DataViz: Docs2Go for webOS cancelled [Update: bought by RIM] 175
We've waited, we've asked, PreCentral forum members have lobbied, and now we're officially being rejected: DataViz announced today on its Facebook page that it "made the difficult decision to cancel development for Docs To Go for WebOS":
We regret to announce that we have made the difficult decision to not produce a Web OS version of Documents To Go. We understand that our delay in this area has caused much disappointment to our current and very loyal user base. We would like to explain in more detail the reasoning behind our decisions thus far.
Our intention had been to replace the Palm Viewers, which were based on the Documents To Go technology, with a full editing, aftermarket version of Documents To Go. In order to do this in a way that we felt would be most intuitive to users, we wanted to have the full version seamlessly replace the built in viewers. To do this, we needed some technical help from Palm. Because Palm was focusing on other areas at the time (including their very survival), and there was no official information available allowing developers to help ourselves, i.e., an SDK, there was a delay in getting us this information. Rather than do a substantially larger project that would result in a "sub-optimal" user experience, we decided to wait. This wait was much longer than anyone at DataViz expected. During this wait, we focused our efforts on other smartphone platforms, not because we were not loyal to Palm, but because it made "business sense" to do so. We have now come to the realization that it is not in DataViz' nor our users' best interests to continue the wait and produce the full version. We understand that another developer has chosen to create an editing Office product for webOS and we wish them the best. Again, we apologize to our users for taking this long to reach, what is for DataViz and many of our users, a disappointing conclusion.
This decision is both disappointing and irritating for many within the webOS community, especially those who have been loyal Dataviz customers since the original Docs To Go came out for Palm OS. Its rationale is also a bit suspect, given the ready availability of Palm's PDK for months, as well as the fact that the HP acquisition closed more than two months ago, with many, many PDK-based apps being developed and released, some quite sophisticated, since then.
Here's hoping that we get an editing solution in short order, possibly from "another developer" with the interest in webOS users' business that DataViz apparently lacks.
Source: DataViz; Thanks to BruceBradford in our forums for the heads-up!
UPDATE: Oh, well that might explain it. DataViz has been bought by BlackBerry maker Research in Motion for a cool $50 million. So it's not just webOS that's about to be left out of the loop; we wouldn't be surprised to see all non-BlackBerry OS DataViz products discontinued or left to waste away in the land of no updates. Read all about it over at CrackBerry.com.
175 Comments
SHOCKED!!
I did not see this coming.. I thought i'd come out on monday...
All jokes a side this makes me kind of sad though, always had a bit of hope i'd come out.
Although i'd most likely buy it, I don't think I'd really use it that often.
I don't even care anymore, because unless the next set of hardware is mimd blowimg awesome..im jumping tothe android ship.
I think, like the picture illustrates, Dataviz gave up because QO seems to have beaten them to the punch. Oh well, at least it appears we will have some Office suite in the near future rather than the indefinitely it used to be.
Quickoffice did not just beat them to the punch, they definitely beat them on the marketing side, especially in the world of social media. Quickoffice has been engaging and responsive, whereas DataViz was dismissive, sometimes borderline rude in response to our requests for information.
Using the delay of the SDK as an excuse is, at least partly, laughable. Certainly they could have gone ahead with development in the last few months if they wanted to. On the other hand, if they were intending to do it as a free upgrade to the reader program, then they probably would need some help from Palm to make it a viable venture for them.
So, there is blame to be shared by both Palm and DataViz for this. But, now that DataViz has back out of the game, I will be more than happy to support my fellow Texans at Plano based Quickoffice, and give them my money for what I expect to be a great product on the best platform and OS out there.
>>We have now come to the realization that it is not in DataViz' nor our users' best interests to continue the wait and produce the full version. We understand that another developer has chosen to create an editing Office product for webOS and we wish them the best. Again, we apologize to our users for taking this long to reach, what is for DataViz and many of our users, a disappointing conclusion.
:( well that sucks.. Now adobe need to say if they canceled flash or not
According to Adobe, Google and Palm have Flash. The last I heard they made it sound like Palm just didn't make it available to us yet.
Dataviz, Quick Office, Microsoft, whatever. Just come up with a wrod/excel/ppt solution. Don't care who makes it.
Seriously....you want PPT for WebOS?
Actually, yes. I'll probably use that more than anything. Not all slideshows are made of crap, and sometimes a thought occurs that needs to be added/subtracted quickly. Being able to do that on the phone is handy.
Mobile PPT would make door to door salesman even more annoying!
meh
+1 meh now let's get that OO.org ported over shall we?
Translation - the port wasn't as seamless as we originally expected, we hit a snag, needed Palm's help, Palm wouldn't make the change we wanted (so we wouldn't have to rewrite our code/make a webOS specific version or webOS specific changes), so we bailed on the project because our software is selling great on other platforms. Don't blame us.
It's a pity but since it sounds like QuickOffice is stepping into the void, it doesn't appear to be a loss for the user community at the moment (assuming QO is delivered).
Hopefully, Dataviz comes back around later (competition is always good). In the meantime, thanks for all the support in the past, Dataviz (DTG was a key part of Palm's success in the past) - it's a shame it looks like you're leaving the Palm community on a down note.
