By James E. Powell
Converting data between spreadsheet and word processor formats
is usually simple-that is, if you're on a PC. Users of personal
information managers (PIMs), on the other hand, face problems.
Help may be on the way, thanks to new technology called Personal
Data Interchange. It includes vCard, which automates the exchange
of data between e-mail, personal digital assistants (PDAs), telephony
apps, pagers and PIMs. This has always been hard, given the variety
of formats: Do you use an "X" to indicate a phone extension
or a separate field? Do you keep the first and last names in separate
fields?
Leading the charge toward unification is telephony consortium
Versit, whose vCard Version 2.0 spec is based on industry standards
and has been submitted to the Internet Engineer-ing Task Force
(IETF).
Applications supporting the spec are already on the market. For
example, Now Software has upgraded its Now Up-to-Date PIM to publish
your schedule or contact list on the Web; the vCard standard makes
it possible for a user with a different PIM that also supports
vCard to drag and drop the same Web page data into their program.
The spec has been adopted by groups ranging from the InfraRed
Data Association to Netscape. You can reach Versit at pdi@versit.com
or 800-803-6240.