Apr 2005 23:10:16 +0700
>From: Rolf Brunsting <address truncated> >Subject: Re: Communicator 9500 and Other Psion Wanna-be's >
>Dear Gary,
>
><< I guess us Psioneers who had to give up on our Psions for one reason or >another now simply have to compromise on our expectations of the >replacement device.  There does not seem to be one single device that
>is available today that can replace our Psions in all their functionality >and convenience and stability >>
>
>You're not going to get your Psion back for the simple reason that the >only company that designs and builds Psions is : Psion. The Revo you used >is the result of the way Psion read the market, translated
>consumer demands into a product specification and designed a device on the >basis of this specification using Psion's own design philosophy.


Rolf,

That is very true.  Too bad, I really loved my Series 5 then the Revo Plus when I changed devices.

If only they had continued on the development of the Revo Plus, solved the battery problem, and, a nice touch would have been a colored screen (but
not a must), it would have been a truly awesome device.

Of the devices in the market today, nothing comes close to the Psions - and I've tried the Palm devices and the Pocket PC devices.

There is one thing I can say, though, about the Pocket PC running Windows Mobile 2003SE.  There are 3rd party applications today that make it a
breeze to configure the Pocket PC device to connect to GPRS, HSCSD and standard GSM through a mobile phone.  Just fill in the blanks as you go through the setup process and - presto! - you can connect to the Internet
on the fastest available mode for email or surfing.

Gary

Date: 12 Apr 2005 02:23:21 +0700
From: Eric Lindsay <address truncated>
Subject: Does Nokia 9500/9300 have Data Adaptor?

I must admit that it still isn't clear to me whether the various Symbian phones that can connect to email and the web also include access to their data adaptor (modem) from a connected PDA or computer.

My Ericsson SH888 works well via IrDA to connect my Psion and my old Toshiba laptop (with an unreliable battery, Rolf B) to the internet. 
However with the second last of my SH888 batteries becoming unreliable (nod to Rolf B), I'll have to eventually seek replacements for my two SH888 (unless I find more batteries). Also, more recent laptops don't have serial ports or IrDA.  My Macintosh offers only Bluetooth and USB, so I can't use the SH888 with that anyway.

I've found I can't entirely replace my Psion using an Apple Powerbook (size and lack of GPS mapping software combined), so whatever phone I get has to be able to either entirely replace the Psion or connect both the Psion and the Powerbook to the internet.  It sure isn't clear to me that any of the phones out there can do it.  Just to make it even more difficult, instead of GSM, the phone would be much better where I travel (outback Australia) if it had CDMA (due to the far superior range).

I've found Steve L's comments on moving to the Nokia 9500 very helpful.
  I think the even smaller keyboard would leave me reluctant, as I do a lot of typing on my Psion.

Date: 12 Apr 2005 07:34:08 +0700
From: Ian Chapple <address truncated>
Subject: Treo 650 review, email question, GlucoMon

I just came across this review of the PalmOne Treo 650, http://www.geek.com/hwswrev/pda/treo650/index.htm, which might be interesting for those considering a move away from Psion.

I also have a question about printing emails from a netBook; does anyone else have problems doing this? I have found that the only way to print the text of an email reliably is to copy&paste it into Word, and then print it from there.

I have just released a new piece of freeware under the FreEPOC banner, which I thought might be of some interest. I suspect the target audience is miniscule, as you need to be a netBook/Series 7 owning diabetic to be able to (or to need to) use it. It's called GlucoMon, and is intended to help diabetics, or those with a diabetic in the family, keep tabs on their blood-sugar readings. The nice thing about it is that it enables readings to be analysed and/or plotted on a graph, which (can) gives an interesting insight into how a diabetic has been managing their blood-sugars. To download GlucoMon, go to http://www.freepoc.org/viewapp.php?id=74.

Cheers, Ian.

Date: 12 Apr 2005 07:46:12 +0700
From: Dave Thomas <address truncated>
Subject: Repair centre in Vancouver or North America

Hi there

Does  anyone  know  of  a  repair centre in Canada or North America for Psions?

Many Thanks

Dave

Date: 12 Apr 2005 13:49:06 +0700
From: Itamar Engelsman <address truncated>
Subject: Treo 600, Freeware (and shareware), Route software/hardware,

Answer to: Mike Dyer

Re.: Treo 600 - I am pretty sure that the thumbboard of the Treo 600 does work faster than the SE 910. If it would be fast enough to type with 8 to 10 fingers to replace my Psion I could be interested too. However, that is not the case and accordingly _for me_ the difference in speed between these two PDA phones is not significant for the few emails I do type on it. Having said that, indeed i hold my SE 910 in one hand and use the thumbboard with my other, I never succeeded in holding it by the flap and use both thumbs.

Answer to: Chris S Handley

Re.: Freeware (and shareware) - the writer of commercial software is of course required to fix bugs, but why is he required to add features required or requested by users ? IMHO when you buy a software package you buy what you get and future updates can sometimes be for free, other times against payment and other times there will not be any. But there certainly is no commitment to this effect.      Furthermore, when releasing freeware it is very well possible that at a future dat the author decides to discontinue his software forf a variety of reasons, and I don't think there is a commitment to continue and support this software forever and ever. How many EPOC writers have just disappeared from the "face of the world" ?     Even stronger, commercial software houses discontinue their support for older versions of programs once newer ones have come out. If you continue working with the older ones and have a problem, you will have to upgrade. There is no commitment to support unlimited in time.