They had as much resources as they needed. It's called 'The Internet'. They fail as coders -- is basically what they've said. Unable to find a solution? Yeah, all your talented coders have left, all you have left now are maintenance coders? That's what I thought.
Your company sucks.
Actually, the down note is expected in 2011 Q3.
My feelings of regret are not due until "first half" 2012.
Even though this news suck, I think it's safe to say that the majority of us webOS users have been OVER getting anything from DataViz. I'm just glad it's official...in a somewhat cliche way (blaming others).
ps. On a totally different topic - did any of you see the leaked screenshots of the new MeeGo OS?!? My blood boiled seeing something extremely similar to...wait...it is exactly webOS' card multitasking interface >=/ I wonder how this is going to play out. You think they would want to be inventive/creative...but I'm guessing they saw something they liked.
Just as well, their upgrade policy was $29.95 or greater for every single upgrade, even the piddly x.01 minor ones. If I had it to do over, would have never started on the Palm OS with them.
+1
I wish I had never started with them too. From Handspring Prizm, Treo 600, Treo 650, Treo 755p... I must have given them several hundred bux and most upgrades it was hard to tell what the $30+ bought. I'm glad they bowed out!
I don't think there's one drop of "coincidence" that THE DAY AFTER someone leaked shots of the QuickOffice in the 2.0 SDK, DataViz cancels.
THIS is why even small leaks have to be taken seriously.
"THE DAY AFTER someone leaked shots of the [sic] QuickOffice"
Link please!
whoops, forgot the word "app" in there.
it was deleted. it was floating around on twitter from the forums here on PC.
DataViz are LIARS!!!
Yeah, they strung us along for more than a year, keeping other developers in check because they knew how loyal we were to Palm partners.
Dataviz injured us. Not by failing to deliver DTG, but by telling us it would come. They didn't change their song, until another party had a done deal. Let this be a lesson to Dataviz customers on other operating systems, in the integrity and loyalty tests, they failed.
Sounds fishy to me. Why couldn't they just say the truth and that being the webOS market share is too small for them to bother developing for. They'll be back if HP manages to make webOS a top 3 mobile platform.
Actually sounds like RIM didn't want to allow competition and since DataViz is owned by RIM, it makes sense.
Frankly, this was phrased in a pretty insulting manner. Sounds like HPalm opted to go with QO for the 2.0 launch and DV is bitter about it.
Frankly, I don't buy the crap about not having access. EA and other trusted companies were given all the access to the PDK they could ask for, and they weren't launch partners like DV was. DV shelved it because the device didn't sell enough and when HP bought Palm, they didn't want to continue with a launch partner that couldn't be counted on to deliver what they promised.
Took them long enough to admit it. Geez.
That sucks. I used DTG on my Treos for years and went ahead and switched to the Pre because DTG was supposed to be arriving soon for WebOS. In the meantime, DataViz probably scared off or delayed other developers who might have created a word processing app for WebOS if not for DataViz's empty promises.
Yeah, so anyways,... who's gonna see 'Machete' this weekend???
Fine by me. A portable version of openoffice using the PDK for the core, and SDK for the interface would be a lot better, if done right.
Whatever... NEXT!
/sarcasm on
This is to be expected in the corporate world. As one company is acquired by another many top executives leave to pursue other opportunities......
/sarcasm off
So, this one hurts! Will this start the flood gates of other vendors deciding webOS isn't worth the trouble either.
While there are other vendors to provide this feature, anytime choice is diminished, the overall experience is diminished too.
Nah, Dont worry Mikey. The line of developers alligning themselves with HP is longer than any line Palm ever had. The good news is, Doc editting has arrived. One of the major gaps in required applications is being filled by a qualified party. I know you're having difficulty containing your WebOS enthusiasm, we wont think less of you for shedding a tear of joy. Your constant presence here tells us how much this means to you.
PreDogs, you're right. webOS does mean a lot to me. I want 2.0, but I want new hardware more! I would gladly stick with what we have if we got new devices.
Very close to happening. As soon as they find a way to give away 90% of the remaining inventory, we'll get a hardware announcement and the goods will be on the shelf 2-6 weeks later.
Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out...
Good riddance!
I think that was a very smart business decision on DataViz's part. After all, they screwed us (the loyal Palm users) over for more than a year. Because of that, I know that I will not buy their products on any platform ever again. So, I imagine it would have been foolish for them to try to sell their product on WebOS.
...and yet another reason why jumping ship to the EVO next week is sounding better and better. (not to mention webos 2.0 sounding like a half-a$$ed upgrade to the original)
and let the fanboy hate comments follow...
haha, if you want an EVO, go get one. Just don't forget to update your bookmark to androidcentral.
see ya!
Already looking at it now. I really do like the fact that its a complete smartphone community, and that I can get the same level of information, dedication and cheap accessories.
And I can't say I'm leaving completely. I still have to make sure my wife's Pre runs well for the next year+.
Only part of webOS 2.0 has been released and you are going to call it half-a$$ed? I think your knowledge of webOS 2.0 is what is half-a$$ed, our more like 1/16th-a$$ed. And I am not a fanboy, considering jumping to the Epic, but to rip on something you have little knowledge of is asinine.
Stacking cards, just type and access to the mic and camera...what am I missing? Based on the description that came with the announcement, it doesn't really appear like they made any ground breaking improvements. It sounds more like what the guys over at webos internals could do in a weekend (and yes that's a compliment to them and a slam on palm).
