Next Palm OS Codenamed Nova

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/9596/palms-next-generation-os-is-codenamed-nova/">http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/9596/palms-next-generation-os-is-codenamed-nova/</a><br /><br /><i>"Recently the question of what to call Palm's next generation OS has been a source of confusion and commotion around the boards here at PIC. Members have so far been referring to it by a multitude of names and acronyms such as: Palm OS 2, POS II, POX, Palm's Palm OS, ALPOS, Palm's next-generation Linux based operating system and even Palm OS Mobile Professional Ultimate Treo edition. So the need to have a single, proper way to refer to the new OS is crucial. Fortunately, PalmInfocenter has recently learned of the code-name being used around Palm Inc. from a reliable source."</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp">Urban legends about the marketing issues with the name nova aside</a>, I wonder what the point of a new OS is at this stage of the game anyway. The current version Palm uses, PalmOS 5, was released <a href="http://www.access-company.com/news/press/PalmSource/2002/061002_1.html">in 2002</a>, nearly 6 years ago. 8O Since then, they tried to release PalmOS 6, but it was dead on arrival. The sales of PalmOS powered devices to consumers has fallen to such a ridiculous level compared to its competition, which includes Windows Mobile, we don't bother to report the results of market share anymore. Palm's previously impressive portfolio of OEMs, which included Sony, Garmin Handera, Fossil and many others has dwindled to a portfolio of one - Palm. Sure, when a new <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treo">Treo</a> is released, the Palm faithful snap them up like they are going out of style. Oh, wait, they are. :wink: <br /><br />I suspect developers will be a bit leery of dipping their toes back into the PalmOS environment. Some have ceased development and many others have added Windows Mobile and other mobile platforms to their offerings. Some were burned by OS6 when they started modifying their apps to take advantage of the platform that never saw the light of day on a consumer device.<br /><br />Can Palm bring out a new OS that will run the existing OS5 apps while adding new features (for PalmOS) like multitasking and better support for video, 3G networks, etc., or will this be yet another platform that will surely have a fanatical following by faithful users, but make few waves in the market place, like the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yopy">Yopy</a>? Even if they pulled off a fantastic platform, the real driver in this market is the enterprise. With the RIM Blackberry and Windows Mobile devices garnering the lions share of the IT support, would they consider supporting a third platform?

[Yata]

Market cap in US dollars:

Microsoft 317.24B
Google 199.67B
Apple 151.20B
Nokia 129.65B
Palm 0.58B

Palm doesn't have a chance.

[alese]

Engadget had an excelent idea for palm when Android was announced. They should have joined the Alliance...

A small company like Palm can't really develop and maintain the OS like this for long, so in my opinion it's a waste of resources for Palm to do their own OS, they gambled away their chance in 2002.

[caywen]

What happened to Palm OS 6? Last I heard, it was 5 years late and bought by Access.

I think Palm ought to give it up and just support WinMo, Symbian, or even Android.

[Russ Smith]

When Palm was on top, their design philosophy worked well with the existing hardware. Where Microsoft was bent on a multi-tasking OS and a complete file system, Palm built small, quick, and functional. However, as mobile processors got better and added media co-processors, Microsoft's design strategy proved more able to grow with the technology. Palm got around a number of issues that plagued Microsoft by not really multi-tasking. Those issues re-appeared for Palm in their first attempt at a true multi-tasking OS (OS6) after Microsoft had solved them in Windows Mobile.

Palms OS6 was also an attempt to do what Apple also did by taking an existing multi-tasking OS (Linux for Palm, Unix for Apple) and dropping their user interface on top in order to take advantage of the core OS' stability and established code base. Apple's success at doing so had as much to do with marketing as it did with the relative merits of the OS. Palm wasn't able to make the sell.

From the user standpoint, Palm has got a lot of work cut out for it. My wife recently tried a Palm and returned to Windows Mobile in frustration. As an example of why, the simple "cut and paste" operations that we take for granted in Windows Mobile are sometimes completely lacking in Palm applications. Also, Hotsync actually required that Outlook be closed in order to sync. Not impossible, just annoying. True, Windows Mobile and ActiveSync have their own annoyances, but the scales tilted in WM favor.

[twpd]

I know this is a site to report on and promote WIM devices, but this constant editorial bashing of Palm is childish and does no credit to the site at all. Try to be more objective and less partisan, eh?

[Ed Hansberry]

When Palm was on top, their design philosophy worked well with the existing hardware. Where Microsoft was bent on a multi-tasking OS and a complete file system, Palm built small, quick, and functional.

Just remember that by "built" you mean that Palm licensed a kernel from Kadak then put their own APIs on top of it. Now they are building on top of Linux. To this day, Palm/PalmSource have never built an OS from the ground up.

