Palm to Windows

I've installed a trial of ShSh Software's "2Day" program. Basically it "skins" your Palm's calendar app and gives you loads of extra bit's an pieces that you can do with it. It's quite impressive, and you can fiddle an tailor your views in lots of different ways.

However, I can't help but think when I run it....Windows Mobile.

It's trying to be Windows Mobile. Actually the screen shot looks less like WM than my install which is uncannily like one of my WM powered HTC Vox today screens.

Now that's not necessarily a bad thing. After all, Windows Mobile's Today screen has got some decent functions, like....errr....only joking - it has, honest.

But doesn't this rather bump on the head, whilst at the same time exacerbate one of the fundamental differences between Palm and Windows Mobile? Palm is easy and intuitive, WM is less so. And, like the WM OS, after existing the today screen you are dumped into the native interfaces of all the other apps, so it's only skin deep.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking ShSh, or their product. It looks good at what it does, and if that's what you want, then buy it. It's cheaper than buying a WM device after all.

I'm not convinced...yet. I try these things, but usually end up coming back to the simplicity of the native Palm apps, because that works for me, and that's all I want it to do which is why I use a Palm device currently as my No. 1 device of choice, with the HTC Vox sitting in the wings as a back up or when I need wifi.

What the industry should be doing, especially Palm, is looking at apps like 2Day and learning from them what the users want so that their next gen devices - when they eventually appear, give users the best UI seamlessly throughout the OS.