Its been over a year (and yes I realize they had to go through a buyout), but it sounds like webos was a great idea that just is never going to go anywhere. Lets face it, if it wasn't for Jason, unixpsycho, and the rest, our phones would be a small step above some of the new feature phones that are on the market. Not to mention the fact that all development is occurring for Android and the Jesus phone.
In the end, I liked my Pre, but its time to move on to something that's got a better chance of not only moving forward, but surviving.
And you clearly know that the features you have heard about up until now are all that is being added to webOS? Ok, well done sir, you know more then everyone else on this website including those who run it. Like I said, to talk like an authority figure about something you have no clue about is asinine.
You are more of a troll then anything else though so no big deal. Don't forget to hit the Android websites though to complain about Gingerbread, I am sure you know what is and isn't in the as well.
I'm not a troll. I've had my Pre since 2 weeks after launch. I got it because of all the great things it could and was supposed to be able to do. Its now a year plus later and despite the take over, there is still no flash (where as Android is already enjoying it), there is no document editing, there is a complete lack of a lot of things that both the Jesus phone and Android have. And you're right, I don't know $h1t about what webos 2.0 will have. However, I do know what Android is offering, and its A LOT more than what Palm can even offer at this point. Google doesn't care about Palm, so they aren't going to give up all the good apps. A vast majority of developers know that iPhone and Android is where the money is at, so they're not going to do anything either. WebOS users are at the mercy of a select few people that spend their free time making the device what it should be.
In closing A) Its a phone, not a religion, & B) The potential to be great....will never be as good as already being great.
Its a phone, not a religion
You haven't been keeping up. According to at least a few posts in one thread in the forums, it is approaching religious status. They even have a queen (soon to be a deity) named "webosa". ROFL
Taharka, you are quickly becoming my most favorite person on this site. Kudos sir.
LOL, I'm not making this up. There really is a thread saying we are at war (cross-platform chat) and the webOS queen is named Webosa. The thread itself is funny in one of those Dungens 'n Dragons vs 300! vs The Princess Diaries kind of ways.
i couldn't find it. do you know the title. sounds like an entertaining read. I search for "war" and "we are at war" but i don't think i got the right one.
Wait! nevermind i find it. there's also another one called "who will defend webos". haven't made it through all of that one. funny stuff.
Yeah, sorry about that. For anyone else, it's "My fellow P|C webOS Warriors... We are at War!!!"
The "who will defend..." was funny as well. I don't think it went as planed by the OP however.
yeah i didn't make it to reading that one yet but i saw it got closed. As for the other my first thought was. i'm not not sure William Wallace should be the leader of the movement considering i think he got caught, hung, and had his balls cut off. Maybe like Darth Vadar or Ghenghis Kahn or something.
If all the money to be made is on iOS and Android, how is it that WebOS has Angry Birds and other great games and Android is still out in the cold? Oh, right, because porting over to Android is a frickin nightmare and dealing with the OS fracturing is even worse.
http://www.androidcentral.com/angry-birds-here
Oh, and owning a Pre doesn't make you not a troll, consistently stupid comments and calling the next OS release of which you've seen only a sliver 'half-baked' is what makes you a troll.
Really, so what does it make a person who blindly follows a product without giving credit to others who are more innovative?...I'm guessing fanboy, which is kind of worse than a troll.
Also, if you maybe read a little further up and down, you would have realized that most of my comments are not all that serious. I'm merely saying (and yes I saw the update regarding RIM buying dataviz) that this is just one more thing that makes Android look far better than what we currently have. Based on what I saw in the Android market, they have almost every thing that WebOS has...plus several thousand more useful apps (oh dear jebus, he knows html, he must be a super troll).
And yes, from the basic release of information for 2.0, that I do get is strictly for Devs, it looks weak. It mearly looks like Palm made some minor modifications to what is already there. No, I wasn't expecting the phone to walk on water, but if you're sales are in the crapper...maybe you should give the masses a little more to hope for. That's my two cents, and I'll be happy to keep going with this.
Then please enlighten us doc, if what we've seen of WebOS 2.0 is weak (more ApI's, enhanced universal search, enhanced multitasking, touchscreen leaks, SdK/PdK hybrids) then what, pray tell, SHOULD webOS 2.0 have to not be weak? I'm not the first to say it and I'm sure you'll dodge it again because you lack a cogent answer.
This is secret information, but I'll let you in on it anyhow... This site... Is geared to Palm fans! *gasp* I know it's a shock for you, but there it is. To show up and post as you did with ridiculous claims and deliberately being a d-bag is what makes you a troll.
No one here thinks the sun shines out Palm's backside. Palm has been lambasted here for their missteps. MARKETING (the whole division)! The long runup between announcement and launch, the shortage of units at launch, lack of APIs, the slow release of the PDK, hardware issues, the dearth of new hardware, lack of desktop sync and more are all issues that Palm has taken heat over here.
In this case you have two corporations saying different things. What seems more likely, that Palm wouldn't give a launch partner which is probably one of their most trusted software partners in their history the necessary access to the phone to generate the software? Or that DV, seeing Palm as a small company held back on development to see how sales would go, then determined not to produce it because it wouldn't make enough money? On top of that, we've got the fact that Palm has been pretty damn good about listening to and responding to the WebOS community. DV on the other hand has not and is notorious for expensive updates that provide little, if any, discernible improvement to the software. When in doubt, follow the money. Palm blowing off DV makes no financial sense, the second makes a lot. And if DV hadn't been a launch partner, promised a product and then strung everyone along it wouldn't be a big deal, but they did.
