Click the banner above to return to the main page.

30/03/2002 Interview with Me (Shaun McGill) by MacClie
You must be very proud of Clie World and its success. What gave you the idea for it, and where do you see it going/wish it to go?
I don't think it's been successful yet. It's grown a lot quicker than I expected and I'm happy that so many people visit it and some of the comments I have received have really helped keep me going when some days it's been difficult to find the time. I just decided one day to make a site for the Clie (had already done a Psion one) and after a couple of hours tinkering on the PC it was done. It was the first site I had done which I felt happy with straight away. I'm no web designer and it was luck that this one looked OK at the first attempt. It certainly does look OK It will grow naturally depending on what people would like to see on it. I did notice that you seem to take people's suggestions into account, which is kinda nice, because it makes it *everybody's* site that way. At some stage a complete re-design will need to be done as I feel that it still looks a bit amateurish. I hate to disagree here, Shaun, but far from it. It's minimal in a very positive way. It's easy on the eye, and, more importantly, easy to digest. In the next couple of weeks the news archives will no longer be done by date but by category- software, hardware, hints and tips etc. which should make it easier for people to look at the old articles. I have a new idea for the site everyday and the problem is finding the time to put them into practice. One thing I would like to do more of is interviews with visitors to the site as no-one else seems to do this. That is quite a unique aspect of Clie World.
I know of your PSION based site (www.filegrabber.co.uk), are you running or have you ever run any other sites?
Besides FileGrabber which you mentioned I have one other small site- www.corporatecliches.co.uk which is basically a list of the cliches you may hear at work and their meanings- things like 'touch base' and 'stretching the envelope' which are two phrases I really hate! It's just for a laugh and isn't getting loads of hits. To be honest, FileGrabber and Cliches have taken second place to Clie World and with Psion's PDA demise I do not expect FileGrabber to get much bigger.
What PDA web sites do you regularly check out, apart from your own?
PDABuzz (great for help and support), PalmGear (superb database of Palm software), Clie Source, nXt's Yahoo Group and the Clie Yahoo users group (all good for Clie chat and advice). I particularly like the content and layout of Clie Source and must admit to getting a few design ideas from them
What are your favourite non-PDA web sites and why?
Google (fantastic search engine), most 'Queen' related sites (best band that ever lived) As much as I hate to disagree with you, Shaun..., Leonardcohen.com (genius!) and Friends Reunited (have contacted many old school friends through this and it deserves all the success it has achieved so far).
Which PDA do you currently use, and why, and how far ahead are you looking to replace it, considering that "there is always something just around the corner"?
I use a Clie 770CU- I bought purely out of curiosity because the shop concerned gave me a 7 day 'return for any reason' guarantee. I loved the hi-res screen, excellent battery life and MP3 too much to return it. My Palm m505 was sold on eBay within a week. For probably the first time since I have been using PDA's I am not looking to replace it. I bought a T625 and sold that quickly as I was not impressed with the battery life Yup, the bane of PDA's, battery life... and missed the MP3 too much. Even the NR series does not appeal to me at the moment as it will suffer from a shortened battery life and is nearly as big as a Pocket PC. So, at the moment I will stick with the 770 until I see a machine that really makes me thing twice.
What does the future (long and short term) hold for PDA's?
Short term I think they will still be bought by 'early adopters' who like to have the newest gadget and business/sales people who need extra functionality on the road. I'm in a relatively unusual situation in that where I work over 30% of people use PDA's with over 90% of them using Pocket PCs. I suspect this is because of the appeal of the 'on the face of it' features such as video, music etc. For every one person that owns a PDA there are 100 more that don't and this is because they have not seen a reason to. I think there is room for another PDA but I will go into further detail later. Long term I am convinced almost all of us will own a PDA in one form or another, just like most families now own a PC.
If your PDA were taken away from you, say as a punishment for listening to Shakin' Stevens (real name Mike Barret) records in secret, what facilities of it would you miss most?
The Datebook and Contacts first and foremost- when I have a lot of work on and need to remember multiple tasks/projects it really helps me concentrate on the task in hand if I'm not having to remember meetings, conference calls etc. which the Clie does for me. I see people waste so much time finding people's contact numbers each day it makes me laugh and it's nice to have hundreds of numbers with me all the time. I would also miss having so much information with me via iSilo, TomeRaider and Palm Reader. I would also really miss the photos and video clips of my son Tom as well. When I'm having a bad day it's nice to watch a quick 30 second movie of him doing something silly to cheer me up. Finally I play a few games a lot (mostly when I shoudn't) and I would miss them. Basically, I would miss the 'whole' machine and all of the software in it!
