ACCESS probably thought they were getting a lot more than they did. Its just strange how no one had any desire to make a Palm OS 6 device. Its kind of like IBM's OS/2 operating system that was superior to Windows at the time, but no one used it.
So in the end, what ACCESS got from buying PalmSource was three things. The first being some licensee revenue for the Garnet, as you mentioned, which can help fund new development (ALP). The second being a group of skilled developers to build ALP. The last thing they got was the rights to the Palm OS "look and feel". They can make the ALP PIM apps, launcher, etc. look exactly like Garnet if they want. I can tell from ALP screenshots (see my PalmZone.net article,
Screenshots of ALP and Possible ALP Phone here) that they aren't duplicating them exactly, but they are making them similar. If they didn't own Garnet, then they either couldn't do this or they would get sued by Palm, Inc. for copyright infringement. In other words, they now own the Palm OS brand and are free to use it as is or modify it how ever they see fit.
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Tim Nicholson
http://palmzone.net
http://pdamobileweb.com