August 29, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Go Get an iPhone
August 30, 2009 at 7:10 am
Let me preface my comment by saying that I'm a senior (older ) database professional. I can see the value of smaller devices for notification, but I am more than willing to carry my laptop and aircard around in order to have 1) a larger screen to read and 2) a real keyboard to type on
As one who is very comfortable typing at a fairly high rate of speed, and also comfortable reading long, detailed emails, PDA type devices seem a poor substitute. I do send the occasional text message on my Palm Centro by pulling up the onscreen keyboard, but it isn't something I would want to use heavily.
Another reason: having invested in the aircard to get reasonable VPN connectivity out in the country, and given that our company took a pay cut this year and my wife was laid off, I'm not investing in the web/email options on my Verizon mobile plan. ( I have Hughes Satellite, the only other broadband option here, but it doesn't work over our VPN). Not sure how widespread my reasons will be for not adopting the latest in hand-held solutions.
August 31, 2009 at 8:20 am
If they don't want to do the development, then they ought to make the SDK's and APIs open enough so that someone else can support these other platforms.
Good Morning Steve. Where have you been? The SDK's for the mobile have been out since CE 2.0. Well even before that but I don't much count anything before 2.0. We've been through CE and PPC (Pocket PC) then onto Windows Mobile.
Lot's of delivery and service folks as well as sales force people use these things every day. The off the shelf stuff we do now: Can't tell if you are at the Starbucks on the north-east corner of the intersection or the one on the south-west. No problem. We Geo-code the customer list and the GPS unit gives us the data for the customer look up. For that giant factory I can tell you to which dock on what side of the plant you have pulled up to. Making sure that you are delivering the right stuff to the right customer. No sweat. The built-in barcode scanner can make that a snap. Taking orders for a customer that used to be on some other route. You can pull down their order history. Contract pricing, volume discounts, and promotions are are core for our product. Checking real time distribution chain inventory for critical items is a few clicks away.
Now we have units that attach directly to a vehicle data bus. We can integrate delivery software and fleet management. And that's the tip of this iceberg. Now move inside the 4-walls of a distribution center. I communicate over WAN or LAN to back end services and keep your inventory up to the second. From receiving to shipping we know where everything is and why it's there.
OK. To be perfectly honest if some worker makes a move and does not scan it we won't know. We've played with RFID and if it every gets good enough to be as bad as the conspiracy folks make out we are ready to rock and roll with that too.
With things like MSP we can manage a fleet of these devices. If one talks legs an walks away that's covered too. If a device is activated outside of it's Geo-boundary it locks and wipes itself clean. Some on the MSP team have been working on a modified "Lock and Wipe". It uses the GPS and the built in cell phone to send "kidnap" messages. Don't walk away with one of these cuz' we will find your A**!
There are places I can go and things I can do that you would never expect from a laptop. Even so these won't replace a laptop. I can't drive multiple monitors or run the Space Shuttle the way laptops can. (You did know that the "general purpose" computers on the Shuttle are hardened laptops running Windows?)
Oh. The database on the device? SQL Server CE 3.5. That is why I keep bit***, er , complaining about all the great stuff in 2008 as "it's not on the Mobile". I want date type and the Geo types as well. Please. Oh I would kill (or something like it) for CTE's. So if I'm NOT yelling about it then very likely you can do it on the Mobile.
ATBCharles Kincaid
August 31, 2009 at 8:25 am
The "state of mobile BI" link takes you to the same location as the "Windows Mobile 6.5" link.
September 1, 2009 at 7:30 am
I carry two smartphones. I have a BlackBerry assigned from work, and a T-Mobile Dash for my personal use.
For security reasons, I don't access my bank accounts and such on the BlackBerry, since everything done on that is logged (legal requirement for the industry). I trust my co-workers, but I don't like the idea of my account numbers, passwords, etc., being anyone's hands but mine and my wife's. That kind of thing is why I have a personal smartphone.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
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"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
September 2, 2009 at 10:41 am
Good Morning Steve. Where have you been? The SDK's for the mobile have been out since CE 2.0. Well even before that but I don't much count anything before 2.0. We've been through CE and PPC (Pocket PC) then onto Windows Mobile.
Um, Steve did say that Microsoft supports Windows Mobile:
I'd like to see them support not just Windows Mobile, but also Android, the iPhone, and Blackberry's in Visual Studio...
There is some good news on this front, Blackberry has done just this, they released a plug-in for Visual Studio that allows one to create and app that will run on Blackberries. You can find this at the Blackberry web site.
By the way Steve, Windows Mobile 7 and the upcoming Windows 7 are completely different critters created by two different teams at Microsoft. They both have Start menus and run some version of MSOffice apps but the similarities end there.
Cheers,
Tom
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