Thursday, December 11, 2003
Is Price of Creativity Too High? Sandisk Describes Difficulty in Making WiFi Drivers for Palm PDAs
Posted by Jason Dunn in "THE COMPETITION" @ 10:00 AM
We've had a lot of discussion on this site lately about the desire to see Pocket PC OEMs be more creative, and much railing about Microsoft's restrictions on what OEMs can and can't do. Microsoft has always maintained that they will not allow OEMs to break the platform that they've created, which has caused some of us to feel that means "no innovation". After reading this email message from Mike Wong at Sandisk, and seeing what the price of creativity is (at the expense of the platform), suddenly I'm ok with the slower rate of creativity among Pocket PC OEMs - I'd be furious if I bought a new device like the Treo 600 and found out I couldn't use a new accessory. I'm not posting this with an attitude of "nyah, nyah, Palm users lose out!", but rather this is good food for thought on how creativity must be balanced with the need to maintain a fully functional platform and not a series of "micro platforms".
I'd be interested to know what Pocket PC Thoughts readers think of this - is it worth the risk, getting a more creative hardware design at the risk of breaking the platform, or is it better to maintain the integrity of the platform and have devices that are more similar than they are different?
Here's Mike's message in full:
"SanDisk has been shipping its SD Wi-Fi card for several months now and many people have wondered about whether we would have drivers for the Palm OS. As you may know, the driver has been delayed several times so I'd like to explain some of the issues that are causing the delays. SanDisk’s SD Wi-Fi card currently supports Pocket PC for Windows devices. SanDisk originally stated that it would provide free driver support for Palm OS (operating system) 4.1 and 5.X in the Fall of 2003. Due to a variety of technical and business issues, SanDisk has dropped its plans for Palm OS 4.x support and restated the availability of support for certain Palm OS 5.x drivers for Q1 2004.
SanDisk understands the level of demand and frustration by the Palm OS user community who clearly wants this wireless product. We believe it is important for this tight-knit community to understand the underlying challenges as we work to resolve the issues in order to deliver a reliable, high quality product.
When Will SanDisk Offer Drivers for Palm OS?
SyChip Inc., the company that is primarily responsible for writing the drivers for SanDisk, has Palm OS 5.x drivers in Alpha stage and is working on a schedule to complete and deliver these drivers.
In order to move forward, however, SyChip and PalmSource, the owner of Palm OS, must complete required legal documents before SyChip can continue its development of device-specific drivers. This is a necessary step now that Palm Inc. has transitioned into separate companies (palmOne and PalmSource). Both companies are working towards this goal and expect to conclude this agreement imminently. If this occurs by early January, then SyChip can complete the development of the drivers for certain viable devices and SanDisk will release these drivers in Q1 2004.
SanDisk Position
Palm OS 4.1 Drivers
SanDisk and its development partner, SyChip, Inc., have invested a considerable amount of time and resources into developing Palm OS 4.1 drivers. With more than five million Palm devices that use this OS version, there is tremendous demand for an SD Wi-Fi card that supports this platform. Unfortunately, after reviewing Alpha stage software a number of issues became apparent and made further development unfeasible.
Challenges to developing Palm OS 4.1 drivers involve the hardware itself. The m500 series did not originally include network files and upgrading the hardware to add these requires technical expertise that is beyond what can be reasonably expected from most users. Furthermore, the processor itself is another hurdle. It is too slow to take advantage of Wi-Fi access speeds and results in performance that is near dial-up speeds. Obviously, this would not be an acceptable outcome.
Palm OS 5.x Drivers
A key issue of developing working SD Wi-Fi drivers is the way Palm (and now PalmSource) manages its OS. Hardware OEMs who license Palm OS are allowed to customize the operating system for their particular application. This often results in a growing number of proprietary, device-specific, Palm OS variations. Software driver developers are tasked with device specific development, which takes considerable time and resources.
SanDisk’s development partner SyChip, has a beta version of its Palm OS 5.x driver in development that currently works on certain Palm Powered devices but must resolve two key issues before it can proceed.
The first issue surrounds the rights to Palm OS IP for development of WiFi drivers. As mentioned, due to the transition of Palm Inc. into two separate companies, the negotiation and acquisition of these rights has not proceeded as quickly as SanDisk and SyChip anticipated. SyChip has now reached an understanding with PalmSource for the rights and support required to develop Palm OS drivers but the Legal Agreement needs to be finalized and signed.
The second issue involves the electrical design of some Palm Powered devices such as the Treo 600. Since Wi-Fi capabilities were not an original design requirement for these devices, the majority of them use components with maximum power specifications below Wi-Fi needs. It is technically possible to use the SD Wi-Fi card but its usage may damage the device and void the warranty. A number of handheld computer manufacturers have assured SanDisk that they will modify the designs of their SDIO devices to correct this problem.
