Fascinating. My questions is: Will your software work with mac computers, specifically with Entourage and Iphone?

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Hi Camron.

Thanks for the response. I'm going to attempt to answer your post as 3 distinct questions:

1) Will there be a version to run on the Mac?

Info-Binder was developed with cross-platform deployment in mind. Being a former Mac owner myself, I know there is a tremendous loyalty and pride associated with your ownership. I do not currently own a Mac, and so my ability to properly debug and package for a Mac is limited. The intention is to release a Windows version, and immediately reinvest 100% of any returns into purchasing Mac hardware for the purpose of releasing a Mac version. The technical complexity is trivial, though I will not commit to any time frame because I'm still trying to figure out how to position Info-Binder in a sea of competition. But I am as anxious as any potential customer for a Mac version, if for no other reason than to get a shiny new Mac.

2) Will it support Entourage?

Organizer software is useless if it doesn't integrate. At the very least, it must offer the ability to talk to mobile devices and to popular email applications. MOST organizer software, including Entourage, support an international data exchange format called iCalendar, aka RFC 2445 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICalendar). The intent is that Info-Binder will use this standard as a method of integrating. How this integration will occur is still to be defined.

3) Will it support iPhone?

Ugh. Its a two part answer; (a) If the strategy is a mobile application, and (b) if the strategy is a server component that feeds web pages to a browser client.

(a) The answer is ugly. You're not going to like it. The mobile device market is a MESS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_development). There is no development tool that I'm aware of that supports all devices. So it comes down to picking a development tool that provides the biggest market share. I wish I could say I had a development team to throw at every platform, but I don't. The four largest players in the smartphone market, in order, are Blackberry, iPhone, Windows Mobile, and Palm. Info-Binder will support iPhone if one or more of the following conditions become true; (1) Info-Binder is wildly successful, enabling me to justify a costly parallel development of an objective-c version (the technology used to write iPhone apps), (2) Apple decides to support open industry standards (don't count on it), or (3) Apple sells about 20 million more iPhone's (on top of the 4 million they have sold to date), making it the leading manufacturer of smart phones (will not happen).

(b) Info-Binder was written with a server component in mind. Allowing access through a browser may be a good solution, since then iPhone will be supported. But it would require an internet connection.

I hope this answers your question,

Kurt

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Camron said: Fascinating. My questions is: Will your software work with mac computers, specifically with Entourage and Iphone?

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