Palm Working On Linux OS To Replace PalmOS
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Richard Baguley Published on April 10, 2007 Comment on this |
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10th April 2006 - In a move reminiscent of Apple’s switch to Intel processors, Palm are working on their own operating system based on the Linux open-source OS. The new OS, which will be available later this year, was announced at the Palm Investor conference today, and will replace the current version of the Palm OS (called Garnet) on the companies PDAs and Treo smartphones. Users will be able to run existing Palm applications on the new OS, but Palm will be working to move developers onto using the new OS as soon as possible, which Palm CEO Ed Colligan described as a “new foundation for Palm”. The claimed highlights of the new OS include instant-on (where the user doesn’t have to wait for it to boot up), longer battery life, and the ability to handle data and voice connections at the same time; something that has been lacking on current versions of the Palm OS. Palm has also been working on a new implementation of WiFi which, they claim, will greatly extend the battery life of devices connected to WiFi networks.
Somewhat confusingly, Palm sold the PalmOS to another company (called Access) last year, and that company is also working on a new Linux based OS. However, the two projects are not related, and will be developed independently.
This new OS won’t replace Windows Mobile on many of their devices, though; the plan is that they will continue to produce Windows Mobile devices such as the Treo 750 for business users, while the new OS will be on devices for others. No details on upgrades for existing products have been announced, but Colligan was quoted by PalmInfoCenter as saying that we will see the new products “very soon” running both the existing and new OS. PalmAddict has the slides from Colligan’s presentation, and more details on the new OS.
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