Back in the wet and wooly heyday of the dotcom, PDAs were the de rigeur accessory. It was a major perk to have your company purchase one as part of your employment and, in some cases, the PDA *actually* became yours when you decided to leave for a higher-paying gig.

When the last dotcom I worked for died its ignoble death, I purchased two Casio Cassiopeia E-125s for $50 each from the internal fire sale. At the time, that was a steal as they were less than a year on the market and close to top of the line. But they’re frickin’ bricks. After one screen cracked, I put the second one into service. Now, three years later, it too is showing signs of death. So I’ve been considering a new PDA. Thing is, I don’t think I’ll be getting one.

Don’t get me wrong, they’re convenient as hell. When I was using the Cassiopeia I relied on it to make sure I knew where I was and where I was going. I’m notoriously disorganized and that little baby brought some semblance of order into my chaotic existence. But it had one *major* flaw - it’s not upgradeable. At all. The ROM is not flashable. I couldn’t even install Pocket Linux on it.

At the time, I ascribed this to the immaturity of the PDA and figured that, very soon, these devices would go the way of PCs and be standardized enough that upgradability wouldn’t be a hassle. Silly me.

I’ve had my eye on Dell’s Axim and the iPaq for a while now. I’ve also been considering the Toshiba devices, but I’ve heard some rumors that they may not be long for this world. The decision to not provide an OS upgrade for devices that are no more than a year old is mind boggling to me. The fact that my device will literally be obsolete the moment I purchase it harkens back to the dark ages of computing, a time I had hoped we’d left behind. In the very least, they should make the ROM flashable so that, should I choose to replace the OS with something else, I would have that freedom. Of course, the new world order states that I don’t technically own *anything* I purchase anymore - it’s all licensed to me and, thanks to the DMCA, I’m powerless against it - so that’s pretty moot.

So the other obvious option is to go with a Palm device. And that’s still looking like a pretty attractive option, especially after I had a chance a year or so ago to play with the Zire 72 (which is now way cooler as the Zire 75) but with all the weirdness between the Palm hardware folks and Palm software folks I’m afraid they’ll go the same way as the PocketPC. Plus, as much as I hate to admit it, the PocketPC just feels better to me. I never could get use to the Palm for some reason. It always felt flimsy to me.

My last option is a DayRunner, which makes me feel so “Less Than Zero” 80s. Have you taken a look at the prices for these things? Forty-five bucks for a six-inch binder and a calendar? For $99 I can get the low-end Palm Zire 21, which feels like a Palm III which puts me back in the good ol’ days of pre-obsolescence and a flimsy-feeling OS.

So, if I happen to forget a meeting I have planned with you or don’t return a phone call because I’ve lost your number, try to show pity and remember it’s not my fault. Blame technology, not my inherent flakiness. That’s an entirely different issue altogether.