DV promised a product as a launch partner and didn't deliver. It's really that simple. The purchase by RIM doesn't change that, I'm sure they'll keep making DtG for iOS and Android, they can make a lot of money that way and with the way their market share is slipping, they need it.
The facts are a bit simpler than that. DV made a statement about why they didn't/won't deliver the project. Palm has not responded (yet). I say, let Palm respond since only Palm and DV knows what really happened. Since none of us here really know what happened, everything else said here is simply made up.
No one here thinks the sun shines out Palm's backside.
If nobody thinks that, why are so many people commenting on my post? And again, I have to reiterate that fanboys such as yourself, are much worse than any "troll". You people act like I'm the guy that posts "first" on every article and has bad mouthed the product since day one.
I bought the the phone 2 weeks after launch (because I didn't make it to best buy early enough on launch day). I have sang its praises since then. I made my wife get one when her rebate was due. I figured out how to use my Pre for work, instead of my POS blackberry curve that I was issued. I told all of my friends to run out and buy one. However, that being said, I am tired of features being promised (3rd party or otherwise) and then either being drastically delayed or in this case, cancelled all together. I'm tired of my wife complaining that her phone never works when her Centro used to hum along without any problems. I'm tired of seeing commercials where they say come download our Android or iPhone app...with zero desire for them to even remember that Palm exists.
This phone had tons of potential, but has failed to even come close to reaching it. And don't give me its the first year crap, or boohooing that they didn't have the cash to fund R&D. A few guys, sitting in their basement, seemed to make this phone much better, and it didn't cost them anything but their spare time. And that's just it. We rely on WebOS internals to make our phone what its supposed to be. And I get that Palm turns a blind eye to them and allows us to do it, but instead of ignoring, they need to be embracing. Again, yet another mark in the fail category for Palm.
And lastly, to answer your WebOS 2.0 question. I'm not a programer, so I don't know what the C languages are capable of. What I do know is that the leaked information does not appeal to me. I don't care that my phone can do something nifty on its induction charger. I don't own, nor want to own a $50+ phone charger, so what about me? I don't care that they are expanding the search feature. How about letting me search through simple stuff like my music now? I don't care that I can interact with an app without opening it. Mainly because if its not done right, it'll just be easier to open the app itself. In the end, I don't care what WebOS 2.0 brings in the future (which probably will realistically mean late 2012 before its released at the rate they do things) I just want a phone that works now. Finally, get a sense of humor and learn that there are more important things in this world than what a radiation emitting, piece of plastic can do...(was that cogent enough for you, or do I need to use smaller words?)
This comment pretty much sums up why you got flamed. You clearly are lacking the knowledge on what all this means and what's happening. First, I must say that if your wife has been having problems with her phone (don't know how long they've been going on) you should have gotten it replaced under warranty when it still could (don't know if it still is, but if so...REPLACE IT), assuming its got real issues.
As to all these apps, that's simply a function of the marketshare that Palm currently has. Of course, a lot of iPhone apps are starting to get ported because Palm made it very easy for app developers to do so and make a quick buck (like Angry Birds).
Let me try to make you understand why WebOS2.0 is such a big deal. Your phone is running a big web page using a lot of Java, which is code that is interpreted into machine language at run time (notable slower than code that is distributed already compiled and interpreted - most of your Windows/Mac apps such as Photoshop are compiled into machine language and they run much faster this way). By putting out the PDK, Palm is allowing developers to use their already existing code that is probable in a C based language. It also has the ability convert common functions between the hardware on the iPhone and Pre. Which is why it takes little time to port apps. WebOS2.0 brings the support further along adding API (Application Programming Interfaces) to the mix that allow direct communication with the microphone and camera (allowing for apps like Shazam and for barcode scanning, voice dialing, voice dictation, etc...). That's a big deal.
The update also brings a change in the java system using a version of java that is friendlier to developers (allows almost any web based application currently out there to be quickly ported to WebOS) while also increasing the speed, noticeably, of all the Java based apps at runtime (faster code interpretation). The update also greatly enhances HTML5 allowing for things like HTML5 video on web pages and GPU accelerated CSS transforms (CSS is a newer method for "drawing" web page elements). Since your phone is running a big web page, this means that you fast GPU, just like on the iPhone, will be used to accelerate the interface, making it much smoother and more responsive.
Finally, look at what HP is doing and buying. They are gearing up to go after RIM's marketshare, and RIM is VERY vulnerable. Right now iPhone and Android are picking off portions of this market, but there are areas they can't compete. HP has the knowledge, the backing, and now the resources to make Palm a full fledged RIM competitor in the Enterprise market. They need to execute that plan now. Newer hardware is coming, and it will likely be of much better quality. When HP/Palm kick all of this off (by launching WebOS2 and new hardware) you could see a significant increase in marketshare. Quite frankly, a cross carrier launch with outstanding hardware could easily triple Palm's marketshare, leading to many of those apps you apparently long for coming over to WebOS. Quite frankly, the OS already has the apps I need. The rest is just wants and desires.
