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Originally Posted by hacker
Actually, Apple's hardware comes from IBM, directly. Who do you think makes the PowerPC processor used in present-day Macintosh boxes? IBM, not Apple. Apple doesn't make hardware (well, not at the chip and motherboard level anyway; they make cases and other enclosure designs for the IBM-supplied chips).
What OS you think IBM is pushing VERY hard to promote that processor? Here's one guess... it isn't OSX. Its Linux. Why? Because Linux is the perfect fit for that processor. IBM is committed to delivering this vision successfully to its partners and customers. They're 100% behind driving a successful Linux deployment on every single piece of their hardware, from the mainframe, mini, desktop, and mobile computing groups.
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Why do you think IBM is so big on open-source lately? Because they want to drive the cost of software (including the OS) to zero. This way companies can allocate 100% of their budget to hardware, which is where IBM makes its money. Device vendors using Linux have the same goal, they would rather pay no licensing fee at all. (Handera, for instance, left the market because they couldn't afford the Palm OS licensing fee anymore.)
I fully agree with you that Linux has momentum in the device space, but that doesn't necessarily help a software-only company like PalmSource. That PalmOS layer had better be so far ahead that no alternative could hope to catch up. Furthermore, it remains to be seen whether developers will want to lock themselves into a vendor-specific API (i.e. PalmOS) on a platform that is supposed to be open (Linux). Also, Motorola (and others) have already invested millions in Linux development.