Availability of Palm Desktop by ACCESS 6.2 for Windows Vista

We previously released a beta version of the Palm Desktop by Access (version 6.2) that is compatible with Windows Vista. Since releasing the beta version, we have been working with users and adding functionality to provide a more complete solution, which is now available. This application includes the following features and enhancements:

Integrated Desktop: Provides a single desktop and conduit compatibility across all Palm OS 3.5.x through 5.4.x devices.

Enterprise Friendly HotSync Enhancements: HotSync Manager 7.0 is a standalone application, and no longer requires Palm Desktop to be installed on the computer. All use management functionality has been moved into Hot Sync Migration Tools: installer checks for the latest settings and reports any known incompatibilities with third-party software.

Multilingual Support: Localized in Brazilian Portuguese, English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.

Install Tool: The Install Tool, which replaces the "Palm Quick Install" tool, allows you to sync .prc and .pdb files (Palm OS applications and databases) to your device.

Outlook 2007 Synchronization: Allows you to use your USB sync cable to synchronize with Outlook 2007's Calendar, Contacts, Tasks and Notes. This version includes all previously released software updates such as the Outlook 2007 Update.

Supported Devices: Palm Desktop by Access 6.2 was designed to support the following devices on the Windows XP, Media Center Edition, and Vista platforms:

• Palm Centro
• Treo 650, 680, 700p, 755p
• Palm TX, Z22
• Tungsten E2

Who should update: Customers using Palm Desktop 4.2 on Windows 2000 or Windows XP do not need to migrate to version 6.2. Customers using Palm Desktop 6.2 Beta should migrate to the full version of Palm Desktop 6.2. Macintosh customers should take no action.

You can find additional information about the New Desktop here and on the Palm support site.

Tim P. - Senior Product Manager, Smartphones

Comments

[No Synch]

Hi,
Why is there still no news about 64-bit support? Forum posts asking for this functionality are now running on being 2 years old and there is still NOT EVEN A MENTION anywhere on Palm's site about this. No plans, no blurb...nothing except "64 bit Window is not supported". Great solution to the problem...no, really.
Notice I'm not the only user making this type of comment and Palm continues to ignore us! Scratch another loyal Palm user you just lost. Too bad, I liked my Tungsten E, but it's now effectively a brick since I have no options of backing it up or installing anything new on it.

[Martin]

Using Palm Desktop by ACCESS with Vista, I noticed that searching for a surname starting with "Mu" it does go to "M" but not to "Mu". This must be a bug still be be fixed - hopefully :-)

[Paul Simms]

No color coding on calendar really stinks, that was a primary use for me, and now I'm looking at buying another product (not palm). Thx for naught.

[David Geveke]

What happened to the Repeat function in To Do?

[HH]

I am a busy mom and loyal palm user. However, after installing the new 6.2 software, I am rethinking my loyalty. As a busy mom, I used the color coding for all of my kids appts and activities. It was great. I am highly disappointed.

* Color coding of events in the Calendar is no longer supported !!!

I don’t understand the logic behind dropping some existing useful functionalities, while the focus should only be on adding more useful functionalities.No wonder,the love for Palm is diminishing as Windows Mobile and other OSes pass the aging (dying ?? ) OS, feature-wise.

* Color coding of events in the Calendar is no longer supported !!!

I don’t understand the logic behind dropping some existing useful functionalities, while the focus should only be on adding more useful functionalities.No wonder,the love for Palm is diminishing as Windows Mobile and other OSes pass the aging (dying ?? ) OS, feature-wise.

[M.Chow]

I am loyal to Palm because of the colour coding in categories and I was aghast to find that the Desktop for Centro (by Access) has no colour coding for the categories. I decided to continue to use my Treo 680 which has colour coding for categories with my Centro, for some unknown reasons I can no longer access email on my Centro if I syn with the Treo 680 Desktop but I'd rather that than not have colour coded categories. All in all a big disappointment in the Palm Desktop by Access.

[mar]

When are they coming out with a Palm that is compatible with Tablet PC AND Vista???

[John L]

If you are thinking about also updating your treo to the access system DO NOT. I am trying to sync with Exchange Server 2003 and am getting data duplicated, contacts duplicated, Calender duplicated. Appointments are showing up as an hour earlier. All day events are changing to 48 hours. Has totally screwed up the reason I went to a Treo.