Palm is become the flagship wireless company for HP, and HP has invested several billion dollars to make themselves THE cloud based company of choice for Enterprise, small business, and consumers. That is clearly their vision, and they are clearly going to make a VERY big push for it. Whether or not people like you want to be part of this or not...well, if you leave I think you, as well as others, will regret it. But that's my opinion.
Enjoy buying a new device per upgrade.
That's not necessarily true, I have a buddy running a rooted G1. The only thing that he is missing is all the fun new hardware.
you tell 'em Cringer. it amazes me that people announce they are jumping ship in their little angry tirades. go get the EVO shrimp.
@drdeath no hating here juat a few questions
1. Have you used 2.0?
2. Have you seen the complete sdk?
3. What does it take for un update to be not halfa**ed?
1. No
2. No
3. The ability to communicate with the dead, ability read people's minds, and ability to control the weather.
I'm just hating so when people blow up at me, it will be easier for me to make the transition...Its merely being childish, for the sake of being childish. I actually have a firm grasp on the situation. Its a horrible two way street. Nobody buys the phone, nobody develops for it, and if nobody develops for it, nobody will buy the phone. I'm better dealing to the bright and shinier toy...
You know Palm and HP employees have already stated that there are many more 2.0 features that have yet to be announced, right? That the first announcement was mainly for developers, not consumers. Right? Have fun with the Java virtual machine.
Hey I like the JVM. It pays my bills. ;)
I'll hold the door for you!
This is bad timing because we already have the angry mob on the way the way to Precentral headquarters. Now we have to get everyone turned around to head over to Dataviz.
Bah, was really hoping for this to eventually come. Very annoyed. With any luck now Palm/HP or someone else will make their own and show up Dataviz with just how easy it was for them.
It already happened. It was rumored six weeks ago and now its visible in 2.0.
The game was already over, and now they're quitting!
Hey data viz. On your way out, Leave.
Jarid.
well that sucks majorly
What really needs to happen is for Google, Microsoft, or both to get on the ball and optimize their existing online office applications for the mobile platform. I can see Google doing this in an effort to win over the business market.
I Hope that other developer means quick office, from what I have been reading it appears Quick Office offers more in terms of editing and functionality. We saw this coming, they (DataViz) had no intensions to develop for webOS.
DataViz is a joke. Don't let the door knob put a dent in your sacrum on your way out.
After all their indecisions, I wasn't going to buy from them anyway. So... bye bye!!
At least you got Angry Birds. :)
No biggie! QuickOffice is better anyways.
ok DataViz just sound like they are full of a substance that's brown and stinky.
didn't get Palms help? Ok what about all the homebrewer devs out there.. Or the people making patches and tweaks for WebOS.. Honestly how much help did you devs get out there from Palm for the first 6months?
for dataviz to say they were waiting on the SDK.. What did they want Palm to personally deliver it to them? Obviously 3000 other apps must of been made using a SDK codenamed unicorn...
dataviz just gave up.. Meh whatever.. If they weren't trying to get this going and give up then makes me wonder how or if they would even keepup with updates..
see ya later dataviz I made it this long without a doc editing app I can wait a little longer for a doc editing app. From a developer that won't make up lame excuses and tries to use others as scape goats rather the man up.
well said.
A lot of lower-resourced parties made apps more complicated than this without Palm holding their hand.
I paid a small fortune for their Garnet app and would have paid double to have it in WebOS format. DV just wanted to pick the low hanging fruit. Check their papers.
@PreDogs,
in a year, dataviz will wish they were licking palm's low hanging fruit. ;)
Exactly. I think there are a lot of people here who just don't understand what HP is about to do for Palm. When you start looking at who/what HP has been buying, and what technologies they have been talking about, I think it's clear they plan to make a major play for the business market; i.e. the bullseye is on RIM. Against RIM, HP/Palm, with the right additions for business oriented customers, can really put the wood on RIM.
Smartphones are still a very small percentage of the market and people act like the smarphone wars are over, even though the leaders have changed several times in the last 10 years. Data Viz, besides being bought by RIM, probably saw QuickOffice coming to WebOS (possibly free with 2.0) and cried Uncle. No loss.
I was told by a Sprint Employee (and not a bozo in a polo shirt in the mall or a CSR in some CSR call center), that HP is promising to build or buy whatever WebOS needs before releasing 2.0, rather than waiting for a 3rd party to do it. Doc editing was the biggie. There are a few others that are deemed high profile apps and API's and I bet they're just about ready. HP has not commited to taking over the phone world, but they wont tolerate a half baked product either. It seems like they're going to be happy in the short term, shooting for a Blackberry like presence, and perhaps displace BB by being a serious productivity platform, with an entertaining edge. Fun to watch. We'll know about hardware very soon, and it wont be a six month wait this time!!!!!
how can anyone be truly shocked? The palm pre was sold on hype and hope when it first came out. I bought it not only because of what it was capable of doing out of the box, but because of all the stuff we were suppose to be able to do LAST fall. I find it to be a load of horse $h1t that the guys and gals and fill preware up with all sorts of things and these big box dev companies keep claiming the whiny they aren't holding my hand routine. All the pre users have gotten was "next month, quarter, second half of the year....." I was gonna get an evo and stopped to wait, then I thought about an epic but stopped to wait. The best parts of my pre experience is because of homebrewers, if the carriers and hpalm are not going to give us a solid hook to hang our hats on, then why should we stick around...... I ask because I want to stay with webos but am finding it harder and harder every day to justify it.....