SanDisk remains fully committed to offering the widest support for its SD Wi-Fi cards and is looking forward to resolving these issues as quickly as possible in order to provide the products that meet the company’s strict requirements for quality, reliability and performance. We sincerely regret any inconvenience that this delay may cause.
Hope you're doing well. Take care,
Mike Wong
SanDisk"
I'd be interested to know what Pocket PC Thoughts readers think of this - is it worth the risk, getting a more creative hardware design at the risk of breaking the platform, or is it better to maintain the integrity of the platform and have devices that are more similar than they are different?
Here's Mike's message in full:
"SanDisk has been shipping its SD Wi-Fi card for several months now and many people have wondered about whether we would have drivers for the Palm OS. As you may know, the driver has been delayed several times so I'd like to explain some of the issues that are causing the delays. SanDisk’s SD Wi-Fi card currently supports Pocket PC for Windows devices. SanDisk originally stated that it would provide free driver support for Palm OS (operating system) 4.1 and 5.X in the Fall of 2003. Due to a variety of technical and business issues, SanDisk has dropped its plans for Palm OS 4.x support and restated the availability of support for certain Palm OS 5.x drivers for Q1 2004.
SanDisk understands the level of demand and frustration by the Palm OS user community who clearly wants this wireless product. We believe it is important for this tight-knit community to understand the underlying challenges as we work to resolve the issues in order to deliver a reliable, high quality product.
When Will SanDisk Offer Drivers for Palm OS?
SyChip Inc., the company that is primarily responsible for writing the drivers for SanDisk, has Palm OS 5.x drivers in Alpha stage and is working on a schedule to complete and deliver these drivers.
In order to move forward, however, SyChip and PalmSource, the owner of Palm OS, must complete required legal documents before SyChip can continue its development of device-specific drivers. This is a necessary step now that Palm Inc. has transitioned into separate companies (palmOne and PalmSource). Both companies are working towards this goal and expect to conclude this agreement imminently. If this occurs by early January, then SyChip can complete the development of the drivers for certain viable devices and SanDisk will release these drivers in Q1 2004.
SanDisk Position
Palm OS 4.1 Drivers
SanDisk and its development partner, SyChip, Inc., have invested a considerable amount of time and resources into developing Palm OS 4.1 drivers. With more than five million Palm devices that use this OS version, there is tremendous demand for an SD Wi-Fi card that supports this platform. Unfortunately, after reviewing Alpha stage software a number of issues became apparent and made further development unfeasible.
Challenges to developing Palm OS 4.1 drivers involve the hardware itself. The m500 series did not originally include network files and upgrading the hardware to add these requires technical expertise that is beyond what can be reasonably expected from most users. Furthermore, the processor itself is another hurdle. It is too slow to take advantage of Wi-Fi access speeds and results in performance that is near dial-up speeds. Obviously, this would not be an acceptable outcome.
Palm OS 5.x Drivers
A key issue of developing working SD Wi-Fi drivers is the way Palm (and now PalmSource) manages its OS. Hardware OEMs who license Palm OS are allowed to customize the operating system for their particular application. This often results in a growing number of proprietary, device-specific, Palm OS variations. Software driver developers are tasked with device specific development, which takes considerable time and resources.
SanDisk’s development partner SyChip, has a beta version of its Palm OS 5.x driver in development that currently works on certain Palm Powered devices but must resolve two key issues before it can proceed.
The first issue surrounds the rights to Palm OS IP for development of WiFi drivers. As mentioned, due to the transition of Palm Inc. into two separate companies, the negotiation and acquisition of these rights has not proceeded as quickly as SanDisk and SyChip anticipated. SyChip has now reached an understanding with PalmSource for the rights and support required to develop Palm OS drivers but the Legal Agreement needs to be finalized and signed.
The second issue involves the electrical design of some Palm Powered devices such as the Treo 600. Since Wi-Fi capabilities were not an original design requirement for these devices, the majority of them use components with maximum power specifications below Wi-Fi needs. It is technically possible to use the SD Wi-Fi card but its usage may damage the device and void the warranty. A number of handheld computer manufacturers have assured SanDisk that they will modify the designs of their SDIO devices to correct this problem.
SanDisk remains fully committed to offering the widest support for its SD Wi-Fi cards and is looking forward to resolving these issues as quickly as possible in order to provide the products that meet the company’s strict requirements for quality, reliability and performance. We sincerely regret any inconvenience that this delay may cause.
Hope you're doing well. Take care,
Mike Wong
SanDisk"
