Product Reviews

Forget Adobe Photoshop or QuarkXPress. The reason this reviewer has been unable to run in a totally Mac OS X-native environment has been the lack of a Carbonized version of Palm Desktop. The previous version, Palm Desktop 2.6.3, allowed certain users in certain circumstances to synchronise their Palm-based handhelds with their Macs running Classic environment, but this process had a tendency to crash.

So here, at last, is Palm Desktop 4.0 (version 3.0 is strangely non-existent). It has been available as a public beta since January, but this was buggy and inconsistent. The final version of Palm Desktop 4.0 works very well. Installation is relatively simple: the installer removes any old files from previous versions of the product to avoid causing conflicts, and guides you through configuring the software to work properly with your handheld.

Some features have been improved. For example, the HotSync Manager automatically polls all the different connection methods and selects the appropriate one. This was done manually in previous versions.

In the Palm Desktop application itself, headings have been changed so they match up with their equivalents on the Palm: Contact is now Address, Calendar is now Date Book, and so on. The application supports vCard and vCal files, so information can easily be shared with other applications, emailed to other users or even downloaded to

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an iPod. Records marked private on the handheld are now also hidden on the Desktop.

Palm reader

The Instant Palm Desktop feature, which provides instant access to pertinent information and some application features, is now incorporated into the Dock icon. And when performing a HotSync operation, an animated icon shows the progress in the Dock.

The rest of the application remains unchanged. Palm Desktop 4.0 is essentially a Carbonized version of Claris Organiser 2.0. This isn't a bad thing, Claris Organiser was the best PIM (personal information manager) of its time, and its acquisition by Palm to form the basis of Palm Desktop for Mac was welcome. Even now, Palm Desktop 4.0 is superior to its Windows equivalent. Bearing in mind it's a free download, it's worth having even if you're not a Palm user.

Three's a crowd

But the latest version of Palm's Mac software has one very serious shortcoming. Palm Desktop 4.0 doesn't support third-party conduit files, even when running the Mac OS 9 version. These are files that can synchronise with other PIMs, documents, Internet content and a whole host of other items.

This means these third parties, which include AvantGo, Dataviz and Microsoft, have been forced to rewrite their software and hardly any are available. There are some notable exceptions, such as the excellent SplashWallet suite of utilities (www.splashdata.com), but we're still waiting for mainstream conduits which include Microsoft Entourage and FileMaker.

It's also worth noting that Palm Desktop 4.0 is only supported for use with a Palm-branded handheld. Other Palm OS-based devices may work - it worked fine with a Sony Clie - but Handspring advises Visor users against installing it until a compatible version is released.

If you rely on your conduits, then it's worth sticking with the older version of Palm Desktop. But for everyone else, the long-awaited ability to HotSync in OS X makes Palm Desktop 4.0 essential.