Well, I completely see where you are coming from. You can do what you like, but I am definitely sticking it out for 2.0 and Quickoffice. If those are a failure, and/or rousing disappointment, then I'm probably going to be all in on an epic. Why wait? I'm not a big fan of Android. It seems very clunky compared to webos, even on a screaming fast processor. Even though I would love to have document editing on my phone TODAY, I've already waited this long. Waiting a couple more months won't hurt me.
my thoughts exactly.
Indeed. Even if HP doesn't deliver then, the latest droid-of-the-week will be better and MeeGo's release will be even closer at hand. What's the rush? It's not like we're waiting for Palm to perform on no budget. It's frickin HP for God's sake, they've got resources, they've got a track record of success! The Evolution of WebOS that we've seen today is great. And hardware is even easier to update. If you think the drive to Florida is too long, you dont turn around in Georgia.
I was waiting for this, all I can say is good riddance, they started making a name for themselves now they screwef up, I'm happy they are leaving.
It would've been nice if it came with the Pre, like it did on the Treo, but I wouldn't have paid the price for an add-on. BTW, the only online editor that even comes close to working on WebOS is the app in GlideOS. Problem is you lose your place after an edit. Wonder if one of the WebOS gurus can come up with an app to make it work.
Actually, if Quickoffice comes to webOS 2.0 and if Quickoffice is working HP/Palm, then losing Dataviz Docs to Go is no big loss. I also have an iPad and thought either Docs to Go and Quickoffice would meet my needs better than Apple's iWorks for iPad...I wasn't sure which one was better and since both DocsToGo and Quickoffice for iPad were on sale, I got both apps. Guess what, DocsToGo interface for the iPad is very cumbersome. I felt I was using a Palm OS interface of DTG on my iPad. On the other hand, Quickoffice interface was much more intuitive than DTG and I use Quickoffice all the time. I have used DTG on Palm OS in the past and it was a great app in it's heyday, but Quickoffice for iPad is much better. WebOS users will benefit from getting Quickoffice instead of DTG IMHO.
Read what DataViz said again, clearly they are pissed off about something...maybe not be chosen to be the one for 2.0 that is likely getting lots of extra support from HPalm...oh well, let them go and enjoy QO in a month.
For those complaining about the WebOS, why complain about what Palm didn't do when you have the patches and tweaks that do what you wanted Palm to do...they could have made it impossible for those to work, but they didn't so we could have them. The phone to me does almost everything i want...would like the ability to edit documents which appears to be just around the corner, got the visual voicemail with YouMail so ok there, would like to be able to record memos which appears to be just around the corner, would like something more like Agendus that was on the old PalmOS with its many options and colors (noting Agendus is pretty crappy on the other OS's) as Google Calendar just doesn't have enough options, would like something like ShadowPlan from Palm OS for outlining but that was also a great third party program...not much else i need.
With HPalm now merged, i'm guessing we will see some great stuff in the future that will bring many to this phone again, or the new version of it...just look at their acquisition lately and you know they have big plans to integrate lots AND get it into the corporate realm since they own it and would like all their reps to be using them around the world...talk about good p.r. and ability to spread the word.
Yes, we all want it now in this computer, email, immediate access world, but sometimes we have to wait for a buyout and some acquistions to get all the pieces in a row to then make some amazing stuff...hopefully, but i'm willing to wait since the other phone don't have much more than the Pre and most programs are crap stuff i wouldn't use.
I'll take QuickOffice.
Thanks for a final decision Dataviz.
Best wishes in your future endeavors,
Achill3s
Very weird timing. I thought they would have the basics ready, and now with 1.4.5, the PDK out, HP in, new devices and a possibly larger userbase on the horizon, I actually expected the app in the catalog pretty soon.
Scared of QuickOffice? Can't really imagine, they made solid product before. They were probably to expensive so Palm went with QO.
So now that we know that DocView isn't coming to webOS, how do I remove it from the launcher?
Doc View by DataVis has worked on WebOS from day one.
Editing will now come from another company that already developed a suite and has partnered with Palm/HP.
Dataviz has no date to the prom, and now they've decided they're not going, even though they said they'd be there.
I have never found a smartphone to be a good platform for creating and editing documents of any importance. So, I don't really care. If HP will continue to develop webOS and provide multiple platforms running webOS, DataViz hissy fit will cost them customers, which is the best consequence for their decision. If we see webOS on a larger platform like a tablet or netbook, there will be plenty of motivation to be the first to market with a robust office suite for webOS and we will all benefit from the competition.
Smartphones...well, unless you've got it set up to do presentations off your phone like I have, or hook up a keyboard, it's only like a spot replacement for a netbook. Or if you write your app to interop with the office suite. But on a tablet? webOS certainly should scale well upward for a tablet. There will be a strong need for productivity tools in the near future. Heck, some of the applications I've done for WinMob make heavy use of Office interop to create Excel docs from simple data collection apps. There's more to a real office suite than meets the eye, and here's where a third party could really win...if they provide interop libraries so third party apps could hook into their office suite and generate documents that can be easily viewable on the desktop.
