Whether or not you feel that the Justice Department is doing right by Microsoft (personally I think it's a bigger crock than when they took on IBM years ago. OK, so they engaged in predatory behavior; fine 'em a few billion, open up the source code, make 'em write programs for Linux and that's that. But hey, what's common sense and the health of a major US company and its workers compared to the political aspirations of a few prosecutors and politicians?), it's rather ironic that Bill Gates in Microsoft's struggle against Palm's 80% market share, has now assumed the role that Steve Jobs had for much of the 90's. Payback can verily be a bitch.

	The Pocket PC Line

But enough musing. The point here is that on the third time, Microsoft may have finally scored with their new Windows CE, dubbed PocketPC. The operating system is now featured on three handheld PDA's by Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, and Casio. I'll focus on the HP Jornada for now with the rest to hopefully follow at a later date.

The first thing you'll notice when you open the box is that the Jornada 545 is a sleek, elegant, dark burnished metal handheld with a matching cover. Length and width approximate a Palm series III although it is thicker and at 9oz., has a bit more weight to it. The 545 comes with 16Mbytes of storage space and a 133Mhz processor. The 548, which will be released any minute now, has 32 MB and a slightly faster [processor. When you first turn it on, you'll be very impressed by the color screen (from a resolution of 256 to 16,000,000) that actually functions well in bright sunlight. You can then customize the settings and open in the "today" window or on the Pocket PC apps themselves. The handwriting recognition program is probably better than Graffiti, as you enter from a split screen for caps, lower case, and numbers. As with a Palm, there are four customizable function buttons that can also start the HP in addition to the main button.

The Pocket PC apps include Word, Excel, Outlook, and Internet Explorer. Using the new Active Sync software (which functions quite well), you can sync with your desktop Outlook and transfer email, as well as transferring Word and Excel files (font intact) for viewing and manipulation. While sync'd, browse the web using Pocket Explorer which does an excellent job rendering the pages. There is an expansion slot for memory cards and other accessories. We plugged in the 24 MB card from CF and viola, 40 MB of space. There is the promise of a soon-to-be plug-in to allow use of laptop (PCMCIA) cards.

Peeves? You bet. Start with the battery which gets a measly 6 hours per charge. The screen pointer is embedded quite awkwardly on the inside cover, which makes it a pain to remove. Also the shape is like a nail file with a weight problem. As for the sync hardware, there is no cradle, just a serial cord (NO USB!!) with an optional cradle and USB cord that can be purchased.

So, I'm really torn. On the one hand, I love my Palm because of its simplicity. On the other hand, this is a significant achievement for Microsoft and allies, but it still begs the question. is more, more? Does one really need a Windows desktop (or laptop) jammed into a handheld? Also, wouldn't it have been better for Microsoft to build it's own uniform handheld (in cooperation with ONE company), have one line of accessories ala Palm, keeping the operating system and widgets in one place and then license out the OS later? Despite these questions, if marketed correctly, Pocket PC and HP could give Palm something to think about.

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