Re: Double Nope! Message #12 Posted by Chris Woodhouse on 18 June 2004, 1:55 p.m., in response to message #3 by Mike
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It's only a matter of time till everyone stops using standalone calculators. Just like they will for CD players and other consumer electronics.
Very bad comparison in my not so humble opinion.
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To put it another way, consider the best calculator that you would like. Now consider that it could be expanded to include phone, PDA, etc. Would you abandon that perfect calculator, simply because it contained a phone?
In a heart beat, because if it was a phone and a PDA it would NOT be the perfect calculator. It also would be a pretty horrible PDA and phone for that matter.
People have been trying to combing multiple devices in to one forever. Some times it works good, on the very rare occasion it works great, but more often than not it is a miserable failure. Some examples in history. The flying car, a miserable failure. The pocket plier tool, in some situations this is an extremely handy gadget, in fact I have several of them. But they will never replace a tool box full of tools, or a good pocket knife. If you need a screwdriver to take something apart, or put it together, and all you have is a pocket plier tool, then it will certainly get the job done. If you have both a pocket plier tool, and a regular screwdriver, almost anyone would reach for regular screwdriver over the pocket plier tool. Obviously there are people who will find the right pocket plier tool to be all the tools they need, but in general they will not replace the separate tools they combine into one.
I think it is the same with calculators and PDAs, they both server different purposes, and they serve those purposed pretty well. It's not too difficult to put them together and have them serve two different purposes. For many people this works fine and is a great combination, just like the pocket plier tool. But just like a pocket plier tool will never replace a mechanics tool box full of tools, a PDA will never replace all calculators.
Of topic a little here on the phone/PDA combination. That is a PDA manufactures pipe dream! I would be willing to bet a very large sum of money that in 10 years from now, if you were to take all the PDA users (and by PDA user, I mean some one that uses it for more than just a simple phone book), those that use their PDA as a phone will be less than 5% of the total. Now a phone that can wirelessly communicate with my cell phone, would be great!
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We often think of calculators being added to PDA but I prefer to think of an electronic box that can contain just about any program. That is coming.
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The software is only half the issue. Yes it is getting to where you can put a countless number of features in a very small package. However when you are dealing with a finite size device, the user interface is your limiting factor.
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I have not carried a stand alone calculator for years. I have lots but prefer to use my PDA.
I'm sure that works great for you, and many others. That doesn't mean it will work for everyone.
Chris W
Bring Back the HP 15C
Edited: 18 June 2004, 1:59 p.m.
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