The documents I need to work with are long commercial leases and other legal documents. Can't really edit them on a Pre. But, a tablet could work just fine.
As a developer, I'll tell you exactly what happened, just from experience in these sorts of teams: Their teams became dominated with developers who didn't have any interest in working on platforms outside of their favorite platform, and began making excuses as to why they couldn't do it. "Ooooh, we have to wait so long to get a sdk..." I've heard developers actually quote marketing analyst research they surfed off the net to avoid working on a project they didn't want to do. Seriously. As far as anyone here should be concerned, Dataviz is dead to you. They've got no interest in creating something that works across as many platforms as possible for document work because frankly, I bet their devs are happy punching in and doing menial upgrades on their iPhone and Android suites instead of sitting down and doing something new and cloud based for webOS. I'll be straight with you, their devs are 8-5ers with little interest in anything more than picking up a paycheck. I've worked with a lot of these types over the years, I know. If the developers don't take the fight into their own hands and just do it on their own time, there's a very good chance they've been pushing back against it in meetings and not fighting to do the new project for a new platform. After all, wrapping your head around this cloud-based stuff...is just...so hard. That would take, like...time and research and stuff.
Well said. You hit the nail right on the head. Same could be said about Evernote. The head of Evernote has made it clear that he thinks WebOS is a joke on PCWorld podcasts. It's gone.
Too bad really. Regardless of Palm's misteps, the OS still has a lot of potential.
Yah.. speaking of Evernote. Compared to the Palm OS Natara Bonsai, Evernote was useless anyway: you could not even create hierarchical sub-notes in it; let alone search and sort notes/sub-notes.
Perhaps QuickOffice might save us in the realm of hierarchical outline note-taking also. I've been waiting for an app to replace Bonsai since the release of the Pre. I'm still painfully tinkering with Bonsai under the Classic Palm OS emulation.
Can some one put a word with QuickOffice on the subject?
Exactly.
If the PalmPad is really slated to be released early 2011, then my guess is that HPalm is working on a productivity suite themselves - similar to what Apple did for iWorks. Just a hunch that is the realy reason that DataViz canceled Docs2Go for webOS.
That seems like the most likely reason for the bail out.
I kinda feel sorry for Dataviz employees. Must be rough to work for a scumbag company.
Just got my evo. Palm and webs are dead. It's painfully obvious.
webs maybe, but webOS is alive and well.
...and, Apple also. They've been predicting their death for decades now. It must not be THAT obvious; I'm feeling very little pain, and I am completely sober.
And as much as I love Palm, I'm still puzzled that they don't reach out more to developers from the old Palm OS days that made the platform great.
My guess is that the new blood coming into Palm had no history with Palm OS or those developers and didn't care and still don't care.
It's too bad. But it's a new day and no sense crying over spilled milk.
Screw 'em. I'm sure I'm not the only (former) Docs2Go user who was introduced to the product by Palm in the first place, many years ago. As long as HP/Palm has a viable replacement in the works, be it QuickOffice or something else, I'll happily leave DataViz in my rear-view mirror. Good riddance, I say...
Seems like every person, company or entity that leaves Palm is treated exactly the same. It is never Palm's fault no matter what. I wonder what the response will be if Adobe takes a similar stance. People will probably join hands with Apple and say "HTML5 is better anyway." Sigh. DV should've probably left without an explanation. :-(
For the record, I think HTML5 is better, but I sure would love Flash as an option. Anyway, the point is there is always more to the story than is reported. Stop assuming Palm is always 100% innocent while the leaving party is always 100% at fault. There were probably issues on both sides.
You are definitely correct about that. What I am hearing people say above, however, is DV should have been HONEST about their having NO INTENTIONS of bringing a working product to WebOS a LONG TIME AGO, instead of stringing people along.
That's the thing. How do we know that for a fact? Maybe what they've said is exactly what happened. Or maybe both Palm and DV are to blame. I just hope webOS gets flash otherwise you'll see the exact comments above repeated with Adobe as the target.
Doubtful. Most suspect is their supposed timetable of how they made this decision. SDK has been available for almost a year now and the PDK has been available to partners for months. They "come to the disappointing decision" now? Why not months ago when there wasn't an SDK/PDK? (I think there would have been somewhat less of the "DV are jerks" mentality because hey, there really was no way for them to even start to do what it is they wanted to do) Seems incredibly suspect.
It seems silly to me that they would hold up their entire development because they couldn't replace the icons pre-installed on the phone with the full version ones. Here's a tip: Make the software first. Then worry about how it installs.
I think they were waiting on the the side line to see if the masses would take to palm/webos and sadly they didn't.
Good Ridance !!! 2yrs later and still can't deliver !!!
Not surprising nor really disappointing honestly. Truth of the matter is they have horrible ratings on the apple store (currently 3 of 5). From what I'm reading its slow and limited. Considering its such a niche market for document editing on a phone they really should have better ratings.
What dumb "reasoning" from DataViz. Seriously insulting that they thought that such a blatant "blame game" tactic would actually fly.
Here, you guys are still waiting on information on developing for Palm? Let me help:
http://developer.palm.com/
Seriously.
Dataviz Docs-to-Go is grossly over-rated. Always has been. Their interface design is horrible. Doesn't follow the OS guidelines of whatever platform it is on. I hated using D2G on my PalmOS devices. Ugliest application on the device. Quickoffice was always a much better app--faster, cleaner, followed the OS guidelines.
