The Register "proves" PalmOS is dead

[Bob Russell]

The emotional online wars about PalmOS are legendary. It used to be that you could stir up an active discussion on any blog by simply saying that Pocket PC was better than PalmOS, or that PalmOS was a "has-been." Trying out Pocket PC was considered a move to the "dark side" and you were in danger of being considered a traitor. And by all means, never dare to say the words "PalmOS is dead!"

My how times have changed. It's true that much of the new perspectives are due to the fact that Cobalt was the future hope of PalmOS and it never made it into a commercial product. (But there were actual working smartphone prototype devices running Cobalt, but then nobody seemed to want it. We may never know the true story of why, but it just didn't happen.)

So many changes. Access has bought PalmSource, and the next generation of the PalmOS is going to be coming out of the Access Linux Platform, which will have a compatibility layer to run "most properly-written" existing Palm software. (That's not so far fetched as you might think... the recent PalmOS also has a similar compatibility layer called PACE, and we made it past that bump just fine.)

Further confusing things is the announcement that Palm has bought back the rights to Garnet. Now the "real" Palm company could be going in at least four different potential directions, one of which brings new hope for PalmOS: (1) Produce a revamp of Garnet to bring it up to date, (2) Create a new Linux based platform for Palm devices, (3) Create a whole new platform for the future based on Jeff Hawkins' mysterious third line of business that is supposed to be announced some time this year and/or (4) Continue to expand the product line with Windows Mobile devices.

So the whole "PalmOS" landscape is obviously quite muddied, and it's not clear which new directions will be a success, or which ones may become the undesired Cobalt of the future. With additional hot competition for creating the most popular mobile platform of the future (including other consortiums of major players, and of course Microsoft and Nokia), there is a lot of uncertainty.

But one thing appears to be certain -- PalmOS is dead. Maybe.

The Register has published an article that basically mocks PalmOS. It not only claims that PalmOS is dead, but it claims that it is so completely dead that no one even cares to argue the point anymore. They prove this position by pointing to their previous article about the StyleTap emulation software for Windows Mobile devices. (Whose very existence seems to prove that PalmOS will live on in some manner.) The tag line for the article was "Another nail in Palm OS' coffin." And the point is that despite disparaging comments about the death of PalmOS, people have come to accept that fact so easily now that no one bothered to complain. I guess that the old days of flame wars are over.

Personally, while I also hope for Windows Mobile to flourish, I am hoping that Access and Palm will both provide successful new platforms that carry on and extend the Palm tradition. Competition is good, the PalmOS is like a friend that you don't want to say goodbye to, and there is such a treasure trove of fantastic third party software that is still important to many users like myself.

Furthermore, if you have interacted with any of those small developers or development companies supporting PalmOS (now Garnet), you can't help but appreciate that they are doing the work for more than just a buck. I was at the final PalmSource Developers Conference when Cobalt was still thought to be alive, and you could just feel the excitement. People were not a part of this because they just wanted to make a buck. We all thrived in the delight of the whole PalmOS community.

It's amazing the effort, generosity and kindness that is shown by these developers. Grace even in the face of lots of us nasty users who sometimes seem to be able to do nothing but complain. Losing PalmOS would be more than the loss of an operating system. It would be the loss of a friend and the loss of a whole wonderful ecosystem.

But I'm not ready to give up yet, and The Register can include me among those that stand up to object to the foregone conclusion that PalmOS is dead. Okay, maybe on life support. And the name PalmOS itself is likely to be forever relegated to the history books. But the offshoots and potential green buds of a new spring are still there. There's still much hope. The potential reincarnations of Garnet from Palm, the new Access Linux Platform with Garnet compatibility, and yes, even emulation layers like StyleTap. Long live PalmOS!

[Anchoku]

My own, personal, guess is the widening variety of applications being run on personal devices, combined with the work being done on Linux and at Microsoft is leaving Palm's OS rather short-handed, so to speak.

That, and Linux is "free" and Microsoft is "competitive" and "beefy" while Palm...

[rlauzon]

in the same way that COBOL is dead.

That doesn't mean that PalmOS devices won't be sold. And it doesn't mean that development for the Palm OS isn't being done.

What it means is that the innovation and exciting stuff isn't being done for Palm OS as much as it used to be.

For PDA stuff, Palm OS still whips WinCE easily and I have yet to see a reasonably useful WinCE with comparable battery life to my Palm.

But users today want a palm-sized-PC, not a PDA. They want the features that they get on their desktop (like video, for example). They want file formats that don't need to be converted between device and desktop. PalmOS doesn't do well for those things.

So Palm OS needs to be updated. And it is in the Access Linux Platform.

Palm OS is dead! Long live the Palm OS!

[Laurens]

It's The Register, so take it with a bucket of salt.

[Snappy!]

Well, the Register is not the only lamenting about the PalmOS. I just read another article talking about how out-dated the PalmOS UI is! The audacity of it!

And I'm sure before long, there will be MS-haters who will launch into rhetoric about how MS muscled its way into the pda market, killed off competition and ultimately innovation with Palm and PalmOS being the victim.

It's like, don't we see a pattern here? Apple (with their Macs) and Palm with their outstanding hardware and software combo both failed in fighting of the MS-machine? I think it's plain enough, but I'll state it anyway. Both Apple and Palm have one other thing in common (besides being excellent in hw/sw): They both never really licensed their platform out to the vendors on a large scale. They both held an iron-grip on the whole platform, which is a good thing and resulted in excellent products and high quality make. But it cuts the other way in not getting the product en masse, at least not as much as MS did.

If we look at MS' strategy for both PC and PPC, it was to define a platform of hardware and software (OS), and control the OS (and to some extent the software as well! ). Afterall, OS is supposedly their forte, though some will agree that they are not stellar in it as well. But by working strongly with OEM hardware partners in the industry, MS is able to share the cost of punching at either industry long enough for it to receive acceptance. Remember, they only have to invest in R&D for the OS and some software, while the partners share in the cost by investing in hardware R&D, which is quite costly and volatile at best.

Further, by getting multiple partners to develop the hardware, prices for hardware can go down to some sweet spot for general consumers to go for an impulse buy. They've done it in the PC industry, ousting IBM from the whole game by pushing for the IBM-clone, and in the process also deseating Apple as Ze Personal Computer. They've again done it in the PPC industry.

Ok, Palm did have some licensees for the PalmOS/platform, but too little too late.

I owned 3 or 4 Palms from Palm Pilot Pro, IIIe to Sony PEG-SL10 and a T3. It was really good while it lasted.

PS: Heck, I just took a peek at Palm.com yesterday and found that they have very much reduced the whole Palm family to a paltry Z22, TE and Tx for pure pdas. ... As you can see, I now own a SHARP Zaurus C1000 ... whose product line recently got axed by SHARP ... grr ...

[ignatz]

I still love my Tungsten E, which has been with me through thick and thin for many years. I have had two mp3 players, but neither has lasted as long as the T|E, which has always been my backup player. I also use it for books and web clips (thank you iSilo) and for a few games. It's in my bag every day and has survived thanks to a Rhinoskin case. The interface could be better, but it's been fine for all that I do with it. You never have to wait for it to boot. I could go on and on.

There are so many Palms out there still being sold, that the OS will live on for many more years. Those who want the latest and greatest will not buy Palm anymore, but those who just want to get the job done may continue to do so.