Friday, July 1, 2005
PalmSource Halts Development On Cobalt, Puts Linux On Front Burner
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "THE COMPETITION" @ 03:00 PM
http://palmaddict.typepad.com/palmaddicts/2005/06/palmsource_linu.html
"PalmSource has shifted its engineering efforts to focus on development of Linux-based versions of its Palm OS software for mobile phones. "We are delaying all development of products not directly related to this," said Patrick McVeigh, interim chief executive at PalmSource, during a teleconference to review the past quarter's financial results."
You may recall that PalmOS 6, or Cobalt, was released December 29, 2003 to its licensees to much fanfare and shouts of praise from the user community. Eighteen months later, all we have seen is pa1mOne release the eleventy-third custom iteration of PalmOS 5. During that same time, Microsoft has released and shipped two operating systems, Windows Mobile 2003SE and Windows Mobile 5, with devices running the later expected in the next 60-90 days.
During that time, PalmSource acquired China MobileSoft, a producer of phones with an expertise in Linux. They will focus now exclusively on getting a PalmOS out the door based on Linux. I would like to see how much money PalmSource wasted from 2002 or perhaps as early as 2001 as they started development on Cobalt, including the acquisition of the BeOS engineering team. With devices not expected until sometime in 2006, PalmOS 5 will turn four years old, several lifetimes in the world of mobile computing.
"PalmSource has shifted its engineering efforts to focus on development of Linux-based versions of its Palm OS software for mobile phones. "We are delaying all development of products not directly related to this," said Patrick McVeigh, interim chief executive at PalmSource, during a teleconference to review the past quarter's financial results."
You may recall that PalmOS 6, or Cobalt, was released December 29, 2003 to its licensees to much fanfare and shouts of praise from the user community. Eighteen months later, all we have seen is pa1mOne release the eleventy-third custom iteration of PalmOS 5. During that same time, Microsoft has released and shipped two operating systems, Windows Mobile 2003SE and Windows Mobile 5, with devices running the later expected in the next 60-90 days.
During that time, PalmSource acquired China MobileSoft, a producer of phones with an expertise in Linux. They will focus now exclusively on getting a PalmOS out the door based on Linux. I would like to see how much money PalmSource wasted from 2002 or perhaps as early as 2001 as they started development on Cobalt, including the acquisition of the BeOS engineering team. With devices not expected until sometime in 2006, PalmOS 5 will turn four years old, several lifetimes in the world of mobile computing.
