But in the Palm world, killer apps seem to be defined on a case-by-case basis, depending on how each person uses his or her organizer. Some people, for example, build symbiotic relationships with Date Book (or advanced alternatives such as DateBk3), and completely ignore the Memo Pad or To Do List. If your work demands that you accurately track expenses, the included Expense program should be your killer app, but really isn't. The included reporting macros for the Expense program, by many standards, is pretty sub-standard.

Palm Expense Creator from Shana Corporation is a Macintosh and Windows expense solution that just might take some of the edge off that sentiment. Windows users who don't own Microsoft Excel (which is required in order to use the Palm Desktop's built-in Expense macros), or Macintosh users who may have forgotten that Expense even exists due to the previous lack of support on the Palm Desktop, will find Expense Creator a good alternative for quick and easy form generation.

The key idea is that Palm Expense Creator doesn't replace your Palm device's Expense Application. You still use the same program on your device. What it does is provide a reporting alternative to the Excel macros provided with the Palm Desktop.

Painless expense reporting
Palm Expense Creator is actually a component based on Shana's Informed Designer family of products. In this case, it's based on Informed Filler. A fully-functional "Basic" (as in entry-level features, not based on the Basic language) version is available free from the Shana Web site. It's also included with the new Palm MacPac software. For many people, the Basic version is likely good enough for common expense reporting. Seven report templates are included: five standard layouts plus two geared toward enterprise customers.

Using the same Palm Expense Creator installer file, you can optionally install the Advanced version, which requires a $25 activation key that works for up to five users. Advanced users can take advantage of 18 standard and two enterprise layouts, each of which can be displayed in Classic, Modern, and Swing styles. There are also options for adding your company's logo to the form, as well as support for tax handling, email delivery of completed form data, digital signatures, and summarizing your expense information.