Dataviz is becoming increasingly irrelevant in a cloud-based environment anyway.
Funny, you can't blame these companies their in business to make money not lose it and to them Webos has such a small market share and shrinking daily that it wasn't worth it to waste their time and energy just like several other major players.
I hate to say it but no one is buying these phones no matter how good webos is...they can't even give them away. Even if their are some buying it to them its not enough to justify them developing for a platform the masses seem to have no interest in. Hopefully 2.0 and new hardware will help you guys.
We should all get over Dataviz and their over-hyped, over-priced mediocre software. Looking forward to OpenOffice on WebOS!
Lol, cancelled because they couldn't replace the native app? That is a poor excuse. So wot if people would have doc viewer and docs2go? Freaking Internalz does about five thousand things other apps do, and none of us complain about that...
Fuk 'em
Dear DataViz,
Go fuck yourself.
Cheers,
Teso
Translation:
"We've been delaying all this time because we took a 'wait-and-see' approach with our webOS port. We're still in the 'wait' stage, and it doesn't look like we'd be able to progress to the next stage any time soon. Sorry you picked an unpopular platform. Good day."
And Garnet was popular?
Your translation sounds a little off.
I hear, "we took a wait and see, while someone else took action, and now we got nothing, and can expect nothing, so we quit anyway."
Garnet was far more popular than webOS is. The Centro alone sold more units than all webOS phones combined.
No, the Garnet universe was very small when DTG was developed. There were very few customers when DV developed it. They worked hard for those early sales and must have been pleasantly surprised that Garnet carried on for so many years after they did the heavy lifting for DTG. DataViz got lazy, and slow moving RIM just ate them.
In terms of raw numbers, maybe. I can't find any sources for number of units sold by 99, when DTG launched. However, a quick Google search reveals that at DTG's launch, Palm had somewhere between 70-80% of handheld market share, about 15x higher than what webOS currently enjoys.
It doesn't really matter anyway, because no matter how you want to cut the cake, webOS simply does not make business sense for a company with such a niche product, especially if they have to compete for that thin slice of the pie.
LOL, 15X nothing is still nothing. Totally different universe. In '99, that WAS THE EARLY ADOPTER world of wireless PDA's. PDAs were far less than 1% of the wireless world. Just getting email was a pretty damn big deal then, so you can imagine how few people were picking up DTG 1.0 in the first year or so as nearly nobody had the strap-on wireless module. Heck, they might have all fit in a dozen school buses back then.
> And Garnet was popular?
> Totally different universe.
Looks like you just unwittingly rebutted your own point.
Yes, it was a thin slice, but their delay was a big part of that thin-ness. A lot of Palm loyal passed on Pre because it lacked hot synch and DTG.
I personally refused to recommend Pre because they killed the PIM and synch. That continuity from product to product was their heart and soul. If HP brought back the PIM support and local synch, I'd be pushing people into the wireless stores to make them take a test drive.
a product of this nature is imperative for the success of an hp tablet. hopefully, a solution is eminent in the near future.
Dear Dataviz,
Thank you for moving on. WebOS continues to be the OS that's all hat and no cattle in the smartphone world. Focusing your efforts on the more successful smartphone OSes is not only good business, but it applies Darwinian principles to the market place.
Is this good news? It sounds like DTG was going to cost the user mega money (at least to upgrade to anything decent.) QuickOffice sounds like it is included in 2.0. I'll take the free one.
Docs2Go looks like crap and people hate it. Looks like their only customers are old farts that remember the PalmOS glory days. When QuickOffice has more OS's including HP's tablets, they'll seem like the premier editing program.
here's why they dropped webOS development
http://crackberry.com/dataviz-makers-documents-go-apparently-acquired-an...
bought by RIM
Alright everyone, turn your venom spitting towards RIM now. Quickly now, before the next "target" comes along. How dare they transact business outside the realm of Palm and webOS? How dare they? *sigh*
Can't be mad at DataViz now.
Now? People shouldn't have been mad in the first place without knowing the facts. Next up, Adobe, or the next high-level person that decides to pursue a job opportunity outside of Palm HQ. Commence the venom spewing...
Why exactly should consumers not be mad at a launch partner who never delivered a promised product?
Context, please. I didn't say people shouldn't be mad. I said they shouldn't be mad "without knowing the facts". Right now, no one outside of Palm and DV knows exactly why the product came to market but people here automatically blame the developer and go on a rampage.
DV is now the cabana boy for RIM. They're gonna wish they were making docs editing for the Gameboy Advance if a few weeks time, rather than spending all their time developing for BB6 with tightwad RIM looking over their shoulder.
Was it a merger or a buyout? (honest question)
Buyout and since DataViz not publicly traded, as easy to buy as a Kindle on Amazon. I am with the commenters that say DataViz will probably put their existing lines on autopilot and become an in house coder for RIM (tune to "Code Monkey" playing in my head)
well that explains it. they prolly been in talks for months
this is bad news! We need people supporting this is...not abandoning it!
watever Datawiz!!! Thanks for being there for ur customers !@!
Your just making excuses. If you really wanted to do it, you would've done it by now.
watever Datawiz!!! Thanks for being there for ur customers !@!
Your just making excuses. If you really wanted to do it, you would've done it by now.