Saturday, July 31, 2004
Pocket PC; Toy or Tool?
Posted by Jonathon Watkins in "ARTICLE" @ 05:00 AM
"With more and more colleagues and friends using PDAs these days, it's interesting to observe the different "PDA habits". Besides the observation that Pocket PCs are becoming the clear winner with beginners, more interesting is the question how long does it take that somebody becomes used to switching from analogue to digital in information management, or in simple words: how long does it take to become familiar with these little devices? When is the time that the initial "toy" becomes a useful tool?"
Dr. Wolfgang Irber has posted a very thoughtful article over at PPCW.Net. In it he examines how a PDA can move from a useful gadget, to a time consuming annoyance and finally an indispensable tool. He makes a very good point that it takes time to changing you way of operating from analogue to digital. I.e. he's not talking about getting to know the PDA and OS in question, but the whole notion of how you think, as well how you organise, sort and retrieve the long term and day-to-day data you need. If your habits still follow the old patterns learned over years, then your expensive PDA will remain a little used toy.
It's interesting that after Dr. Wolfgang's 'honeymoon period with his Pocket PC, he hit problems that often consumed more time to fix then the time he saved with the new technology. He also found that the most useful way of solving the problems was to search for information on the Internet. Well, who would have thought that? :wink: He says that the more you can do with a PDA, the more you use it, the more you understand it and the more you benefit from it. To sum up, here's a particular thoughtful quote from the article: "Recently I was asked by a colleague who was sitting next to me in a meeting while I was writing notes using the PDA: "Hey man, do you actually use it for everything?" I thought about it for a moment and replied: "Yes, almost." So, could you answer the same and what are your thoughts on the subject of toy vs. tool?
Dr. Wolfgang Irber has posted a very thoughtful article over at PPCW.Net. In it he examines how a PDA can move from a useful gadget, to a time consuming annoyance and finally an indispensable tool. He makes a very good point that it takes time to changing you way of operating from analogue to digital. I.e. he's not talking about getting to know the PDA and OS in question, but the whole notion of how you think, as well how you organise, sort and retrieve the long term and day-to-day data you need. If your habits still follow the old patterns learned over years, then your expensive PDA will remain a little used toy.
It's interesting that after Dr. Wolfgang's 'honeymoon period with his Pocket PC, he hit problems that often consumed more time to fix then the time he saved with the new technology. He also found that the most useful way of solving the problems was to search for information on the Internet. Well, who would have thought that? :wink: He says that the more you can do with a PDA, the more you use it, the more you understand it and the more you benefit from it. To sum up, here's a particular thoughtful quote from the article: "Recently I was asked by a colleague who was sitting next to me in a meeting while I was writing notes using the PDA: "Hey man, do you actually use it for everything?" I thought about it for a moment and replied: "Yes, almost." So, could you answer the same and what are your thoughts on the subject of toy vs. tool?
