Chris Leckness

The other day I visited my doctor.  I noticed his computer desktop was absolutely cluttered with icons, a sure sign of a non-power user.  After a bit of discussion, he asked me to show him MobilitySite.  When I went to press the Internet Explorer shortcut, he stopped me, telling me Internet Explorer was corrupted, and had me use FireFox. 

Anyway, he asked my advice on replacing his aging Palm Pilot.  I started thinking.  What could I recommend that would be easy to use, and have a calendar application like the Palm Desktop?  We started looking at different options.  I told him Act! Software by Sage is an excellent product.  It's easy to use, very intuitive, and has a great calendar module.  He asked me if it can sync with a pocket pc.  I told him it's possible, but it's not a simple solution.  He would need a third party solution to accomplish it, and even then it's for advanced users. 

Talk turned to the iPhone, but it's not made for business at this time, and as a doctor he needs a solid solution. 

I started talking about syncing with Outlook, and as I described Outlook I saw a glassy look come over his face.  For users that frequent tech blogs, Outlook is probably simple.  Well, at least it's highly customizable and loaded with tons of features.  But I thought about the 500 page Outlook book I own, and I realized that Outlook would be overkill, or at least has far too many options for a non-techie. 

I thought of recommending a new Palm Pilot, but I they haven't made any new products in a long time.  A new Palm would not be an upgrade for him.

Boy, did I feel stupid!  I had no idea what to recommend.  All he wants is a PIM (personal information manager) that syncs to a mobile device and is easy to use.  And Windows Mobile is certainly not very easy to use.  If you think it is, try explaining how the memory works to a non-user.  Then tell them about all the third party software available, the tons of forums to help people understand and work with pocket pcs, and you will get my drift.  This is a busy person who doesn't have hours upon hours to spend analyzing why his WiFi connection won't work, the pocket pc is not recognized by the computer, the SD card is corrupted, and how to recover data lost from a hard reset.  He just wants it to work and not be bothered with all the minutia.

My wife uses a Blackberry Curve.  She loves it - and she is waaaay not techie.  I don't know much about it, but I know that she never asks for help and never complains.  It has a calendar, pim and plenty of third party apps.  Hmmm, that may just be a perfect solution. 

Well, after our visit and all my advice and analysis of his situation, he presented me with a bill:)  I guess I know what my advice is worth!

webbahboy

So...the issue is the desktop calendar more than the PDA? My wife uses an HP Ipaq 1945 with PPC 2003, and doesn't seem to have any problems with it. She has no 3rd party apps, either, so she is using the plain vanilla PIM that comes with it. This was her upgrade from the Palm, and it involved little or no learning curve for her, though she was already syncing with Outlook.

Another "case study" with a friend who is even less tech savvy than my wife is a family friend who is using an older Palm with the Palm desktop. In her case I would try to find the most Palm-like upgrade! However, with some coaching, I think she could handle Outlook. My longstanding experience of Outlook is that it works pretty well out of the box if you just want basic calendar, email and contacts.

I have had enough problems with this or that app or sync to know what you mean, Steve- so maybe the Blackberry solution is a good idea- but, like you, I have never used one. What about other Smartphone options? I haven't seen a Palm Centro, but that seems to be getting some buzz.

frankenbike

People ask me about my Mogul all the time. I say it isn't for the "faint of heart".

You shouldn't have to have an IT person to get your PPC working the way you'd expect. And that's pretty much what I tell anyone who is interested but doesn't have IT style chops. It's made to work a certain way, friendly only with certain programs.

It should have wizards and the capability of syncing any calendar on your desktop to the calendar on your PPC. Same with email. And it should provide a mechanism for syncing any email clients or optional calendars too, through Activesync. Microsoft is much more interested in using the PPC platform as an advertisement for Microsoft solutions only. They're pretty much as bad as Apple, though it's more flexible for the IT inclined.

You can do any of these things with 3rd party apps. But that's what makes it so you have to be your own IT person.

I didn't buy a Mogul for my wife. She'd hate it. I don't recommend it to her friends. I only recommend it to my most computer savvy friends.

For the doctor in question...a PPC is his best bet, but he needs to pay someone to set it up for him. Or barter a bill-free office visit ;)

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Frankenbike

ralarosa

Chris, the Curve would be good for him, but he would have to go for a hosted BES solution. He wouldn't have to do much tech work. Most of the hosted BES providers also have support for a Windows (not so)Smartphone or WM Phone.