I am known to rant and rant and then rant some more about the lack of what I call “profession-axed software” for S60 3rd Edition. This is the name that I give to software that are dedicated to one profession domain, like medicine, engineering, law, design and others. As I watched the evolution of the software market 12-15 months ago, I noticed that this lack of support wasn’t due to the fact that S60 3rd was still a new platform, because even S60 2nd had a poor offering of profession-axed software. But as days went by, I saw it all fall into place, and yes, today I am very happy to see that S60 3rd Edition has been adopted by the global community as the powerful platform that it is.
It first started with the release of MobiSystem’s MSDict Oxford Concise Medical Dictionary followed closely by the release of Solution, a great mathematical tool. Then came Mobile Reference which offered a great collection of study books for diverse subjects. But I believe the big breakthrough was when Skyscape released a reader for S60 3rd Edition: this brought quality medical software to the masses. You can’t imagine how many doctors, nurses, surgeons, pharmacists look up to Palm and WM just because they can find a lot of medical freeware and software for them. Skyscape isn’t free, but it gives all of these specialists a choice. In the last couple of days, Symbian-Freak reported of 2 other software: Estalo CAD viewer which should be an invaluable tool for engineers and architects being that AutoCAD is a software that they immensely use, and Syntrax a “free mobile music studio” which has a sequencer, sound synthesis and sample editor.
And if profession-axed software is the last of your concerns, there has been a new hobby-axed software: Skimondo which uses GPS to track your position on a skiing track, as well as your speed, your route and all. It’s still in beta and available for one track but it’s a sign of things to come. Also knfb reader was and still is one of the most interesting pieces of software. It utilizes the power and sharpness of the phone’s built-in camera in order to scan and read documents for the visually impaired. Now that is technology, people!
This is just a quick recap to show you that S60 3rd Edition is far from the bastard child that it was, when it was released. Not only can we use our phones to shoot pictures, play music, surf the web, and call people, but they can now be an invaluable tool for many many employees, teachers, students, musicians, doctors, architechts… which kind of reminds me of the Nokia Nseries Open Campaign.
This is the level that I have always wanted S60 3rd to reach. It was always a smartphone platform but was perceived as a phone and just now it’s becoming to be seen as smart by the masses. And boy am I even more excited now about S60 Touch! That will be another stir in the mug for the platform and probably the final step towards full adoption in the professional world.