[chibijon]

Gah! Why, Palm, why? I've been a very happy and loyal Palm user for 9 years (Palm IIIe, IIIxe, m125, and Tungsten E2). The E2 is getting beat up and due for replacement, but I'm having a seriously hard time justifying another Palm purchase; the current model (and current OS) is the same one I bought almost 3 years ago, and now THIS. It took Palm a year to get working with Vista, and the Vista version is cut off at the knees! No birthdays, no color coding in the calender, the 3rd party app installer is gimped, and no 64-bit OS support. The dumbed-down calender by itself is a deal-breaker. I suppose I could switch to Outlook, but oh, hey, the Outlook 2003 sync is broken under Vista. STILL.

I love PalmOS. I tolerated the only slightly bumpy transition to a new processor architecture. I tolerated the lack of a major OS update for 6 years. I tolerated Palm's bipoler disorder (we're spinning off our OS development! We're buying it back!). But a regression like this is just unforgivable. A 62MB download! How can something quadruple in size and loose functionality?

[Tony S.]

I just finished reinstalling ver 4.2 My prayers were answered with a successful switch back after wasting my time and effort installing 6.2.2. Hey, don't update the Blazer Browser, It's slow enough without the downgrade, I mean upgrade.

[Christine]

Very disappointing desktop. No colors and totally insipid looking calendar. When can we use hotmail in versamail???????????????? Surely this a popular function that needs addressing?

[Jesiah]

Add another voice to the chorus of people seeking support for Vista 64 (for my Centro)... This is so frustrating!
I know what it takes, and it's not that hard to rewrite the software to be compatible... just do it, please!

Meanwhile, my contract with sprint is up in 2 months and I will probably be switching to AT&T and getting an iPhone or Blackberry if this isn't solved by then. I can't spend an hour every morning manually transferring addresses and jobs from my computer to my device every morning.

[iain jourdan]

Bought the centro to combine my palm diary and phone. New palm desktop calender has no colours - DISASTER ! I'm can't get the old desktop 4 to work with my centro !! Can it be done ?

[Daniel Lewis]

The colors really are ghastly.

Straight after installing it, my first thought was there was something wrong with my monitor settings.

Nope - it's meant to look like that.

Yichs!

[ferranb]

Palm seems to be deprecated... A new version with less features? Too slowly development...

Are you going to throw away PalmOS???

[carol]

I just upgraded to access and can't believe it!! My DH bought me my PalmTX specifically for the colors and running the household - kids, work, activities.... Now the colors are GONE. - you have completely ruined a great product!

Please bring back the color.

[Sheryan Chester]

I just finished installing Access 6.2.2 (for my new Centro) over Palm OS 4.1.4 (used for my Tungsten T5). I was aghast to find out that the color coding of categories has been dropped. I can't believe such a basic feature wasn't retained in the new release. Please tell us that you plan to reinstate that feature! Otherwise, I'm considering a search for another conduit (Outlook?) that might give me that functionality. BTW the color coding is retained on my Centro (and T5), which is somewhat of a help, but we need the same functionality on the shared database on our desktop ( 3 users - 5 categories).

[Raja]

seriously, disappointed!!! been using palm TX, its just humiliating every basic features has been removed,no color coding, no repeats in to-do, no theme for this palm desktop(looks ugly grey for me) and huge download. you are not competitive for this market, certainly my next product is not palm, unless u do something about it.

[beerslayer]

I'm kind of surprised there haven't been many complaints about this new "feature" of Palm Desktop 6.2: it has NO support for Palm PDAs that aren't the absolute latest. I've been using my trusty (albeit crusty) m505 for several years and it still meets all my needs. Recently I bought a new laptop running Vista and find that I can no longer install anything via USB to my m505 - both the Install tool and QuickInstall are broken under Vista. The 6.2 version doesn't support my older Palm model. So apparently I'm screwed.

I find it hard to believe that it would be all that difficult for Palm (or Access) to patch the QuickInstall from PalmDesktop 4.2 so that it doesn't crash under Vista. I'm not demanding new features, just the ability to use my device! If they're not going to include support for my Palm in the new version, they ought to at least fix the old version.

This type of "support" doesn't exactly inspire me to rush out and buy a new Palm device, knowing that I'd probably be facing this same situation again in a few years.

[David]

After installing Palm Desktop by Access, I now only have multimedia. No address book, no calendar, etc. When I sync, everything is fine. What happened to the rest of the program?

[Daniel Marein]

PLEASE PLEASE PUT BACK THE COLORS

[Habib]

Palm Desktop 6.2.2 is ugly. Where's the colours? This is really, really ugly. I'm going to roll back to the 4.x version. Thanks for wasting my time!

[Sue]

WHERE ARE THE COLOURS? Can't believe this V.V. useful feature has been removed - what a backward step - please please bring them back!