CeBIT Mobile Fair Planner - Nice Try
by Volker Weber
Last week I told you about the CeBIT mobile fair planner. Nice idea, with some serious problems. First of all the good things. They make it available on a number of platforms: Blackberry, Java, Palm, Symbian (60/80), Windows Mobile. Now for the bad things: You cannot install the guide over the air (OTA). First you need to register, then you need to go to a popup, navigate a very strange site and then you get to download an archive. Looking into the Java zip I find a JAR and a JAD file. Perfect to make this available OTA. But they decided to wrap it inside a ZIP and then make it only available after a process you could never complete on the phone. I was seriously thinking to provide it myself, but then again, it would help a lot of people and piss off the control freaks at the Messegesellschaft.
So I downloaded the SIS for the Symbian version and installed it on my 9300. On first load it takes 5 minutes to install the database. No, not really. It is slow enough that I can go and ask somebody to look up the information in a book. Stefan tried the Palm version and it soft resets his Treo on load. Next stop: The Blackberry version. The easiest way to install that would be a simple URL pointing to a JAD file. That would point to the JAR file. (See Java version). Installed over the air from a simple email. No. They have to wrap the stuff up in a ZIP file. Hey, do you know what a JAR file is? Want to compress that again? OK, open the ZIP file. What's inside? An ALX and a COD file. The only way to install that is through a BES or a PC. I have neither. Thankyouverymuch.
