Recovery Tool Includes Leak of Palm's WebOS 1.2

El Royo writes "Today, Palm leaked version 1.2 of the webOS operating system that powers the Palm Pre. According to PreCentral, the new version was inadvertently included in a recovery tool Palm makes available. New features include support for the forthcoming App Catalog changes, copy and paste from Web sites, improved e-mail search and faster boot times."

Comments

accidental

[wizardforce]

I am sorry but how do you "accidentally" leak a copy of the new Palm OS? Even the most basic testing of the tool before release should have caught this.

In what, 2 months?

[Rix]

I didn't know Blackberry had a standards compliant web browser. Does it pull contacts from Facebook too?

Simple

[QuoteMstr]

I have a Palm Pre because:

• it's completely open in terms of hardware and software
• it's fast
• the applications are written in easily-modified Javascript
• the operating system is a bog-standard Linux install that works just like I'd expect, including being able to ssh into the thing

.

It's simple.

Re:Simple

[saurik]

I hate to be the one to break this to you, but the Palm Pre is about as open as Apple. They have a website where they claim to distribute the source code to their platform, but it is only what they are legally required to distribute. In fact, even that they fall short on: many of the packages aren't compilable as they are holding back on critical header files.

The libpurple-adapter, in particular, must be licensed under GPL (as libpurple itself is), but Palm has been telling representatives of the open source community that they would have to sign an NDA to get access to the full set of files required to make it work, which only be distributed only under a very restrictive temporary license. As someone who has spent a lot of time fighting similar causes with Apple (I'm the developer behind Cydia) I can say that they would /never/ pull shit like this: when I've sent GPL complaints Apple has always fixed the issue rapidly, and I would even receive e-mails from all related departments apologizing for the mixup.

Seriously: if Palm can't even compete to Apple's standards for openness, then you know something horribly evil is going on over there.

Re:iPhony

[ahoehn]

Was that mac-bating, or a joke? I'm not sure. I've had a Pre since release day, and there are some things I like quite a bit better than the iPhone, and some things I get jealous about.

The iPhone wins at:

• Apps - it's got a gajillion, the Pre has like 40 in the App store, and like 50 homebrew.
• Autofocus & Video (In the 3GS)- The Pre's got a good camera, but no autofocus, and no video. I personally don't care about video too much, but it does seem lame to not include an autofocus camera.
• The Compass - I'm not really sure what I'd do with the compass, but I wants it.
• iTunes Ecosystem Integration - The Pre's pretty flexible about syncing media, but its media player kind of sucks, and it's integration with Amazon's MP3 store isn't perfect.

The Pre Wins at:

• Price - At the moment, both phones are exclusive to one US carrier. If I were to replicate my Sprint plan on an iPhone, I'd be paying an extra $60/mo for my wife and I. $1,440 over the course of a two year contract.
• The Keyboard - I like the slide out physical keyboard better than the onscreen keyboard.
• Linux - The Pre is a little linux box. I can download a terminal app, then type in things like, "sudo apt-get" etc... How awesome is that? It means I come much closer to really owning this device than I would with an iPhone.
• Multitasking - This is the one thing that really bugs me on an iPhone. I've gotten so used to switching back and forth between apps on my Pre, that it feels ridiculous to not be able to do it on an iPhone.

The Conclusion: Different strokes for different folks. They're both great devices - but I think for the Slashdot crowd, there's plenty to love about the Pre.