[surur]

Being a bit bored waiting for WM5.0 I regularly post on POS web sites. Here's a recent excerpt from a Micheal Mace interview.

Some choice but relevant Micheal Mace quotes:

http://www.allaboutpalm.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44

Linux, in particular, helps with developing new product categories because a lot of consumer electronics companies are already working with Linux. So we're talking with them. However, I don't want to hype expectations about that -- just the talking process can take many months, and even if they sign up for a license, then they have to develop their product. That process takes at least eight months, and sometimes closer to two years if it's a phone and has to be approved by a carrier. The more innovative the product, the longer it takes to develop.

So even if someone signed a new license today, it might be mid-2007 before they'd ship a product, if it's something really different and innovative. That's just how the industry works.

Especially as we move into phones, the adoption curve for new versions of the OS gets longer and less predictable. If you want an example of how this works, check out the number of Symbian phones that are still shipping with Symbian 6 and 7 even though the OS is now on version 9.

At the time we announced Palm OS Cobalt, a couple of licensees had very aggressive plans to ship it quickly. Subsequently those plans changed. I think it was a mistake for us to try to predict hardware shipment dates for Palm OS Cobalt, and this is why we're trying to avoid predicting when hardware incorporating Palm OS for Linux will ship. It'll be there when our licensees ship it.

In general, our partners understand these schedule uncertainties, and they prefer that we don't try to predict hardware dates.

When is PalmLinux REALLY expected to be finished as a stable OS?

We're targeting Palm OS for Linux shipment to licensees in the first half of 2006. Please also read my comments above about the difficulty of predicting shipment dates.

So no LG Garnet phone until 2007-2008, or 2009 if its Cobalt?

When will PalmOS 5 be EOL?

We're not doing significant additional development on Palm OS Garnet today. But licensees can continue to ship it as long as they want to (see my comments about Symbian 6 above).

Definitely Garnet then

Can you tell us how many developers/software engineers that palmsource has and the breakdown of what they are working on? How many are working on cobalt? palm linux?

We have about 500 people, most of them engineers. They are spread across three development centers, in France, California, and China. China is the center for feature phone software development; France and California are working primarily on Palm OS for Linux.

vs MS's 1200 engineers

What kind of perks or benefits are offered to palmsource employees to keep them and keep them motivated?

All the usual computer industry stuff. The motiation's not just financial, though -- a lot of us are here because we really like the mobile market and want to help shape it.

After the latest round of lay-offs I bet they are not very motivated now (accept by the very real fear of losing their job!)

Surur