LinuxDevCenter: Sharp’s Zaurus SL-6000L: A Free Software PDA

“Sharp is the #1 PDA seller in Japan, due to excellent hardware
and perfectly localized software. However, its latest attempt to
find its place between the Palm and PocketPC handheld has failed.
Many factors contributed to this failure, like the absence of a
GNU/Linux desktop client, which means only Windows users could take
advantage of the sync functions; the inclusion of a substandard PIM
suite which even a ten-year-old Palm Pilot outperformed; the lack
of compatible software; and most of all, poor marketing, which did
more harm than good to its product line. A faster CPU in the SL5600
corrected the sluggishness of the SL5000/SL5500, but this happened
far too late.

“Therefore, the SL5500 and SL5600 never really caught on, except
maybe in the GNU/Linux community, where running free software on a
PDA is an advantage…”

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