<div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">> happen, at least on the tablets. Or you can compromise with reality and<br>
> use OO on Google docs via your tablet, which does basically all you want<br>
> (docs, spreadsheets, presentations, etc) online NOW with that dreaded<br>
> free gmail account you don't want to have.<br>
<br>
1. "Reality" is that I never have Internet access when I want to use<br>
the tablet to edit documents. If there's Internet access, then there's<br>
usually a more robust computer that I could use in the first place.<br></blockquote><div><br>I'm in the same boat. I don't have massive expectations - I used WordSmith on the Palm many years ago, and adapted pretty good to its limitations. I look forward to AbiWord becoming generally usable.<br>
<br>Google docs rocks. On the desktop. Even the docs main page is almost unusable on the n800 - it takes an eternity to load and the top logo area takes up about 50% of the screen. All you get to see ultimately is 1 document's name. Even if Google Gears were functional on the tablet, I can't see gDocs working practically.<br>
</div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">> If you're so paranoid you<br>
> just can't leave stuff online,<br>
<br>
It's not paranoia, it's necessity. I need the data (especially contact<br>
information) available wherever I am, frequently when Internet access<br>
is not available. Again, what part of that do you not understand?<br>
</blockquote><div><br>Contact info should be in the contact device - typically the cell phone. I haven't seen awesome contact managers for cell phones though. The ideal solution would be a link of some kind; the cell phone being the storage device.<br>
<br>I'm not as worried about contact info security, but availability, yeah, needs to be a fair bit better. Again, though the contacts is the part of the GPE suite I'm least disappointed with! Doesn't say a alot, sadly.<br>
<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">It's not the marketplace that's leaving me wanting. It's my apparently<br>
naive and misguided desire to support Linux in general and FOSS in<br></blockquote><div><br>We finally have reached the point on the desktop where you realize we shouldn't HAVE to make compromises to use Linux. Why have we gone all the way back to the beginning with the tablet? And it's not just tablets in general, because I believe the Zaurus had plenty of great applications years ago.<br>
<br>Actually, looking at KDE on the tablet shows what should be possible... If some system-level screen management happened it would be a full out replacement.<br> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
particular. If I hadn't held out for a Linux-based product, I could<br>
have had a device with Pocket Word etc. and a real, robust PIM years<br>
ago. Every single capability for which I'm asking has existed in *far*<br>
less powerful devices - out of the box - for years. Silly me...<br>
</blockquote><div><br>Yeah, I'd pay for it too. Just looking at theKompany's page, I'd shell out the cash in a minute for a few of those applications. I've bought loads of PPC and Palm apps in the past, and don't regret it a bit even though I don't use them anymore. Heck, I bought WordPerfect 8 AND WordPerfect 2000 suite (yikes) for Linux.<br>
<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">for it. So I'm screwed, and nobody cares. Gee, that's a lot like</blockquote>
<div><br>I feel your pain. I know we're just early adopters... for a 3 year old platform though? I still hold out a little hope. Honestly though, I don't see anything upcoming in the next 2 years. Maybe the Canola guys will step up, but they're spending an awful long time on a media player.<br>
</div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
So, what are the advantages of Linux and/or FOSS, exactly????????<br></blockquote><div> <br>Freedom and freeness. Unfortunately, we don't really have them in this case... the platform is a little too closed to be really free (in both senses). For example, why are we not drowning in virtual keyboard alternatives? Before the n810 came out, this was a MASSIVE complaint. An "itch" if you will. What does one have to do to get an OPTI/Fitaly/ATOMIK clone happening? Or Graffiti 1 (all with clever little differences to avoid the legal issues). I spent chunk of today trying to get a map for ukeyboard to approximate this. It doesn't seem viable.<br>
<br>Setting up scratchbox is a herculean effort even to contemplate. I've tried it twice, I don't think I'm going to go there again.<br><br>The applications are all free in the cash sense but getting some changes to happen shows you how proprietary and territorial some people are. So, I don't feel free to use the majority of them.<br>
<br>Personally, I don't care enough to demand freeware, though do I expect a little bit over time. I'm more than willing to buy software that saves me time and stress. Any of you developers listening? :)<br></div>
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