If you buy a handheld that's supposed to generate 65,000+ colors per pixel and it really only generates 4,096 colors per pixel, is it defective?

Is it defective, or is it something more ominous? We'll be watching this one closely.

But what about the future? What about the new Palm OS 5.0, due out in some newer Palm models, maybe as soon as this fall?

It should be faster. After all, it will be running on a new, faster ARM microprocessor, the same brand of processor that the Newton ran on all those long years ago, and the very same processor that some Pocket PCs run on now.

Of course, a new processor means a new instruction set, which means that the HUGE library of Palm OS programs won't run directly on the new machines. Instead, they'll run in emulation, a process by which the new processor simulates the old processor, a software simulation running the current Palm OS applications on the new chips.

In theory, if your new processor is sufficiently fast that it can absorb the overhead of emulation, an emulator, as a way to move people to the new hardware and keep backwards compatibility, is a good idea. Apple's been doing this stuff for years: first on its move to the PowerPC architecture, and then on its move from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X.

Of course, that's theory. Your reality may vary.

How should you interpret all this? Should you buy Palm handheld devices? Should you buy Palm OS devices?

To be honest, I'm very hard pressed to recommend Palm-branded hardware right now, except at the very low end. You can definitely pick up a nice, genuinely useful Palm-brand Palm OS device for under a hundred bucks. And if Palm went whole hog and touted this to the world, they'd go gangbusters. But they're not, probably because the profit margins on these products are tight.

If you're not looking for the cheapest solution, Sony and Handspring have far sexier and far more useful offerings, and they're in color. Again, unless you're on a strict budget, there's no good reason to use a machine that's not color. This is 2002, and, frankly, your working experience will be better on a color device.

What about Palm OS vs. Pocket PC? Honestly, I use both. I use the Palm OS handheld (a Visor Prism) as my PIM: it carries all my critical information and it travels with me pretty much wherever I go.

My HP Jornada rarely leaves my bedroom. That pup is equipped with 802.11b and a Thunderhawk Web browser, so I can high-speed wirelessly connect to the Web, IM (Instant Message) my friends, and otherwise check on the state of the world without leaving the comfort of my warm blankey. OK, I'm a geek. I admit this.

I can't yet recommend a Pocket PC device over a Palm device for day-to-day work. In my experience, Palm OS devices work more smoothly and more reliably. On the other hand, you have to look at the robustness of the companies producing the devices. While Handspring hasn't tanked as hard as Palm, they've had a rough ride, as well. And no matter how you cut it, neither Handspring nor Palm are of the caliber of an HP/Compaq or a Dell. Dell has recently announced their own Pocket PC product.

All in all, it's been a tough year for almost everyone, financially, operationally, and emotionally. It's been just about a year since the events of September 11, 2002, and most of us are still here. I'm not sure what the next twelve months will bring, but here's hoping for a good year for all.

-- DG

PS: Just for the record, I own no stock and haven't owned stock in any of the companies mentioned, except for Apple. I owned some of their stock many, many years ago. For now, my entire portfolio is in ZATZ, which tells you which horse I'm betting on.

For more than 20 years, David Gewirtz, the author of Where Have All The Emails Gone? and The Flexible Enterprise, has analyzed current, historical, and emerging issues relating to technology, competitiveness, and policy. David is the Editor-in-Chief of the ZATZ magazines, is the Cyberterrorism Advisor for the International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals, and is a member of the instructional faculty at the University of California, Berkeley extension. He can be reached at david@zatz.com.