To All:

Re. Route software/hardware - Is there someone amongst the members of this digest who has tried out various different possibillities to connect a Symbian run machine to a GPS and use one of the exisiting possible software packages for maps ?

Best regards,
Itamar Engelsman
London, UK

Date: 12 Apr 2005 14:41:48 +0700
From: Rolf Brunsting <address truncated>
Subject: Re: Freeware (and shareware)

Dear Chris,

<< * Commercial software; the author is earning a living from his software being sold, so he is obligated to fix bugs and add features requested by users.
    * Shareware; the author is earning some extra money (on top of his main job) from selling his own software, so he is obligated to fix bugs, and is expected (but not required) to add requested features.
    * Freeware; the author gains no money, but by making his software publically available he is implying that he will provide limited support - he is obligated to fix bugs, but is not expected to add requested features (however he may do so).
    * Open Source; the author is providing complete public access to his software, thereby releasing him from any implied support issues - he is expected (but not required) to fix bugs, but is not expected to add requested features (however he may do so). >>

Food for discussion as it looks to me that the major difference between commercial software and shareware is that you pay up front for a commercial application  while you can 'test drive' a shareware application before you buy it (or not). Whether you can live from the proceeds depends on how successful your software is. Irrespective of whether you've chosen to sell your software on a commercial or
shareware basis.

It's also not necessarily true that the author of commercial software
is obliged to "add features requested by users". What a user wants may not fit the type of application and/or the target audience of the application. Create a personal finance manager, for example, and the target audience is the home user who wants to get a grip on the family finances. Somebody who's self-employed may want to have a few business orientated features in it to manage his/her one person company. You
have to decline the request when you want the application to remain family orientated. Nor are you obliged to add every conceivable family orientated feature requested by users. You're free to create a simple,
no frills, personal finance manager. The user who likes to have frills will have to look elsewhere.

As for technical support and the fixing of bugs, please note that EC regulations have laid down a number of minimum requirements. One of
them is that the supplier is responsible for the correct functioning of what (s)he supplies. Meaning that your 'expected but not required' for the authors of open source software no longer applies. The author has
to fix the bugs users report. And it's no longer necessary for the user to demonstrate there's a bug in the software. A reasonable suspicion is already sufficient. The author has then to demonstrate that what the
user sees isn't a bug. That the supplied source code allows the user to fix the bug himself/herself is immaterial. As the driver of a car can't be expected to be a mechanic the user of an application can't be
expected to be a software developer.

Other requirements concern the documentation that's supplied in the
form of help files and/or manual. One of the things you *have* to
supply is an installation manual describing the minimum hardware and operating system requirements, how to install the application and how
to deal with installation difficulties. The rest of the documentation can then be in the help files. Thing is, the author is expected to
supply documentation in the language of the EC countries when
requested. In case somebody in Greece can't come to grips with the English manual and/or help files the author has to supply Greek
versions when asked to do so. There are also a number of minimum requirements when it comes to the contents of manuals and help files.
I'm afraid that the documentation supplied with most shareware,
freeware and open source software don't meet these minimum requirements.

<< This is an except from the "Theory of author's responsibility" section which can be found near the end of the Help file for both FastBackup & TubeRoute >>

Well ... the practical aspects of an authors responsibility do count, I'm afraid. Release software to the general public, whether commercial, shareware, freeware or open source, and you have to meet a number of requirements as software author.

---
Kind Regards,
Rolf Brunsting - Beilen - Netherlands

Date: 12 Apr 2005 15:08:09 +0700
From: Phil Aypee <address truncated>
Subject: Oblidged - Therbligs - Freeware requiring registration

Hi Folks,

Chris. (Handley), I agree with your definitions of the various kinds of software release as I expect most do. That may be why you've had no feedback.
: ¬ )

Ian (Chapple), the term "unfair" must be subjective. I, among others, think this concept (freeware that *must* be registered) is unfair. You disagree. Neither of us can persuade the other so we should now agree to disagree!

OK?

Incidentally, I don't use, or have, the COD. In over two feet of language books I've got about 14 English dictionaries (depending how you define dictionary) including the SOED and the Pocket Oxford - and Ronnie Barker's "Fletcher's Book of Rhyming Slang". I even bought one for a colleague who insisted regularly that he was "oblidged" (sic).

Chris., the doggerel I quote,
"Minimise your therbligs until it becomes automatic;
this doubles your effective lifetime -
and thereby gives time to enjoy
butterflies and kittens and rainbows."
is from "Time Enough for Love" by Robert A. Heinlein.

The "therblig" was a real unit named by Frank Gilbreth, a pioneering work study engineer. A largely fictitious account of part of his life was filmed as "Cheaper by the Dozen" with Clifton Webb.

And Mr Heinlein's quote sounds better than your, otherwise admirable, alternative.
; • )

Happy days,
Phil.

"A touchstone to determine the actual worth of an intellectual -
find out how he feels about astrology."

http://www.philaypee.co.uk/index.html