What would be your ideal PDA?
3mm thick, very light, 100 hour battery life able to run all PC, Apple, Linus programs. Realistically I think the Palm m500 series has the best design so I would like that case with a hi-res screen I agree about the design, but it does appear to me as if Palm just can't be bothered to pull their fingers out., MP3 capability, 1GB storage via expansion and 64mb internal RAM (preferably made by Sony). A decent Psion type small attachable keyboard sigh... ON and long battery life are a must as usability is the most important to me. Finally, I would like an 'always on' internet connection and mobile voice capability. It also needs to cost no more than £12.50
Who will win, Palm, SONY, or the Microsoft based PDA's, or is there enough room for all three, or will Palm sell out to SONY maybe?
Microsoft will possibly win in the short term but the Palm powered devices will survive. I suspect Sony will buy Palm or the rights to their software fairly soon and this will help give Microsoft some decent competition. I still think that there will be a new PDA which will become dominant in the future. What's required is a PDA which appeals to the 97% of the population who would not touch one at the moment. It needs to be simple enough for the people who do not even use PCs to understand and have the flexibility to run almost any swoftware thrown at it. The problem is getting people to adopt this technology as the interest is not there for a lot of people. Mothers could use them to detail their kid's development, pensioners to work out their pensions etc. and children to check their school timetables. It's hard to explain exactly what I mean but there must be room for a PDA which will appeal to all groups of people in our society.
Who has made the best all round PDA so far, not taking into account the advances in technology over the last few years?
Psion- the Psion 5mx is still the best PDA I have ever used. It was the successor to their excellent (ahead of their time) 3 series machines My very own favourite.. The fantastic keyboard, great battery life and the abilty to multi-task and share information between applications have still not been beaten. With technology where it is today I am a firm believer that a small machine with a decent keyboard would be the most useful until decent handwriting or speech recognition software become a reality. It's such a shame Psion have all but pulled out of this market. They had built the superb series 3a before the first Palm was even invented and a bit more marketing in America could have made them the dominant player in the PDA world today. One really can't help wondering what went on for them to loose the great head start they had. A tragedy.
Do you game a lot, and if so, do you have favourite games?
I only tend to play games on the Clie of which my two favourites are Megasoft's Billiards and Igzo the Dolphin- they can be played in short bursts which is probably the way games should be designed for the PDA. Admit to being partial to the odd Flight Simulator and Gran Turismo now and then.
Which question would you like to have been asked? And you may answer it.
Question: Would you please accept £1 million for doing this interview? Answer: Yes A real pity that, because the owner of Clie World said I had a budget of £100. Sorry.
And finally, as this really is a music site gone IT, please name (a maximum of six) musicians/bands without whom in your opinion the world would be a poorer place, and if you like, link this with the best songs/albums ever and the best gig you have ever been to.
Queen (remember hearing Bohemian Rhapsody I hope you are not going to quote any of the lyrics, are you, Shaun? when I was 13 years old and feeling like I had discovered something very special. I now own every record they made and can name only about 3 songs out of the 400 or so they made that I don't like Leonard Cohen (wonderful poet/lyricist and a strangely endearing voice) Roy Orbison (quite simply the best voice I have heard) He certainly could instil meaning into the lyrics of his songs. Ween (a very different take on what music should be but wonderfully inventive) They Might Be Giants (hard to explain why but they have made some oddly amazing music) Radiohead/REM (I'm cheating but I could not choose between them) Best Songs: Anthem by Leonard Cohen and Paranoid Android by Radiohead Best Album: A Night At The Opera by Queen and Chocolate and Cheese by Ween Best Gig: Queen at Knebworth in 1986- I was 16 years old and this turned out to be the last concert they did before Freddie died. I could not believe the power 4 people could produce and Freddie's voice was, well, incredible for a live concert- he reached everyone in the crowd!
Thanks to MacClie for asking the questions. If you ever speak to him on the forum do not dare him to do anything- he always does it (hence these interviews)!