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The Palm OS Ends With a Whimper

Posted by kdawson on from the hands-down dept.

PetManimal writes "Computerworld reviews the Palm Treo 755p, the last Palm device with the Palm OS, and concludes that the OS is going out not with a bang but with a whimper. The article says there are some useful improvements (better integration with Exchange and IM, limited speech recognition, etc.) but 'nothing that will make you sit back and say "wow."' Palm already has at least one device with Windows Mobile (the 700w) and soon will make a big push to Linux devices, maybe by the end of the year. But the Palm OS, which was top dog for a while back in the 1990s, and is still used by many people who own Palm Pilots or Treos, is going to quickly fade, it seems."

4 of 245 comments (clear)

  1. Why Does It Have to Go Out With A Bang? by okmijnuhb · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The whole point of palm OS was that it delivered what was needed with simplicity, and no bloat, like it's rival at the time Windows CE.
    A simple to do list, contacts, calendar, a memo pad was the core of the experience, and allthat you needed a PDA to do.

  2. The OS doesn't matter... by rdean400 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Honestly, should anyone really care? If the next-generation Palm operating system is based on a Linux kernel but has the capability of running Palm OS apps in an emulation mode, should we care about what code base it runs on?

    OS's aren't like people or pets. They're tools. When you've outgrown them, you can either upgrade them or find a new one. Obviously Access has no interest in updating the PalmOS, so Palm has to go its own way. I personally hope that they deliver new capabilities on Linux while retaining the simplicity of the Palm interface.

  3. Dear Palm: Want to go out with a bang? by merc · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Open source PalmOS.

    Seriously.

    --
    It's true no man is an island, but if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie 'em together, they make a good raft.
  4. Windows Mobile would also have died... by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 5, Insightful
    if it had to make a profit to stay alive like Palm did.

    Windows CE/Windows Mobile was running at a huge loss, but has now broken even. Tactics like that do tend to allow you to destroy traditional competition in the long run. Linux-kerneled devices are growing faster than ever and MS does not have a recipe to destroy them.

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.