PalmOS 5 Died In 2005 - Life Support Removed In 2009

[Ed Hansberry]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.precentral.net/palm-ceo-ed-colligan-talks-pre-investors' target='_blank'>http://www.precentral.net/palm-ceo-...s-pre-investors</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"There will be no more PalmOS devices released by Palm (excepting the Centro getting released on other carriers). They're focused on webOS and Windows Mobile."</em></p><p><img alt="?" border="0" src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2005/20050708-palmosdead.jpg" /></p><p>As <a href="http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/f359/palmos-dead-72258.html">predicted back in 2005</a>, Palm continued to tweak OS 5.x until it was untweakable and they did launch a Windows Mobile line of devices, something they will continue to do for some time. I missed the projection on a new OS. I figured it would be out by 2007 or 2008. It will be 2009 at the earliest. Palm has finally pulled the life support off of the platform, allowing it to peacefully drift of and rest in peace.</p><p>The PreCentral article linked to has additional tidbits from the Palm CEO on the forthcoming Pre device, litigation with Apple and a few other items.</p>

[txa1265]

It is interesting, both of my kids have been asking recently for PDA's to use for scheduling and notes and ebooks and so on. So naturally I pulled from my personal 'PDA Museum' :)

Here is what I found:
- The older stuff (Compaq C120, HP200LX, Newton, etc) was of no interest.
- HP Jornada 728 was just too huge for them. But I love that keyboard so I tried using it for my 'primary PDA' for a bit, found I had to go back to ActiveSync 3.8 and remembered how many problems there were ... made worse with XP and newer Outlook versions. Ended up sticking it back in storage.
- HP Jornada 548 - too slow to be useful anymore.
- HP iPaq 4355 - this is one I've used quite a bit, and the kids love it: great compromise and full of power with a decent thumbboard. My younger son has this one.
- Palm Tungsten C - nice thumboard, nice hardware and display, but the PalmOS has really not aged well. My older son is using this, but is envious of his brother.
- Psion Revo ... while I wish I still had my 5mx (not to the extent of paying the ~$300 - 500 I've seen them selling for online!), the Revo is *still* a sweet PDA and the OS is fantastic. Copy anywhere? Great ... and the ease of managing things is just great. I'm using this now ... just wish there was a micro-SD slot or something ;)

PalmOS was great and peaked in the ~'98 timeframe (Palm V was quite good), but was never meant to handle this stuff.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

98? I think it peaked shortly after Sony joined them, around 2002-2003. After that it was a series of patch jobs.

The OS worked great though. In many ways it's still nicer to use than Windows Mobile.

[DubWireless]

<p>As <a href="http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/f359/palmos-dead-72258.html">predicted back in 2005</a>, Palm continued to tweak OS 5.x until it was untweakable and they did launch a Windows Mobile line of devices, something they will continue to do for some time. I missed the projection on a new OS...</p>

well not sure your prediction got a home run... maybe it got to 2nd or 3rd base ;) the tweaks still worked well for many people buying devices well after 2005 though, and now after a time out and focusing their talents on the Pre it looks like they have come up with something very special and unlike so many version of Window's mobile i've used... i'd be happier with a better late than buggy situation...

how's your prediction about the demise of Bluetooth going by the way eh :D

[Ed Hansberry]

how's your prediction about the demise of Bluetooth going by the way eh :D
Not too bad actually. Besides headsets, where is BT used? Printers dropped it, BT PANs are deader than a doornail. Cameras and MP3 players don't use it and it is still optoinal on laptops. For a while, it was hard to find one without it but now, it is generally an option.

Most wireless mice/keyboards I've seen use RF, not BT (not all, but most). The one company that has really used BT well is Nintendo with the Wii. We have all sorts of remotes that all use BT, but that is a somewhat closed system. Kudos to them though for doing something with it. No one else has.

[DubWireless]

ah i love it Ed ;) at least you agree Bluetooth is far from dead... sure you know yourself was never meant to take over the world nor realistically be practical for applications that some people / companies hyped eh...

still serves some purposes well and several years on it is still pretty much a part of daily life here with mouse/keyboard (only option for my platform), data tether to phone, ad hoc file transfer from mobile, headphones...

[Menneisyys]

98? I think it peaked shortly after Sony joined them, around 2002-2003. After that it was a series of patch jobs.


Agreed. The "budget" Zire71 and, some months later, the T|3 were, hardware-wise, much better and much more advanced than any comparable (in the same market segment) WinMo PDA at the time - before VGA WinMo's PDA's coming in Autumn 2004 - about a year later. (Not counting in the Toshi e800, released in Sept 2003, only a month after the t|3).

[Menneisyys]

Not too bad actually. Besides headsets, where is BT used? Printers dropped it, BT PANs are deader than a doornail. Cameras and MP3 players don't use it and it is still optoinal on laptops. For a while, it was hard to find one without it but now, it is generally an option.

Most wireless mice/keyboards I've seen use RF, not BT (not all, but most). The one company that has really used BT well is Nintendo with the Wii. We have all sorts of remotes that all use BT, but that is a somewhat closed system. Kudos to them though for doing something with it. No one else has.

1.A2DP? ;)

2. more advanced wireless mice/ keyboards (like the MoGo PCMCIA/ ExpressCard products or Apple's input peripherials?)

3. GameKit on Apple's mobile platforms, which is inherently BT-based (with OS 3.1's added Wi-Fi support)?

etc