PlanMaker Review Online

Group,

This morning we posted a review of PlanMaker for H/PC. You can find it at http://www.hpcfactor.com/qlink/?linkID=80

Enjoy and let us know what you think.

Clinton,

I'll be adding that to my purchase list tomorrow - thanks!

Quick query: third para. mentions install the application and grammar. What do you mean by grammar?

If possible, it would be great if you could post a list of supported functions, in particular those supported above and beyond Pocket Excel. Also, how do the converters perform because, like it or not, a lot of us will be tied into using Excel and will need interoperability in between Planmaker and Excel file formats.

Finally, you mention freeware and shareware competitors: what sort of competitors are available on the HPC platform?

Edited: the list of functions is available in the manual, which is available on softmaker's website.

Thanks for an excellent and informative review!
Nick.

Edited by chiark 2004-11-10 10:18 AM

Nick,

I'll see if I can track down a comprehensive list of supported function and those better than Excel.

The converters work great. I've never had an issue with them and SoftMaker constantly improves them.

"Well spin my nipple nuts and send me to Alaska", as Kryten notably once said. I think as andriod sayings go, it's a good 'un and is definitely on my mind now. Moreso that 100101010011010101...

I'll explain: I've just downloaded the TextMaker and PlanMaker trial versions.

As a test, I loaded a 2.5MB document that I'm currently working on into TextMaker on the HPC. It loaded, and it formatted it (mostly) correctly, and allowed me to work on it.

I am stunned, as this is a pretty complex document. Sure, a couple of things weren't quite right such as complex fields which, for some reason, had been interpreted as their control structures rather than as fields, but it was infinitely more use than the stymied pocket word. I would never have dreamed that this was possible.

With TextMaker's configurable views, I can get a full screen of text to work on, and actually edit live work documents on the device. I know I'm late to the party here, and am preaching to the choir, but this is simply amazing! Why Microsoft could not get their applications so right is an interesting rhetorical question...

I tried the same sort of test with PlanMaker: loading the budgetary and project planning approval workbooks that we use internally to gain approval for deals, report project progress, etc. It worked. This is no small achievement. Hell, I don't understand some aspects of the spreadsheet, so the application is doing damned well!

I've ordered both the Win32 and WinCE versions of both PlanMaker and TextMaker. These applications are what the internal suite should have been, and SoftMaker deserve to do exceptionally well out of them. I am simply amazed that the applications work so well, and can handle such complex tasks, without a hiccough. Sure, the application thought for around a minute when asked to load a big document, but the important point is that it managed it.

Softmaker are €55 richer from me, but I have now gained yet another compelling reason to leave my laptop at home and save my back! We can only hope that they continue to support the Handheld PC platform, so let's give them a reason to do so: if you use this software, buy it!

Cheers,
Nick.

I hate to say it Nick, but you need to read the Factor home page a little more often.
They're doing a 75% discount on it for 13 hours tomorrow

Shall I pull the trigger or would you like to do it? heh

You've achieved to the next level of H/PC weenieness. Congratulations. Windows CE is a darn site more powerful than people give it credit for. With a developer team made of the right stuff - like the SoftMaker mob - what you can achieve is phenomenal.

You can probably see what I'm saying in the Browser threads about not needing the space. SoftMaker have sat MS Word (Some 50 > 90 MB) into TextMakers 5MB (with dictionary) footprint. With CE the rules change considerably.
SoftMaker deserve every penny (every Red Cent for the Americans amongst us) they charge for those applications.

As for the deficiencies in Pocket Office... well I have an inkling that they aren't working on it simply because they are waiting for the best opportunity to release their own suite... but that's a subject for another Thread.

I will reiterate to anyone reading through this thread, what Nick said.

If you use it buy it. Sales are the ONLY way that they will continue to script for this platform. There are no SHx build of PlanMaker - it's difficult to compile for and the H/PC is the only compelling reason to take the time to do it.

For any non-Brits who are currently backing very slowly away from Nick, find a cable TV with BBC America on it and wait for "Red Dwarf" to come on.

