Idea: up-to-date business card

Wed Mar 14 21:30:38 CET 2007

Matthew S. Hamrick wrote:
> Yes... if you have a Blackberry, Treo or HTC phone, run Windows and 
> don't mind keeping your data on Plaxo's servers, Plaxo is indeed a 
> good solution.
>> Still... I'm fairly certain that most GSM phones can't make the data 
> call to the Plaxo servers _while_ they are on a voice call with 
> someone else.
>> The "vCard bursting" concept moves data directly from one phone to 
> another without third party involvement. And it does is as part of the 
> "session" created when you're talking with someone else. i.e. - you 
> don't have to hang up the phone to receive burst vCards.
Couple of thoughts. First, this is an open platform for you to create 
whatever you want. So go ahead and knock yourself out making this 
(actually not mean to be as sarcastic as it sounds). Second, this is an 
open platform so you can either port the Blackberry, Treo, WinMo app to 
OpenMoko.
I don't use Plaxo, but I know people who do and like it 
(thought/thinking about trying it). For ideas/apps that are a closed 
loop between you and your data feel free to come up with brand new 
protocols for the communication. However, don't expect it to have wide 
adoption. Even if OpenMoko takes off, it isn't going to become 
prevalent overnight. So to have the ability to interoperate with 
Blackberrys, Tres, WinMo PPCs (which make up a decent percentage of the 
[smart]phone population) you are going to have to be able to speak a 
common language. vCards are pretty standard, so the idea does have some 
merit (not that my blessing is a requirement). But unless most people 
are able to support "vCard Bursting" then you target audience is only as 
large as the OpenMoko install base. I for one am not really interested 
in using a protocol with such a limited user base, although it is an 
interesting concept.
Plaxo does what it does well. I *somewhat* understand your not wanting 
your personal data to be stored on someone elses servers, but creating 
new protocols for data transmission is probably not the best way to go 
about obtaining privacy/whatever.
This isn't meant to be a derogatory post, but I would prefer to be able 
to communicate with a broad range of people running a broad range of 
devices.