Palm "mulled Linux" for next-gen OS

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://www.theregus.com/content/54/25518.html">http://www.theregus.com/content/54/25518.html</a><br /><br />Andrew Orlowski has some entertaining writing, and this time he's pointed his guns at Palm - but in a surprisingly gentle manner. I found this article really interesting, especially the comments from ex-Palm staffers. Take everything with a grain of salt (it's The Register after all), but it doesn't surprise me that Palm was floundering around looking for an OS...<br /><br />"Palm Inc was considering Linux as the foundation of the next-generation PalmOS as recently as last spring, sources tell us. Palm eventually acquired Be Inc's development team last August, but internal discussions on the viability of a Linux-based handheld OS were taking place as recently as fifteen months ago. These were squashed by the lawyers, who concluded that Palm couldn't reconcile the GPL with the in house view of intellectual property." Source: angelseye2000

[JonnoB]

This is a realization among those at Palm that the existing OS has very short legs. PalmOS 5 seems more and more to me to be trying to do too much with the legacy kernal. Although no doubt improved over earlier implementations, I can't see a PIM limited OS making the successful transition to portable multi-purpose / multi-media device.

Hey Palm... over here, throw me your towel.

[mookie123]

I seriously think Palm OS 5.0 is a tangled noodle left over from the 90's party. It won't be a clean and nice next generation OS that Palm try to paint it. It's more like a transition beween the first generation to the next one written by the BeOS team.

[Dave Conger]

I find it really funny the reports of Palm working on OS 6 already. 5 isn't even shipping (on devices) and 6 is "suppose" to be out in 2003!

[Ed Hansberry]

I find it really funny the reports of Palm working on OS 6 already. 5 isn't even shipping (on devices) and 6 is "suppose" to be out in 2003!
OS5 was done about a month ago. I am sure there is maint. and service packs being worked on, but they probably started on OS6 (which is simply giving you what OS5 should have - multitasking, fonts, multimedia API's, VFS replacement) within days of OS5 shipping. MS does the same thing. Merlin/Pocket PC 2002 was done in June/July of 2001 and shipped to consumers the first week of Oct. I guarantee you by then they already had a good roadmap to the next Pocket PC update and were working on it.