Palm Desktop 6.2 beta supports Vista

Palm Desktop 6.2 beta supports Vista - and nothing else

by Brad Linder Jul 25th 2007

Now that Windows Vista has been out for over half a year, Palm has finally seen fit to release a beta version of its desktop sync software for the platform. Palm Desktop 6.2 beta is the first version of Palm Desktop for Windows Vista.

Unfortunately it only works with Vista, but looking at the feature list, there's not much reason why anyone else would want to "upgrade." In order to get the software working on Vista, Palm seems to have left out a bunch of features:

The Palm Quick Install Tool which allows you to install software on your phone or PDA using an installation wizard. If the application is a .prc or .pdb file, you'll be able to install it.
VersaMail synchronization through USB will not work. Wireless sync is not affected.
This version is available in English only.

Maybe in another six months some of these limitations will be removed.

[via Brighthand]

Tags: palm desktop, palm desktop 6.2 beta, PalmDesktop, PalmDesktop6.2Beta, palmOS, vista, windows vista, WindowsVista

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

panthar said 10:54AM on 7-25-2007

The part about the Quick Install tool was a bit confusing. I read the info over at Palm, and there is actually a very handy improvement in this release. Before 6.2 beta, you could not install a .prc or .pdb at all if you were using Vista. You had to email yourself the file, put it on an SD card, or make it available to download from a website.
Now, even though you still can't use apps with "install wizards", you can at least install a .prc or .pdb without jumping through hoops.

godsmack said 10:58AM on 7-25-2007

Or, you could just buy a WinMo device and save yourself a number of types of pain.

Johnnyg0 said 1:03PM on 7-25-2007

@godsmack : being an active user of both platforms (even today), switching from Palm to WinMo don't save yourself pain, it only swaps it for another type of pain (why 5-8 clicks only to shut down an app on WinMo? especially when, since those devices are only made of Ram, you shouldn't even need to shut it down in the first place, I never ever need to close/shut down apps on Palms.. )

Jamus said 1:54PM on 7-25-2007

6? What the heck happened to 5.x? Did they skip it?

Palm really needs to work on their conduits.

James said 5:25PM on 7-25-2007

@Johnnyg0, I have no idea what you're talking about. I moved from a Palm 3c (ancient) to a Dell Axim X3i (very slightly less ancient) and agree with godsmack that it was less painful. You don't have to shut down apps on WinMo either, at least as far as I know. To switch apps, I either tap the switcher on my taskbar and pick one that's running, or tap the Start button and pick the app (which switches to the active one if it's running already -- I don't think WinMo supports more than one instance of an executable going at the same time), or I click the Home hardbutton and pick the app... anyway, it should be 2-3 clicks, certainly not 5-8. I haven't tried any modern incarnations of PalmOS, but the old one was bad enough to scare me away for a while.

CK said 8:27AM on 8-25-2007

Installed the Palm Desktop 6.2.1 on my English Vista Home Premium notebook. It can not display Chinese characters (shows only messy characters). Palm should not release a half baked product especially they are already very late in issueing a Vista compatible software.

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