Windows Phone Thoughts: 2005 Best of Everything CD Review

Is It Worth It?
Again, it really depends on what you need, and whether it’s on the CD. Thaddeus Computing provides a handy spreadsheet to help you decide. Basically, it lists all of the products available and their prices in USD. You go through and mark with an X all the ones that you might want, and the spreadsheet totals them up. If the total is over $280 USD, then you’re in business! I looked through the available software, registered some stuff that looked interesting, and then tallied it up using the spreadsheet.

As a reviewer, I get fully functional versions of the software from the vendors, so I already had some of the titles included on the disk. Here’s a breakdown list of what I use/registered:


Figure 7: List of products I would use from the CD.

According to the spreadsheet, if I had acquired all of these individually, it would have cost me over $425 USD! (There was so much stuff I wanted to try, I went out and bought a new 512M CF memory card to hold it!) So for me, even with my rather utilitarian use of my Pocket PC, the Best of Everything CD would be a really good deal. Another advantage of the registered CD is that you have until January 31, 2006 to register any piece of software, so if at a later date you decide to add something else, it’s no problem. Just return to the website, find the package, and hit that Register button!

Support
In the package which comes with the Registered CD, your letter also includes instructions on how to access the registration site, what’s in the package, policies on refunds, and how to get support and give feedback. There is also a Help file provided on the CD itself, which describes how to access the demo versions of the software, and how to register your CD.

If you have any problems at all with the CD or registration process, Thaddeus Computing provides an email address to contact. I’ve had a couple of problems and queries during the course of this review, and always received very prompt replies – usually within a couple of hours.

The only real downside for me was that I do quite a bit of hiking around the area with my Cub pack, and none of the mapping applications I tried (Outdoor Navigator and Pocket Streets) had maps for my home town or the surrounding area.:-(

Conclusions
At the beginning, I was a little skeptical that I’d really want enough of the software provided to make the $280 USD investment worthwhile. After looking at what was available, and using the spreadsheet to calculate what it would cost me, I can honestly say that this is a pretty good deal. If you’ve been holding off getting those games, utilities, and other applications for your Pocket PC, take a look at the spreadsheet, then maybe get a copy of the demo CD to ‘try before you buy’.

Don is an Associate Director of Systems Development and Project Management with Fujitsu Consulting. Thanks to the Best of Everything CD, he gets even less time on his Pocket PC when it’s at home – his wife and kids all want to play the games!