Meeting #20

General

Wednesday		Saturday
Ron Apperley	Art Liem	Al-Noor Aladdin
Rick Black	Kevin Maynard	Rob Bowen
New member Ari Black	Sam Peralta	Jon Consentini
Rob Bowen	Kyle Poole	Dave Dicksen
New member Sue Callaway	Russell Scheer	Geoff Edgecombe
Stephen Cook	Hari Stirbet	Sean D. Evans
Pat Cooper	Peter Thomas New member	Steven J. Mandula
John Cosentini	Kim Waddell	Bruce McKay
Kenny Delaney	Trevor Wilkinson	Sam Peralta
Ernie do Forno	Brent Wilson	Russell Scheer
Sean D. Evans
Matt Fozard
Joseph Gavin
Bryan Glaholm
Dave Harvey

Topics

Development
We had four guest speakers from three companies give a short discussion on their product.

Hari Stirbet of Brayder Technologies Inc.

Founded in September 1999, Brayder is a young company.  But don't confuse youth with inexperience.  JackFlash, their first Palm OS application is fast becoming one of the top chosen applications for making use of Flash ROM.  JackFlash is fast, handles hacks/plug-ins better and quicker than other Flash ROM applications.  The user interface is straightforward and easy to use.  There is also a plug-in for Launch 'Em call Jack 'Em, which allows you to take advantage of JackFlash without leaving the Launcher.  JackFlash is available for US$19.95 from Handango or PalmGear.

What does Brayder have in mind for us for the future?   How about a Backup application called JackPak and ... well, you'll have to wait and see what other goodies Brayder has in store.  We can't give it all away now can we?

Sam Peralta and Russell Scheer of Qvadis

Qvadis, no stranger to the minutes of Canada's Premier PUG, almost didn't start developing applications for the Palm OS.  They, Sam, Russell and Kevin, worked together in a different job and found that they worked well as a team.  They decided that they should team up and go into business.  They initially looked into developing games.   They started looking on the web figuring out what platform to develop for.   They were looking at a list of development kits and saw Sony Playstation line.   Then as if some unseen force were guiding them, they looked just below the Sony Playstation line and saw it.  The Palm development kit.  History was made.   OK a decision was made, but "History was made" sounds better.  They decided on a DOC reader.  Only it would be a DOC reader with a twist.  It would have a PC counterpart.  Since then they have released the Express Reader GT (Palm App), DX (Desktop App) and Pro (both the GT and DX).  Now their product is nearing the transition stage from shareware to commercial.  Congratulations Qvadis. 

But Qvadis is more than just a Palm application company.   Qvadis is the convergence of the Internet, Palm and e-books to become a one stop shop.  They offer a free library, book store and interlibrary links.

Kyle Poole of KPoole Software

Kyle was bored during Christmas break in his second year of University.  During this time he thought what better way to beat boredom than to learn something new and exciting at the same time.  He downloaded GCC a free compiler and began programming for the Palm.  He thought of a role-playing game and began work on Kyle's Quest.  Kyle's Quest was so well received that he updated it.  Two years and three versions, including a commercially released version by Power Media, later it is still one of the best selling games for the Palm OS.  One of the ways that Kyle has kept the demand for his game so high was to have a desktop application that would allow users to design their own levels.  Competitions for the best level were another way Kyle helped his application remain popular.  But now it was time for a new game.  Galactic Realms, still in beta version, was to be this game.  Galactic Realms is a real-time space strategy game that will keep you entertained for hours.

Kyle has a simple, but demanding goal.  He wants to develop games for the Palm that will rival Game Boy.  Starting in June he will devote full time to development.  He will be hiring a developer and graphic artists.   Full speed ahead for KPoole Software.  Colour, newer features and more.   Good things to look forward to.  Kyle also has a site dedicated to PDA gaming called PDA Games.  This site has the latest games, reviews, features and a weekly poll.

Wednesday	Prize	Saturday	Prize
Ari Black	HotPaw Basic by HotPaw	Al-Noor Aladdin	JackFlash by Brayder Technologies Inc.
Steven Cook	Any Application by ThinkingBytes Technologies	Dave Dickson	PocketC by OrbWorks
Pat Cooper	ExpressReader GT by Qvadis	Geoff Edgecombe	ExpressReader DX by Qvadis
Joseph Gavin	JackFlash by Brayder Technologies Inc.
Dave Harvey	ExpressReader GT by Qvadis
Art Liam	VFDIDE by Ole Grossklaus
Kim Waddell	ExpressReader GT by Qvadis
Trevor Wilkinson	PilotAMG by Monte Soft
Brent Wilson	Marietta PDE by Marietta Systems Inc.