FREE ESSAY ON AVANTGO VS. PALM VII

AVANTGO VS. PALM VII

AvantGo: 
http://www.avantgo.com
Palm Inc: 
http://www.palm.com
Palm developer site: 
http://www.palm.com/devzone/
There are many people trying to find the best solution for wireless web browsing. At this
time there are two major competitors, AvantGo, which uses any standard Palm device with
AvantGo Server software installed on the desktop, and AvantGo Client, and Mobile
Application Link software installed on the Palm. Then there is the Palm VII device that
uses a wireless modem and a connection to a specialized ISP called Palm.net.
While using a Palm device with or without a modem, it is possible to access web content.
If you have a wireless modem it is possible to dial a traditional ISP and connect to the
Internet the same way you would at home with your desktop. The drawback to this method is
the fact that a handheld does not have the power to display Web pages as they were
designed.
A better way of using a handheld to connect to the Internet is with the same wireless
modem, but connect to AvantGo to view content. AvantGo's client depends on a network
application called Mobile Application Link, which allows data to be transferred between
the client and the server. When a request is sent to the server, the server then goes out
to the Internet and retrieves the requested data. Next, you as the user may define
personal settings on each page you request, including the link depth or how many links
you want to follow on this resource. However, if you try to refresh or follow a link past
its specified link depth then you must re-sync with the network. In the future it may be
possible to have an entire workforce connected through their handheld. The fact that when
using a wireless modem the sync is immediate, therefore, everyone will have the most up
to the minute data anywhere in the world.
AvantGo Servers use standard HTML code to display the Web pages on a handheld. Any
existing page on the Internet could be turned into an AvantGo mobile Web application
without any specialized development tools. Some pages look better than others when viewed
on a handheld because most of the pages on the Internet have not been optimized for
viewing on such a small screen (only 150 x 150). The Palm VII does things only slightly
different.
The Palm VII is a completely self contained, all that is needed to connect to the
Internet is the raising of the antenna. The Palm VII uses Web clipping to view content,
converting and compressing content until it can be displayed by the "hidden" client
application called Web Clipper. The Web Clipper is not like a standard Web browser; the
user never interacts with it. What users see is called a Palm Query Application (PQAs).
These PQAs do not contain any processor instructions; instead they contain a special form
of a database record. These query applications are created using HTML and then compiled
using a free tool called the Query Application Builder. This builder is available for
Windows and Macintosh computers by following the link to the Palm Developers site given
on the title page. 
Web clipping is not optimized to convert and compress just any page on the Internet like
AvantGo servers do. The way the Palm VII handles this task is to do their conversions and
then send only the first part of the page to the handheld, which does not look very well
when displayed.
AvantGo and Palm VII both have their applications. They both use an intermediate server
for a filter. The AvantGo system is more widely used because of its simplicity, cost, and
the fact that the Internet can be queried for any page the user is looking for. The Palm
VII still has incredible potential, although personally I am partial to AvantGo.
Bibliography
Hays, Simon. "The World Wide Web In Your Hand." WebTechniques, Accessed 4/11/2000,