[Ed Hansberry]

http://www.eweek.com/print_article/0,3668,a=41475,00.asp

"The next version of PalmSource Inc.'s handheld operating system will support true multitasking, bringing Palm OS 6.0 up to the level of its competitors and delighting developers who had been expecting it in the previous version."

Palm OS 6 is supposed to RTM this fall with devices reaching consumers in early 2004. This version of the market-leading OS will finally allow true multitasking, allowing users to have music playing in the background, working on a document in the foreground while applications like email pulls new data regularly and chat clients stay open listening for new info from your contacts. You should also be able to switch between open forms in applications to copy and paste data rather than having to reopen the form on each "switch" as you do now. Palm OS 5 supports a limited amount of multitasking for certain APIs but it doesn't go all of the way. OS 5 was primarily a stepping stone OS to give developers time to move from OS 4 based code to the new 32bit ARM chips that have become the standard in the more powerful Palm OS devices like the Palm Tungsten T and Sony NX70.

It's about time! I can't wait to see if Palm puts a real honest CLOSE button on the UI somewhere. Do you think it will?

[Ed Hansberry]

http://www.eweek.com/print_article/0,3668,a=41475,00.asp

"The next version of PalmSource Inc.'s handheld operating system will support true multitasking, bringing Palm OS 6.0 up to the level of its competitors and delighting developers who had been expecting it in the previous version."

Palm OS 6 is supposed to RTM this fall with devices reaching consumers in early 2004. This version of the market-leading OS will finally allow true multitasking, allowing users to have music playing in the background, working on a document in the foreground while applications like email pulls new data regularly and chat clients stay open listening for new info from your contacts. You should also be able to switch between open forms in applications to copy and paste data rather than having to reopen the form on each "switch" as you do now. Palm OS 5 supports a limited amount of multitasking for certain APIs but it doesn't go all of the way. OS 5 was primarily a stepping stone OS to give developers time to move from OS 4 based code to the new 32bit ARM chips that have become the standard in the more powerful Palm OS devices like the Palm Tungsten T and Sony NX70.

It's about time! I can't wait to see if Palm puts a real honest CLOSE button on the UI somewhere. Do you think it will?

[remon]

Sorry, but this is too little, too late. I switched to the Pocket PC nearly two years ago precisely because of the lack of multi-tasking. I couldn't look up a phone number while downloading my mail, I couldn't keep the context of a running program if I switched momentarily to another one, etc. I'm no great fan of Microsoft, but I'm not about to cut off my nose to spite my face. It is simply rediculous that it has taken Palm so long to get to this point. I used to love Palm, but I'm not switching back.

[bdegroodt]

Originally Posted by Ed Hansberry

It's about time! I can't wait to see if Palm puts a real honest CLOSE button on the UI somewhere. Do you think it will?

Personally, I can't wait to see MSFT do this as well. It cost me $14 extra to get what you would think is a standard function (Done very nicely by SPB). Should have shipped with the unit in the first place

[Mexico]

If you say "I could care less," it means you actually care at least a little tiny bit.
If you say "I couldn't care less", then it really means you don't give a crap.
This is one of those things that is not that important, but it's still good to know. :wink:

Anyway, probably you couldn't care less...

[snowlion]

having a design requirement that one cannot have an exit menu option in pocketpc apps just means that someone didn't think it thru.

in the simpler days (read palm os) it was ok...but when an app uses a physical resource (e.g. serial port), then you have to allow the user to exit the program because he might want to use another app that wants to use that resource.

i like the idea of the os managing program termination etc., but i don't see why having a exit menu option needs to be mutually exclusive.

[Cypher]

I'm going to be just a bit amused if, when Palm OS 6 devices come out, users discover that their device doesn't seem to run as fast as the OS 5 ones and that they experience performance and stability issues when several programs run at the same time.

If, on the other hand, OS 6 is rock-solid, speedy, and doesn't put odd constraints on which programs can multi-task, I'll have lost a big reason for why I prefer Pocket PC OS.

I guess we'll find out in about a year.

[alexjlee]

I switched from an e740 to a tungsten T
because it was just so much more reliable while
i was travelling. the e740 was fun, but flaky...
I understand the pocketpc philosophy, but palm
just worked out better for me in the end.

I just wanted to point out that i can already
play music in the background(realplayer) and
poll for mail at intervals (snappermail or versamail)

[Busdriver]

This is all beginning to look like a tortoise and hare race, with MS being the hare. Assuming, of course, that the Palm 6.0 OS does what they claim.

[oturn]

Until I recently saw the screen on the new Zire 71 and Tungsten C, I would have been in the "could care less" camp, but the higher resolution Palm's have left me shell shocked!! I've actually purchased a Tungsten C to evaluate. Quit honestly, I'll probably return it because there are so many Pocket PC applications which I need that just aren't available on the Palm. However! OMG...the screen! It's really amazing how stunning the higher resolution screen looks. Browsing the web at home via 802.11b is actually MUCH MORE enjoyable now with the Tungsten C than with my Dell Axim. Pocket PC's now look downright blurry in comparison.

Another sad/amazing fact about the new Palms....they now have a MUCH better web browser, and much better Office document compatibility out of the box. WOW.

I really hope Microsoft is paying attention, and that they don't wait too long to address these issues...

[tj21]

I'll curious to see if this really turns out to be an upgrade for Palm. Multitasking is nice but honestly there are limited applications where I really use it. My Clie already handles background mp3 play and e-mail still checks regularly. Don't get me wrong I'd like to have multitasking but one of the things I really like about the Clie over my e740 is that it's much faster and stays that fast throughout the day. On the e740 I'm not sure the small gain of multitasking is worth the performance hit it appears to require. If Palm or MS can overcome the slowdowns and instability I'm all for it but otherwise I'd likely prefer a single app runtime. I can't help but think this is being developed largely because it's the most obvious deficit in comparison to Pocket PC's but I wonder if the user base is really demanding this.

Personally I see Palm's need for a real file system and better support of native document types as much bigger weaknesses. Compare that to MS's need for better resolution screens (240x320 is headache inducing after spending any time with the Clie 320X480 screen) and better Office support and it will be interesting to if either company manages to fix their main weaknesses with their upcoming releases. New marketing features are great but it would be nice to see both companies address some real functional needs as well.