[hacker]

Originally Posted by Voice_of_Reason

Multitasking is the way of the future because it removes constraints that would otherwise waste a lot of time.

Multitasking isn't THE answer, but it is AN answer to some problems. It can cause more problems than it solves in some cases, depending on your architecture and hardware.

For years I've argued in favor of PalmLinux - a Unix-based platform running Palm apps. Last year Ms. Hackborn berated me on another site for having the temerity to suggest PalmLinux was a good idea. Now it would appear her employer agrees I was right all along.

<smirk> Get in line, I was publically extolling the switch from AMX back in 1997/1998 or so, and at that time, Linux was a viable candidate. Its even moreso now, but it will take quite a lot of development time on their part to make it work right.

I still hope that they don't think their "move to Linux" will somehow garner them thousands of existing Linux and Open Source developers to do their development for them. It just won't happen.

It appears that Cobalt is little more than a glorified beta version of Palm's long overdue saviour: PalmLinux.

Except that it has absolutely nothing at all to do with Linux or the underlying kernel running the device itself.

The biggest question right now is whether or not PalmSource can solve all of the issues around porting Cobalt to a Linux kernel before their market loses interest completely and moves en masse to an alternate OS.

People don't choose their gadgets based on the OS that those gadgets run... they choose their gadgets because it solves a need that they have for the device (playing mp3s, managing PIM data, checking email while away from the office, etc.)

Do you know what version of firmware and what embedded OS your microwave runs? What about your television remote control? Why don't you care? Because they do exactly what is expected of them, without any problems. The only time people need to know what operating system their "Thing" runs, is when things go wrong and they need to fix it or find an alternative solution to solve the problem. When things work, people don't notice them.

People won't "move en masse to an alternate OS" just because Palm doesn't move to Linux. They might consider it when the device stops suiting their needs, but thousands of others who have never used a PDA before will find that Palm suits their needs perfectly.

PalmSource has claimed PalmLinux will be ready before mid 2006. I'll believe that when I see it. Because multitasking will soon be an essential OS feature, if Palmsource fails to deliver on its PalmLinux promise it will probably be game over for the platform.

Sure, and BSD is dead and Apple is switching to Intel... er, ok, maybe not that last one <grin>

Seriously though, the platform won't be dead if their move to Linux doesn't succeed. They have a HUGE growing market in the smartphone and kiosk arena, especially with their recent acquisition in China. Don't be fooled, there are millions of PalmOS licenses being sold per-year, and not just on the devices you can buy at OfficeMax or Staples. Don't forget about the OEMs like Kyocera, Samsung, Sony (yes, still producing PalmOS devices), Acceca, Symbol, and about 2-3 dozen others.

It's interesting to note that PalmSource - a company that supposedly has such UI advantages over PPC - has repeatedly failed to make any improvements to that UI. A tabbed interface (e.g. LauncherX) and rapid app switching (e.g. McPhling) are obvious advances to the PalmOS UI that are still left to third party developers to provide.

That is exactly what has made PalmOS the enormous success that it has been since 1996. That's close to 10 years of PalmOS devices out in the market. Without third-party support, your platform is dead.

Also, lets not forget how much they'd piss off the authors of applications that fit the niche you're suggesting. Let's say that Palm decided to incorporate LauncherX's capabilities into their main launcher (no offense to the author of LauncherX, Bozidar Benc, who died last year), including tabs. What happens to the people who want to buy LauncherX?

The key is to keep the interface as absolutely simple as possible, while keeping the powerful API underneath, exposed via the SDK, so authors can extend the capabilities and create a market for third-party software to keep the device market flourishing. If you piss off your developers by consuming their market, you're going to lose a LOT of users, and a LOT of developers.

Also, there may be patent or licensing issues related to some of the PalmOS applications out there. Just because "Tabs Are Cool" in your opinion, doesn't mean that Palm can just start using them.

It remains to be seen if Palm will even provide an intuitive way to cycle between open threads in Cobalt. I've suggested a customized browser-style tabbed UI, or better yet, showing icons of all open applications on the DIA.

Not everyone likes that approach. Do you have an alternate for those who do not?

Also, stop thinking with a Windows mindset. Not everyone wants a desktop on their PDA. They may think they do, but that's because they're confused about how they access their data. The important thing is their data, their documents, etc. You don't need to port Microsoft Word (and its horribly unusable UI) to a PDA just to view and edit documents. The same thing goes for web browsing, email, calendaring, and so on.

Likewise, you don't need a "Start Bar" or "titlebars" or windowframes or abnormally-large scrollbars, etc. to interact with your data. Look at how much power the iPod put into 1 wheel. With Palm (as with some newer window managers coming out to service embedded devices), applications run modal, with full context, as they should. You shouldn't have a titlebar, unless you can grab it and move the window around. If you can do that on a 320x320 PDA screen, something is wrong, because its a horrible waste of space, resources, and code to allow that behavior.

Simple is best, which is why Palm still controls the majority of this market.

Now we hear talk of an ambitious UI code named "Rome". Why can't PalmSource just fix the bugs and polish its current OSes before heading off on yet another wild goose chase? The lack of focus and praticality that killed Be seems to "Be" rearing its ugly head again...

Now here's a point I think we agree on. I've seen this time and time and time (and time and time) again with USRobotics -> 3Com -> Palm -> Palmsource -> Palm.

Part of the problem is likely due to attrition and turnover. If people keep jumping ship or getting laid off, passing code and projects to others to maintain can get overwhelming and ugly, especially if those people can't code. Look at how Palm jumped on the OSS tools to help embrace their developers, tried to "own" them, and rapidly dumped them when they realized they couldn't (POSE, prc-tools, pilrc and 1/2 dozen others). They're now on their... what... third or fourth kernel rewrite? And lets not even get into Protein, PACE and all of the other alliteration buzzwords that start with "P" here.