I hate to say it Chris, but you need to read the Softmaker home page a little more often.

They've opened the doors, and the prices are now reduced: you can pre order.

€11 for textmaker for HPC, €22 for planmaker for HPC, add €11 to each for the PC versions too, and you've got €55.

You're doing your best to assume I'm an idiot, aren't you? ;D It must be the impression I give

dang!

Pre-ordering wasn't mentioned on the press release *mumbles profanity*

Best assume we both are I think

Word is simply bloated. One of the things I was thinking of porting if and when I get to programming for the H/PC is AbiWord. That's a decent word processor of about TextMaker's size and also open source. Of course now I won't have to.

For web browsing, I don't doubt that it's possible to create a browser that takes little RAM. After all, there are at least two decent browsers I could run on my Series 60 phone, which only has about 3MB of free RAM. The problem is just that it's not as easy as with a word processor. What a word processor can do hasn't changed as significantly from the days when computers had 16MB of RAM as the web browsers have changed. More than this -- the web has changed. Pages are now a lot more complex, and therefore require more RAM. There's need to deal with this. So while it's possible to create a browser that's modern and uses little RAM, it requires extra work over simply porting one. I believe that Opera saves a lot by caching to disk -- even at the level of partial pages.

How much of a performance difference is there between loading into RAM and loading onto CF? Using the default settings, I am seeing 12MB of RAM available for programs on my J720. Using 9MB for PlanMaker leaves little room for much else. Furthermore, since Pocket Office is on ROM, there is no way to create more room by replacing it with PlanMaker, correct?

I wish I had my J720 back in November and been ready to buy--$84.90 is a bit salty for me, but $33.33 is more than tolerable.

(Any suggestions on file/program storage efficiency are welcome, or redirect me to a more appropriate thread. Thanks!)

Kenny Anderson
xengineerx@xkboykoolx.com
(Remove e'x'es to reply)

The system RAM is faster than CF, there are no interface bus's to transverse, however it remains perfectly usable in my experience.

There is no way to replace ROM data unless it is a Flash ROM - and then you have to reflash the entire memory map.

The best advice I can give you with CF card use is to not worry about it. Worrying about it is the fastest way to end of life the card.
There are a couple of docs in the support section on CF use and life.

Kenny,

The PlanMaker/TextMaker combo is one of the most expensive "everyday use" apps out there for H/PC.

Having said that, if you are a power H/PC users and need to have the ability to create high-end documents/spreadsheets, you will find there is nothing better in my opinion.

Worth every penny...

Sorry Clinton,

I didn't mean to sound whiney, just frustrated at my unfortunate timing, that's all.

Thanks for the input.

Kenny

Kenny,

No worries. I didn't interpret your posts as a whine. I was just letting you know that it is worth the cost in my opinion.

Regards,

For Power Users, no doubt. I'd classify myself as more of a recreational HPC user. I use mine mainly for trips and car rides where I might be able to get some productive work accomplished sans internet and bulky resources. If I need something in print that is available digitally, I'll download it to my J720 and off I go. That's why I've been content with PocketOffice so far. Believe me, not having to worry about losing formatting in conversion, etc. would be great, but at this point, it's not a necessity. Right now, my J720 is a nice toy and expensive PDA with some limited productive use. If I want to accomplish something for work and I'm not there, I either go there or use PC Excel/Word at home. If I'm travelling with someone or flying, it's great to be able to do a few things that save me time when I get back in the office.

The other major use for my J720 is conveying photos from my digital camera to my PC.

As a result, if I start relying on my HPC more, I'll definitely consider PlanMaker, TextMaker, Project Planner and one of the CAD packages I mentioned on the NG. It's a great little machine and in the absence of my laptop, it has taken over a role and created new ones. If I need it to take over more productivity roles, then to me these software add-ons will definitely be worth the cost, as you have indicated.

Good deal...

Your right, in your case it is probably overkill. For a long time I've written review for HPC:Factor and Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! in TextMaker then ported out to HTML. There is not much it can't handle when you do get to the point that you feel your a power user.

And don't worry, use your Jornada long enough and you will!