Is Free SMS Free?

Lockergnomie Rob Vonderhaar agrees with me on SMS, although I think we’re fighting a losing battle with it. I must admit, I found it rather handy when Google Maps SMS’ed my phone with a business address (and its phone number) to which I needed to navigate.

Saw that you posted my feedback this morning about Verizon and the use of “free” SMS to support the Treo700’s AUTD (always-up-to-date) feature. The only thing I’d call to your attention is that my diatribe was a bit old and this entire issue is now academic, at least for the Treo700, since VZW *finally* shipped an upgrade to the phone’s software that includes the Microsoft MSFP features. With MSFP, I now have true “push” email that doesn’t use the SMS kludge to trigger syncing of new messages.

I just wouldn’t want Treo700 owners to be confused into believing they still need SMS or to think “that dummy Rob — doesn’t he know that MSFP solves his problem?” That said, the stupid AUTD remains the only answer for owners of the XV6700 and other WM5 devices for which VZW still hasn’t shipped MSFP.

By the way, I totally agree with you re. SMS. I’ve never seen the attraction in it, although a bunch of people in my company use it regularly. If it’s important, why not just actually CALL me to discuss it? Or alternatively, just drop me a quick email (which I also receive on my Treo), or IM me (both AIM and MSN messenger clients run on my Treo as well). Seems like its the teenagers that live on SMS – it’s so funny to watch them all SMS’ing even in the same room sometimes!

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