[Russ Smith]

When Palm was on top, their design philosophy worked well with the existing hardware. Where Microsoft was bent on a multi-tasking OS and a complete file system, Palm built small, quick, and functional.

Just remember that by "built" you mean that Palm licensed a kernel from Kadak then put their own APIs on top of it. Now they are building on top of Linux. To this day, Palm/PalmSource have never built an OS from the ground up.

Good point. I'd forgotten that Palm licensed the orginal kernel too. That makes even more sense out of their decision to build on top of Linux.

twpd: I don't see this as "Palm-bashing." Ed's original comments are no different from what I've seen written by very pro-Palm bloggers. (Even my comments aren't much different.) The questions are pretty valid.

[SteveHoward999]

Bit late to this, I know. Been busy. Catching up ...

In the US, most people associate Palm Pilot with anything that is mobile, but not a phone. If they bring out any new devices, new OS, new shoe polis millions of people will dive right in there and buy them ....

The rest of the world couldn't give aflying fig about Palm ... they know better ;-)

[sto-helit.de]

I think Palm's only chance would have been to join Android and use it's well known name to enable a common extension that allows more for developers.
Android's goal is to make it compatible with about everything, so applications are in Java (or, iirc, another, propietary, bytecode) and thus limited to their sandbox. System extensions we love on our WM devices, like today plugins, launchers, WBA &amp; Co., and the like are probably impossible (unless they've got really a huge API and are going to force manufacturers to use 2GB RAM and 600MHz for their devices... ;)) or limited to a very small number of devices.
So if Palm could establish an unified extension, like e.g. Nokia did with Series60 (and follow-ups) as extension of Symbian, it might get some success... (Given the Android license would allow that...)

[alanjrobertson]

Also, Hotsync actually required that Outlook be closed in order to sync. Not impossible, just annoying. True, Windows Mobile and ActiveSync have their own annoyances, but the scales tilted in WM favor. I've sync'd for years with Outlook open without a problem. I've also hardly ever had a problem with HotSync - reading about all the difficulties with ActiveSync and Vista Mobile Device Centre really put me off switching to Windows Mobile (that and missing my current Palm apps). I thought Docs2Go for Palm was also meant to provide a more accurate portable version than Office for WM?

Cheers

Alan

[Russ Smith]

You might have been able to do it. We weren't. Outlook kept complaining about the file being open by another application. Closing Outlook was the only thing that worked.

Documents to Go does exist for WM too. Word Mobile and Excel Mobile work with the native desktop formats, but, when you edit and save, they save in Mobile formats that removes some formatting. Docs2Go doesn't do that (which I assume is what you meant by "more accurate").

The Docs2Go apps use almost exactly the same user interface as the Palm app does and that's a problem for me. It doesn't work like any other Windows Mobile app. Editing is an odd process when you're used to pointing, dragging, and click-and-holding. In short, the UI was frustrating and difficult for someone used to WM and Windows apps. If you're used to the Palm, it's probably quite acceptable.

For Windows Mobile, I really prefer TextMaker and PlanMaker. Together they're $69 (not for the cheap of heart :)), but they not only work with Word and Excel in their native formats, they also work (and have the key shortcuts) just like a standard WM app. There are other options for PowerPoint too, but PowerPoint Mobile is actually pretty good for portable use.

Also, Hotsync actually required that Outlook be closed in order to sync. Not impossible, just annoying. True, Windows Mobile and ActiveSync have their own annoyances, but the scales tilted in WM favor. I've sync'd for years with Outlook open without a problem. I've also hardly ever had a problem with HotSync - reading about all the difficulties with ActiveSync and Vista Mobile Device Centre really put me off switching to Windows Mobile (that and missing my current Palm apps). I thought Docs2Go for Palm was also meant to provide a more accurate portable version than Office for WM?

[alanjrobertson]

Hi Russ

Good to hear Docs2Go is on WM too - it's a good suite of apps.

Can't work out why Outlook is causing you those problems, it's worked on both XP and Vista for me.

Alan

[Russ Smith]

I'd been on DataViz for years to bring out Docs2Go for WM. Then, when it actually comes out, I'm dissapointed. As I said, they copied their Palm user interface into WM so it doesn't act like a WM app at all. Editing the documents is a pain because it's designed around viewing, not editing.

The Outlook/Hotsync issue is a moot point now. My wife, who was the Palm user, is back in the PPC camp again (too much to relearn after using PPCs for years). She's using a HP hx2795 updated to WM6. It's a bit slow though. We may be updating her to a 100 series before long.

[James23]

A small company like Palm can't really develop and maintain the OS like this for long, so in my opinion it's a waste of resources for Palm to do their own OS, they gambled away their chance in 2002.