Palm Ships Mac Palm Desktop

Palm Computing is now shipping the release version of its Macintosh software for synchronizing data between Macs and the Palm family of handheld organizers. Palm Desktop 2.1 features a desktop PIM (personal information manager) based on Claris Organizer, plus an open conduit architecture that allows third-party developers to add direct synchronization to their products. Some surprises have emerged beyond what was offered in the public beta (see "Palm Organizer for Macintosh: Details Emerge" in TidBITS 432): infrared-equipped Palm devices (Palm III and later models) can now HotSync with IR-capable Macs (PowerBooks and the original Bondi Blue iMacs), as well as communicate using the Florent Pillet’s invaluable Palm Buddy utility. The full installation includes a handful of AppleScripts, demonstration versions of third-party applications that enable direct email and expense synchronization on the Mac, plus a system library for Palm devices that enables faster HotSync speeds up to 115 Kbps. Palm Desktop 2.1 is available from Palm’s Web site as a set of three BinHexed downloads: the Palm MacPac v2 Installer (12.6 MB), Palm Extras (24.3 MB), and Documentation (2 MB).