Fr. Ignatius

I received the following e-mail from PocketMac:

"From The Desk Of: PocketMac's Lauren Samuels

Dear ___________,

A short while ago, you had emailed into our customer service department regarding the status of PocketMac's support of Windows Mobile 5. I wanted to send you a really quick email about Windows Mobile 5 testing. The Windows Mobile 5 version of PocketMac is entering its 3rd and final internal test version. We're testing it internally today, and if all goes well, we'll be sending it to the beta testers this week.

A couple of items in particular have been adjusted in this version.

1) Password Synching -- the last beta we succeeded in supporting syncing with the device password in place. This means that now PocketMac Windows Mobile products will all now have full password support.

2) iCal Synching -- the iCal syncing feature has an improvement in handling reminders.

3) Now Up-To-Date / Contact & Daylite -- the Now and Daylite plugin have been recently upgraded to match changes in those programs. Some old featurees that supported out-of-date services have been removed.

4) E-Mail Synching -- because the email feature wasn't connecting properly, the email syncing has been disabled in this version. We'll be revisiting that in version 4, which is scheduled for a later release.

Thank you for your continued support!

Have a great day, week and month!

Lauren Samuels,
PocketMac"

It is not the greatest of news, but hopefully it will really be "COMING SOON", which they have been showing on their Website for over a year (if not longer).

This is just a FYI for those that are interested.

All those who use Missing Sync already sync with their Mac's, but there are some of us that are still waiting for PocketMac to re-enter the market at the Windows Mobile 5 level.

sdge

Yawnzor.... What advantage does it have over missing sync? Missing sync works swell for me

Fr. Ignatius

I have nothing personally against Missing Sync. I am waiting, "some what" patiently for PocketMac Pro 4.0 to come out. I have a friend that has Missing Sync, and he is not that pleased with it (bugs and the performance is not what he thought). I know that all programs have bugs, but for some reason I am going to get PocketMac Pro 4.0 when it finally comes out - if I live long enough.

I do not have enough money to buy both, so I'll just wait.

If I break down and buy Missing Sync, then PocketMac Pro 4.0 will come out the next day, week or month. That is just the way things go. Sooooo. I wait.

I am glad that you like Missing Sync. More power to you.

For right now, I transfer information via a Card Reader. It is sort of a pain, but it is functional (sort of). I do look forward to being about to syncing the calendar and the address book will be great. Right now I input them twice.

Tell me what you like about Missing Sync. And be honest, tell me what you do not like. IF you can convince me, I may buy Missing Sync. I'd like to hear what you have to say.

Thank you for your reply.

sdge

Pros: It allows you to sync your calender, tasks, syncs your bookmarks safari to IE, and also syncs an itunes playlist if you so desire and also syc photos from iphoto. I really like the ability to mount the device so you can look at the files on your Axim like a drive.

Cons: Basically nothing works perfectly on it. Every so often it just does not want to sync. I have not found a remedy for that. You also can't send large amounts of information through BT. After about 10 minutes or so of transfer it just gives up. Also, you can't update through WiFi with WM5...in all real fairness I guess that's really because WM5 took that option out since 2003 (from what I've heard I've never used 2003).

All in all it's not super but it's all we got. And as far as syncing tasks and and all taht stuff, when it works it works beautifully. Seems like the amount of times it won't sync is fewer and fewer.

Fr. Ignatius

Thank you for your reply.

I am still, for now, going to wait.

I hope that "Soon" really means soon.

Anybody else have any other things to say for Missing Sync that SDGE hasn't said?

Fr. Ignatius

Well, my waiting is over. The program works perfectly now on both the Intel iMac Mini and the iMac G5 PowerPC. The problem with the Intel iMac Mini was solved today through a phone conversation with Mike from PocketMac Technical Support. It seems that the System Administrator here (at the monastery), when asked if he wanted to uninstall the PocketMac, when installing it again, said no. This created the problem with the "Failed to load XML stream."

I was told to run a PMSystemReport, which I did. I was asked to look at the Kernal State part, the bottom of that section and to see if there were two pocketmac entries. There were. There should only be one. I then reinstalled the program (now that I have been given Adminstrative privileges) and when asked if I wanted to uninstall the previous copy of PocketMac, I answered "yes". Voilá, it works. I ran another PMSystemReport and looked in the same spot, there was only one entry with PocketMac.

The reason it has taken so long to get to this point, was my busy schedule. I have to admit though, the phone call was what was needed. The ability to ask a question (from both sides) gave both of us the information that was needed to find the problem. The support that I have received from PocketMac has been better than anyother program I have ever used.

I really like this product, which can be seen by anyone. If others are interested in getting this product, but are unsure, if I can answer their questions - I'll do my best.

One more thing. I recently had the opportunity to use MissingSync with a Palm device that I have set-up for a friend that doesn't have a computer (by the way, I set it up on a computer that does NOT have anything to do with PocketMac - the two programs (PocketMac and MissingSync) cannot be on the same computer), but wants the ability to read books and the Scripture while in the Hospital. I have to say, that the program is very nice. I also have heard that it has a new update coming too. I also was able to contact Techinical Support about a problem that I was having and he answered my problem and solved another issue unrelated to MissingSync. I thought the person was very knowledgable. Either way, I believe that each program has their pluses and minuses.

Thank you for reading this.

Unworthy Servant of God,

Ignatius - priestmonk