Palm OS oh my!
So it appears at least someone has got Palm fever… Over at treocentral they ran this story:
http://www.treocentral.com/content/Stories/965-1.htm which appears to promote the notion that palm wants control over palm os again. That has got to be one of the most far fetched ideas I have ever heard. Lets look at the facts. Palm split into palm source and palm one, palm source sold to access, and palm one became palm… So, along the journey, palm os was offered from palm source to palm (one) and they REJECTED it, which is why access had the CHANCE to buy it. Palm didn’t want to pay what it was worth as to them is wasn’t worth enough.
 To me this is plenty of proof, palm should not be in control of the software any longer. We have yet to see what access will do with it, but I believe it will have a far better life in any company other than palm’s control. We’ve been there and done that already (cobalt anyone?).
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“So, along the journey, palm os was offered from palm source to palm (one) and they REJECTED it, which is why access had the CHANCE to buy it. Palm didn’t want to pay what it was worth as to them is wasn’t worth enough.”
Shadow, this is factually incorrect and you should do better research.
Palm DID make a bid for PalmSource but was quicly out-paced by other companies including ACCESS who eventually won. It is not that they didn’t want PalmSource back, they could not raise enough money to do so (they are a very small company).
(source: Business Week)
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2005/tc20050920_6583_tc081.htm
Palm CEO Ed Colligan also regrets that the company spun off PalmSource in the first place:
http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/8183/ed-colligan-would-not-have-spun-off-palmsource/
These facts lead to a very different interpreation of your reporting.
Granted, I think the chances of this happening are slim but you should at least get the facts straight on the story.
Despite the particulars, I think we can all agree that it was foolish for Palm inc to lose control of PalmOS. I think we can also all agree that Access has done very little with the OS so far, or at least hasnt publicly released any new developments. It is my opinion that currently PalmOS’s current value is limited to residual licenceing income… as no new developments have been made. Who’s to say that it would be profitable for Access to pursue development of PalmOS?
spymongoose,
I agree 100% and seeing as Access basically gave up the PalmOS name and Palm itself not committed to ALP, I’m not very confident that we’ll see a PalmOS in the near future (linux or not).
Yes, it’s true I left out the bit about palm having made a bid; I remembered that as I was posting, but figured it was nearing the same point. Palm was not willing to pay what it’s own software was worth to a third party… Access has other plans for it’s products than palm. Palm only saw it as a operating system from the past which they could constantly patch into newer hardware. I believe we will see good things out of Access, but I don’t believe it will be what you are all used to.
“but I believe it will have a far better life in any company other than palm’s control.”
I’ve owned Palms since the VX currently using a treo 650 (Thanks for the short antenna link just puchased one) and one WM5 Device (Lasted a week).
Palm OS is in my opinion the greatest OS on earth. No frills does exactly what I want it to do and has done since the Vx.
Palm have nearly always given us what we wanted. Access could make drastic changes to Palm OS or worse still could discontinue it. I’d have to stock pile enough treos to last the next 40 years (and I cant afford 40 treos)
Just my opinion hope it doesnt seem like a rant.
Cheers,
James