Gratuitous Plug Dept: I've seen several mentions to my "Reading Palm's Future column on PocketPCthoughts.com, hosted by Microsoft MVP Jason Dunn. Jason seems to agree with me that Palm is making a potentially fatal misstep in sticking with the Dragonball and 160x160 resolution until at least 2002.

How come so many people can see that, but Palm can't? The two new Visors are darn impressive, but if Palm intends to compete with the PocketPC they're going to have to beef up the hardware. As I've said before, the two devices could be positioned to completely different markets, so they don't have to compete directly; Palm could just focus on the low-end organizer niche. But if they're going to do that, I don't understand the two radio spots I heard this morning for the Palm IIIc (spotlighting color maps and games on the Palm).

I just don't get it. Is it that Palm doesn't have "that vision thing", or that I just don't see it?

D'OH! Dept: For anyone who tried to use the woyp@egroups.com link to send me comments and failed, I've gone in an opened up access to anyone to post messages to the eGroup, not just pre-existing members. My bad.

We Don't Need No Stinking Wires Dept: Take a look at this ZDNet article about wireless plans from Microsoft and Palm. Microsoft is working on something called Airstream, a middle layer that allows server apps to interact with mobile devices seamlessly, regardless of wireless protocol. Think about the possibilities here for a moment, and ask yourself how much longer desktop computers will be viable over Airstream-connected laptops and palmtops. Palm is still talking up Bluetooth, and says that Bluetooth support will be in the next version of the OS, whenever that happens to actually come out. Which is more important? Let us know at woyp@egroups.com.