Mobile enterprise software maker AvantGo indicated recently on its Web site that its Mobile Internet Service is not compatible with Mac OS X or with Palm Desktop 4.0. The news comes in a recently updated FAQ posted to the company’s Web site. What’s more, the company gives no indication of when or even if it will update its software to add Mac OS X compatibility.
AvantGo now has a wide variety of products and services for businesses, but many Mac users’ first taste of the technology was with AvantGo’s Mobile Internet Service. The software provides Palm OS-based PDA users with access to news, movie listing, financial information, weather and other data on their handhelds, synchronized through a Windows or Mac OS-based computer.
Since Palm released Palm Desktop 4.0, however, many Mac users who had grown to depend on AvantGo have discovered that the AvantGo software no longer functions. Underlying architectural differences between Palm Desktop 4.0 and earlier versions broke the conduit software that enables AvantGo to synchronize between its servers and the software on the Palm PDAs.
The FAQ posted to AvantGo’s Web site explained the problem in more detail, and stated that the company hopes “to support this platform in the future but do not know for sure” if or when this will happen.
For further clarification, MacCentral contacted AvantGo. A company spokesperson stated that AvantGo does not pre-announce products and was unable to confirm if or when an OS X-compatible version will be released. The spokesperson reiterated the details posted to the Web site.
“At this time AvantGo does not support the Mac OS X operating system, Mac OS 9.2 Classic operating system or Palm Desktop 4.0 Mac conduit,” said AvantGo.