We drag ourselves to the office each day, write our beautiful looking .Net CF applications, and finally, when that big day arrives - the code is finished, the QA department has stopped hassling us about the number of outstanding bugs, and we're ready to turn it into an easy-to-deploy installation package.. errr... oh heck. How little work can we put into this without having to talk every user through installing a set of .cab files onto their device, in a particular order ? Shall we just write a quick Word doc and leave it to our Support guys...? It seems amazing that PocketPC development has been going on for this many years, yet there still isn't a de-facto way of bundling up our PocketPC .cab files into some kind of easy-to-deploy installer.

Pete Vickers writes about his experience with Fast-Help, "Several years ago, I purchased a product called dotHLP to help me create a help file for a commercial app. I had tried several help authoring tools in the past, but rejected them either on price or functionality – they were either too expensive, or too complex for my needs. I tried dotHLP, and bought it at once."

Can’t find the right inspection program? Consider building your own. The handheld PC is not just for computer geeks — it’s also a valuable tool that fire departments and other public safety agencies can use for collecting and managing information. The ability to carry thousands of inspection records — the equivalent of dozens of file cabinets — in a gadget that fits in the palm of your hand is not only convenient, it allows new possibilities for analyzing data that are virtually impossible with paper records.

Physicians are always looking for ways to reduce paperwork. One area that has long been considered a burden is the billing process, where timeliness and legibility are major issues for many physicians. Dr. Scott Sher, an anesthesiologist practicing in Phoenix, Arizona, has developed a technique for creating billing records using handheld PCs that provides physicians with significant time savings compared to paper forms. The new approach also provides physicians with their own electronic log of billing records as protection against discrepancies or errors.

Hospitals vary in size and focus, but they are all staffed by a variety of professionals who walk around performing activities where data has to be captured, accessed, and analyzed. It’s the type of environment that lends itself to handheld computers. By eliminating the need to record data on paper forms, handhelds increase efficiency both for the user as well as the medical facility as a whole. Time saving techniques such as drop-down lists allow data to be captured electronically in a fraction of the time required using paper forms. Information can be entered into the hospital’s central medical records system the same day it is collected, improving the quality of care and eliminating gaps between the time data is recorded and when it becomes available.