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Palm to go Linux

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the will-change-precisely-nothing dept.

jetkins writes "The Melbourne Age reports that company officials announced Tuesday that Palm will move to a new Linux-based platform 'to help the company compete better.' The move was announced 'during a meeting with analysts in New York, where they also discussed the company's business strategy and refused to talk about recent rumors of a possible buyout.'"

4 of 253 comments (clear)

  1. Old News??? by arthurpaliden · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Were they not going to do this a few years ago as well and then shelved the whole thing.

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    Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
    1. Re:Old News??? by AKAImBatman · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Were they not going to do this a few years ago as well and then shelved the whole thing.

      They've been on and off talking about it. What I don't get is why Palm Hardware never used the BeOS-based Palm Software OS. It was an ultra-modern OS, with features that WinCE could only dream of having, was better suited to handheld profiles, and yet Palm Hardware started making WinCE devices.

      Ever since then, they keep pulling out this idea of a Linux handheld, then sticking it back in the box. Pull it out, put it back in. Pull it out, put it back in. Why don't they just go get their rights back from ACCESS so they use the bloody PALM OS?!?

      Ok, rant over.
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  2. interesting++ by rucs_hack · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Given that PDAs are falling behind in the face of smart phones, going to Linux might just entice the linux haXX0r community to produce some fun applications that help Palm in the marketplace.

    I don't know if there is already an unofficial palm Linux, but having it officially sanctioned would be a good thing.

    Hell, I'm tempted to get one now just to have some coding fun, seriously.

  3. For me, Palm died when PalmOS went away by GMFTatsujin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I loved the classic Palm applications. No boot-up time, no waiting, no graphics-heavy Windows-like desktop compressed to the size of an index card ...

    There seemed to be a lot of hobbyist development, too. People found ways to make the Palm keep track of what they wanted. As I recall, the Palm database format encouraged a lot of interchangeability and standardization. Mind-mapping and outlines were easy as pie and quick to bring up, so I rarely lost any ideas.

    When they moved with Windows CE (or whatever they called the mobile variant that week), I threw up my hands. The hardware wasn't suited to it, and there were few -- if any -- replacements for the apps I cared to use. As far as I know, all the good stuff went the way of the dodo.

    So I guess my question is: how does the move to Linux bode for developers? Will there be compatibility with any of the classic Palm OS or Windows CE apps, or will we once again have to build from scratch?