It’s been over a week since I got the TX, so I’ve had plenty of time to give a good workout. It’s been a rough road, but I’m really warming up to this new model.

The built in wi-fi is awesome - really nice to have. The unit itself is fairly nice, if very much cheapened since the T3 days. The new software for hotsyncing is better than the old, or should I say it has more features. It’s the first version of Hotsync that has had problems with syncing to Outlook reliably.

The unit started out with about the same reliability as Windows ME (which, as I recall, stood for “Mostly Excrement”). It reset about every other time I tried to access a network of any kind. Most of the time when a program tried to fire up a connection I got an error saying the attempt failed, but if I went into the wi-fi tool or prefs directly I had no trouble connecting.

The hotsync process had been very unreliable as well. It would sync just fine, as long as I didn’t change any data anywhere, or try to sync with another computer.

When I got the TX, I had read enough to know not to just do a recovery sync to get everything out of my old T3 into the TX. I carefully uninstalled everything, even the PC software, and started fresh. I did save my old backup directory, and did transer a few items from there to the new Palm, but only a few - Teal Auto, and Splash ID.

That’s why I was so frustrated with the unit, and I thought for sure Palm was just foisting more junk on us. Then I decided to try again.

This time I just stuck with what came with the Palm, and didn’t sync with any computer but my work PC. So far, it’s been very reliable. I have added a few more apps,and the only penalty I’ve paid is a bug with the bluetooth setup for adding a phone (maybe more on that later).

Another thing I did, which I think is significant, is I reformatted the memory card I had been using. I copied all the stuff on it to my PC then stuck it back in the TX and reformatted it. I can’t offer any particular evidence, but I think this helped with the reliability.

Now I’ve got a totally different impression of the system. The ability to have the memory card in while on the net is very key for keeping your email with you - my entire 100+mb IMAP account is tucked away in Snappermail, and even finds work fairly fast.

I’m sitting in London as I write this - I’m there for an IFRA conference - and the TX is the only computer I’ve brought with me. So far it’s been enough, and it’s so much easier to carry. The syncing really needs to be improved, as it takes a long time, but I suppose there is some security in knowing everything’s backed up. The bad news is that they’ve removed the “Primary PC” settings choice from the hotsync menu so you cannot setup a freshly-hard-reset palm to recovery sync from the net. That’s a shame - one should be able to do that. One of the things that makes the Palm so attractive as a laptop replacement is the relative ease of disaster recovery. At least, in theory.

A while back I was reading the One Bag website. It deals with traveling with only a single carry-on bag. I’m a bit of a luggage nut, obsessed with figuring out just the right bag to use when traveling, and what to pack in it. One Bag is very interesting, and I’ve found that when I follow the advice and carry a single bag I’m usually a lot happier.

Anyway, at that site I read about the Red Oxx Air Boss, which is one of the recommended carry-on bags. The bag looks like a winner, and I’ve fought off the urge to buy one many times over the last few months. Their stuff is reputed to be excellent quality, and it’s made entirely in this country. When you add those two things together, you end up with fairly expensive items. I don’t mind paying for quality though, especially for something I’ll be expecting to own and depend on for a long time. Finally their site beckoned again, and I came very close to ordering an Air Boss and a few other items. When I write “very close�?, I mean I got as far as the page that encouraged me to enter a coupon code, to take advantage of any special offers I might have received.

I hate that. I hate feeling like I’m a schmuck when I buy someone’s product. I don’t like the idea that just as I’m about to say “Yes, take my money and send me your product�?, I’m faced with an empty coupon-code spot, which is telling me “Hey, you could be paying less – other people are.�?

Of course, it could be that they only send codes to folks who are good customers, who’ve received less than the usual good service or product, or for some other reason deserve special treatment.

So, I opted for a compromise. I ordered a few of their least expensive items. I also signed up for their newsletter. Maybe past customers are the recipients of coupon codes.

I’d like to state that Red Oxx is by no means the only site where I see this – I see it everywhere. This is also not a slam on Red Oxx – so far their service has been excellent and they have already shipped the order I placed today.

Last, I’d like to suggest a solution to this problem. After all, any business wants to have a way of rewarding or inducing some customers. How do you do it without making the others feel left out or cheated? Do it via email. Instead of sending a coupon code, send a coded link that will take the recipient to a special order page not reachable by others. This way the recipients get their special deal, and no one else is the wiser.

[UPDATE]

I finally contaced Red Oxx, and here’s what I learned.

Here’s another aspect to renegade IT, the idea that employees of a company can bypass IT to buy the software functionality they need by using web-based services like Salesforce.com: Salesforce.com was apparently out for a day.

Zoli is upset because there’s no buzz, there’s no uproar about this. I think it’s significant, and totally insignificant at the same time.

First, it’s insignificant because how many small businesses, the guys most likely to use Salesforce.com, are likely to have the uptime that Salesforce.com does? Very high uptime numbers require significant expense both for hardware and talented people to manage it properly. That’s part of the value of web-based software in the first place - someone else is responsible for managing it, and has very strong motivation to manage it well.

Second, it’s significant because in the scenario I was discussing, that is people bypassing IT, a shut down creates a giant target for said IT department, now jilted by said bypassing. It will be human nature for IT to point out that whatever failure cannot happen in their networks for whatever reasons. The astute will realize that IT is probably of it (or will be most of the time), but that may not be the issue. It’s human nature to desire risks we can control over risks we cannot, regardless of the actual relative risk - that’s why many people would rather drive than fly, despite flying being an order of magnitude safer.

Zoli - The first reason you’re not hearing an outcry is the same reason you hear nothing when Microsoft, GM, Kraft or any other large company has a network outage. It’s simply not that big of a deal, because it happens often enough that people don’t think it’s news.