As I expected. Sigh.

I don't know. I'd keep an eye on it. Rob's right (CES was January?). I got a 5000d in February and when they proceeded with the commercial release, I was surprised -- it didn't seem like the basic PDA/PIM apps were really "cooked". I mean, they looked nice, but there were noticable dead spots from a functional perspective.

Beyond that, there are some very nice things about the Zaurus, but my interest is less in the PIM functions (I'm not very demanding in that respect) than in other functions (on-the-water, sunlight-capable wireless client and an in-car rally calculator that I hope to program any minute now!). My 5000d is actually up on eBay at the moment. I figure 32MB is probably not an obstacle for someone who wants basic PDA functionality, but I think I'm going to buy a 64MB 5500 this summer.

FWIW, I see some 3rd-party PIM-type apps starting to show up on myzaurus.com, so perhaps the quality of the original Qt apps will be less of an issue (although it is conceivable they could improve as well). Also, I hope that the crossover from the iPaq world will help bulk up the number of available apps.

Anyhow, it seems like Sharp followed so many other companies in succumbing to the "MS-Word 6" imperative -- release it regardless of whether or not it's ready.

Jim