Future Version of the Palm OS to be Based on Linux

[Ed Hardy]

PalmSource has just announced that it is going to develop a version of the Palm OS based on Linux. It hopes that by doing so it can bring in more licensees, and speed up the pace of innovation for handhelds and smartphones running the Palm OS.

Read more at http://www.brighthand.com/article/Pa...m_OS?site=Palm

[Ed Hardy]

If you are a fan of Linux, PalmSource sent an open letter to the Linux community, which makes an interesting read.

You can find it at:
http://mobile.newsforge.com/mobility...tid=132&tid=14

[Timothy Rapson]

This is a nearly perfect move. Linux is super and Palmsource is/was a standard in mobiles. I really dreamed that Palm OS5 was going to be Linux with a Palm OS4 emulator to run legacy apps. But, if this comes at OS 6 level it is still welcome news. There will be thousands of apps for this kind of handheld. It will likely result in a lot of pure Linux handhelds being brought out too. Good news. Overdue, but good.

[sojourner753]

This is certainly a smart move on the part of palmsource.

I once said that I thought PalmOS would eventually become open source. This is certainly a partial affirmation.

Its smart because this gives PalmSource a huge jump on features, because the basics are already done in Linux. PalmSource has obviously had a tough time playing catch up with Microsoft and Symbian.

[Siliconaddictio]

Hey if it's good enough for Apple and OS X* .....

My one concern is timing. A year ago this would have more impact, IMHO. As it stands its impact feels more like a last desperate grab before falling off the cliff. Time will tell.


* Yah yah yah I know that's BSD

[tthiel]

It is a desperation play. We'll have to see how well this is executed and if they have the time and money to carry it out. There is no reason to assume that Linux developers will flock to this device. There are already Linux PDA's and developers haven't flocked to them.

[rsc1000]

>>There are already Linux PDA's and developers haven't flocked to them.

I am guessing there are quite a few Linux developers deving for Palm already - more than for WindowsMobile or Linux PDA i would guess. MS developers are in their own world, using MS tools for MS platforms. A lot of companies are MS only shops that view Palm the same way they view Mac or Linux -as some sort of bastard os they don't understand. Because of it's evolution, Linux developers are generally used to doing a lot of things themselves without having easy to use high-level devs tools like what MS provides. So it's no surprise that there a lot of Linux devs already doing Palm work - its less of a total shock to make the move than it is for MS devs.

thats my perception anyway.

[treynolds]

Does this mean that someday I'll be able to get a Zaurus with a PalmOS port?

Would be great if it was so!

Tony

[Alslayer]

Wow a Palm Zarus, I would so get that.

[robrecht]

So have they given up on OS 6, or did I miss something?