I agree totally with your frustration.
As a first time PDA buyer/user, I was appalled by the amount of work required to get reliable functionality from these things.
You have to remember people; the average buyer is used to bringing home an appliance, plugging it in, and having it work. These devices are marketed as if they are just another audio/video/mass consumtion consumer toy. They are not. They are for technogeeks/programmers/expense account types. (No offense
)
A raw noob could take the better part of a week getting an Ax fully functional, and the "manual" isn't worthy of the dead trees it takes to make 'em.
These devices should come with a warning sticker: "Caution: take a pill before opening box"
It's no wonder at all that the market for PPCs is projected to continue shrinking.