Three new Palm related articles have just been posted. They tell the story of how I managed to move my data out of my Palm Treo 650 into the Mozilla suite of products. As everyone knows, the Palm data formats are highly proprietary, and so moving the data to Mozilla means that at least I can still read/write the data in the future. Plus, since I use Mozilla on the desktop all the time, this means my phone and my desktop can be truly synchronised once and for all. Check out the articles:
- Difficulty HotSyncing your Palm Databases
- Convert your Palm OS Contacts to vCard
- Convert your Palm OS Calendar to iCal
Why did I really need to move my data into Mozilla in the first place? Well, because I recently got a new Samsung SGH-i600 Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone. ActiveSync will only sync your contacts and calendar with MS Outlook and not Outlook Express. Since I don’t use Outlook, I have to get ActiveSync to sync with my Mozilla suite instead. I never thought I’d say this, but moving to a MS Windows platform forced me to use open standards/source formats, data and applications! 
I’ll try to post some information about my SGH-i600 setup in the future.
I’ve been using the PalmOS platform since the Palm III days. During this time, I’ve bought and upgraded no less than 5 PalmOS powered devices - the Palm III, Palm V, Palm m505, Tungsten T3 and the Treo 650. The latest Treo 680 and Treo 750v simply add nothing new to the equation while I’ve been needing 3G support for global roaming and generally, a roadmap from Palm on the future of this platform to assure me that it will still be around in a year or two’s time. With the Apple iPhone setting the bar very high for 2007/08, Palm has to show something to inspire customers to stay with them and not just rely on blind customer brand/platform loyalty to continue in the future.
So, the sad day arrived, Hell froze over and I have gone over to the dark side. I guess this will be the last Palm related articles I post unless I decide to go back to it one day in the future. The good news is, now that I am in Mozilla, which is open, I can go to any platform, not just Palm, quickly and easily.
How weird I did a search - dba into ical - to try and convert my palm files into a format for my new imac.
I now discover that you have a virtually identical Palm history to me :-).
I am also fed up with the lack of 3G support from my 650/680.
Would be interested in any info comparing your experience with the 650/680 and the Samsung SGH-i600
My feelings exactly. The only reason I hadn’t succumbed to the power of the dark side was the fact WM only synced with Outlook, which I do not use. But I was fed up lugging around the Treo (which was missing alarms, resetting and finally not able to sync with Vista64 -no drivers, thank you Palm) so got myself a nice thin dumbphone instead.
Had been eyeing the i600 too, so I am looking forward to your setup.