h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: History of the Personal Data Assistant (PDA) - A2188532
Author: Atlantic_Cable - U196159

A short entry on the evolution of the modern PDA.

As always comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Hello Atlantic Cable.

Interesting entry, but beware these comments are from a dyed-in-the-wool techno-peasant (and proud to be so).

Under the heading 'Electronic Organisers', you have a lonely phrase 'Later versions', which is may have been intended to be a heading, but is presently an incomplete sentence.

In your phrase 'PDA functions being submissive to the phone', the word 'submissive' is probably wrong, and perhaps should be 'subordinate' or 'secondary'.

In the section on Windows CE, you have a sentence ending with 'including Toshiba and .', which is obviously incomplete.

Your sentence 'All had the disadvantage that they did not function well or easily as mobile phones.' does not make sense. Perhaps some extra 'as' words are needed, for instance 'All had the disadvantage that they did not function as well or as easily as mobile phones.'


Typos:-
'amlost any task' -> 'almost any task'
'Stnadard functions' -> 'Standard functions'
'arial jutting out' -> 'aerial jutting out'

*adds to the for coming back and having a good look at*

Is a Rolodex one of those cylindrical things with file cards in it? Maybe a footnote to explain?

Thanks! This is what I get for submitting to PR after midnight!

Nice and helpful Entry! Though there's no need to call non-users "techno-peasants". Steven Pinker prefers paper diaries (lighter) and this year I've gone back to paper.

"The Filofax entered the scene in the 1980s, the yuppies saw it and it was good." Yes, a nice evocation of Genesis, it would match (eg Genesis 1.10) closer to say "The Filofax entered the scene in the 1980s, and the yuppies saw that it was good."

"Others have gone after the Psion style, a fold out design that resembles a small laptop computer"

If laptop is one word, and it is, then so should foldout be. Editorial Policy may insist on a hyphen (fold-out), but see if you can sneak foldout past them first.

Thank you.

I have updated the entry, although I think I will go with "fold-out". Being a sub myself, I shouldn't really try to sneak things past other subs.

I like this entry a lot.

Personally, I try quite hard to stop my life becoming so complex that I need a PDA. So far so good.

Also they ruin the line of your suit jacket, are one more thing which you have to carry around all the time, and are expensive if you leave it somewhere. Apart from that, I'm sure they're great. Do I qualify as a techno-peasant?

In Belgium at the moment the newest, flashiest PDA are being sold to us on the basis that they will help you pull. (Trendy man sees attractive woman on the train next to his - their eyes meet - as train leaves she bluetooths her name and number to his PDA from hers). Is blue-jacking and other strange things you can do with this new technology worth a mention?

I remember the strange square Nokia which was mobile phone and PDA. A Finnish colleague had one. It was very, very ugly.

sprout

Hi AC

I'm definitely a techno-peasant - and proud of it!

It's a really interesting entry, about something which I knew absolutely nothing. I feel educated!


F/b

The term "techno-peasant" is not a nice one really, and frankly if you don't need a PDA to remind you of all the little things then frankly, I envy you.

I use mine as an external memory backup to remind me to buy cheese and post letters.

My mobile phone spoils the line of my suit! And being something of a , that's quite hard to deal with... I quite fancy one of those nice Palm PDAs that would fit snugly in an inside jacket pocket.

I'd like to echo Recumbentman's kudos, and perhaps expand on his notes:


Nice and helpful Entry, definitely.

"The Filofax entered the scene in the 1980s, the yuppies saw it and it was good."

I believe they may have been around in the 70s and I'm not 100% certain that Filofax was the first brand name; but I'll trust your research.

You may want to mention that they evolved into a host of brands 'Personal Planners'.
You could even break them all down in the familiar form of species, family, and genus, as they do in zoology, and show the evolution (if you're feeling energetic).

"Others have gone after the Psion style, a fold out design that resembles a small laptop computer"

This is also called the 'Clamshell' style (or KPDA / K-PDA, the K is for keyboard), and you never mentioned the Psion operating system 'Epoc'. The Sharp series of early clamshells used a proprietary system; but, as they were popular units, perhaps you should mention their's, 'Synergy'.

I use a filofax, (well a WHSmith own brand alturnative of) and would be completely lost without it.

But my timetable does change on a daily basis so I don't really have a routine, and I find it easier to plan things in advance.

Not got anything to say on the actual *entry* though..

I have bits of paper...

F/b

No worries, FB; I know of people who have a 3x5 card that they fill out each Sunday, to plan their week's activities, and they refer to it as their PDA.

Mine is currently more toy than tool, though that vacillates from time to time. I create games in the spreadsheet area, and keep my writing in the documents.

Douglas Adams once wrote an article, standing up at a hotel fireplace, while waiting for his room. He used a Psion clamshell-type PDA. He wrote about it in 'Salmon of Doubt'.

Me, I've written my latest play in mine. (Started out as a short story, and a friend suggested it may make a fine play. So far, I like it.)

I'm not entirely sure I understand the distinction you are making between Psion style fold-out and clamshell.

I looked at the Sharp clamshells and I would say they were Psion style fold-outs.

There is however a clamshell Palm style built by Sony that I have now mentioned.

I already mentioned EPOC.

I also now mentioned the operating systems of PIMs.

Thanks for the feedback!

I actually have a Casio Pocket Viewer PV-S250, featuring an entire 2MB of memory!

Just two comments to address and I'll be happy to accept this.


1. 'Filofax' is a brand name, but I suspect you're using it generically here, which could pose some problems. Feel free to reference Filofax as the best known brand, but please - if you don't want to risk us facing a law suit - change the heading and other references to 'Personal Organiser' unless you're 100% certain of the history of the brand name.

2. Single inverted commas, please.

If it's any help I refer to my WH SMith personal organiser as my "Organiser" not my filofax.

Actually I usually say diary - but I do make notes in the back of it on a regualr basis so that's probably wrong.

No I'm not giving it up for a new fangled electronic thing.

Hi Atlantic Cable!

You say that the biggest problem with early PIMs and PDAs was lack of compatibility between them. I'd dispute this. I'd say the biggest problem is the slowness of input. I can type on a standard PC keyboard far faster than I can write but I can write far faster than I can put information into a PDA. This is still a problem. It should be possible to record information in the PDA as fast as someone is speaking it (for example, at a meeting when a time is discussed for the next meeting). I have yet to meet anyone that can use a PDA that quickly, while the humble filofax can easily manage it.

I've corrected those parts, thanks.

I have also added a final section on the future of the PDA. I re-read the entry and thought it was missing a conclusion.

Tell me what you think.

Just a tiny little thing. The footnote you have attached to Rolodex is almost lost with the trademark symbol. The footnote could, perhaps, be attached to the end of the sentence instead, where it would be more visible. No other gripes.

An excellent entry, even for a techno-peasant like me.