Tuesday, February 14, 2006
ACCESS and PalmSource Announce the ACCESS Linux Platform
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "THE COMPETITION" @ 01:00 PM
http://www.palmsource.com/press/2006/021406_accesslinuxplatform.html
"ACCESS Co., Ltd., and its wholly owned subsidiary, PalmSource, Inc., today announced the ACCESS Linux Platform (ALP), the latest evolution of Palm OS® for Linux. The ACCESS Linux Platform is designed to be an integrated, open and flexible Linux-based platform tailored for smartphones and mobile devices."
Last summer, ACCESS acquired PalmSource, the maker of PalmOS, which was spun off from Palm, Inc. several years earlier. In late 2004, PalmSource itself purchased China MobileSoft. The replacement to the current PalmOS 5 version, PalmOS 6, or Cobalt, was faltering even then having no device makers interested in bringing a device to market. With the acquisition of China MobileSoft, it was assumed a Linux version of the PalmOS would follow. Sure enough, a few months later, PalmSource halted all non-Linux development, essentially declaring PalmOS, as we know it, was dead. In September, ACCESS announced it was buying PalmSource and in October, said that PalmOS was nearing the end of its life - which is what I said back in June. ;) ACCESS had no interest in PalmOS itself, just the look and feel, their customer base and the tools necessary to make today's PalmOS apps work on a full blown Linux version at some point in the future.
The announcement today confirms all of this and gives us a peek at what is next. App compatibility will probably mean all "properly written" 68K apps can run unchanged. That means emulator. No one cares about Protein (Cobalt APIs) anymore so there isn't anything to support. As for the apps that take Garnet (PalmOS5) to the limit, it is unknown. The press release doesn't speak to that directly. Most OS5 apps are really 68K apps anyway that occasionally make calls to the APIs outside of the current Palm Application Compatibility Environment, or PACE.
The SDK is supposed to be available by the end of this year. This is probably a beta SDK. For comparison, Microsoft typically releases a beta SDK 3-9 months before a Windows Mobile OS ships to device manufacturers, and then there is another 3-6 months before devices start flowing freely. Given this is a totally new OS, ACCESS may be trying to get the SDK out even earlier to get developers involved in some degree of testing as well as having ample time to get their apps ready for a launch. It is definitely safe to say it will be the end of 2007 before devices come out and more likely, mid-2008.
"ACCESS Co., Ltd., and its wholly owned subsidiary, PalmSource, Inc., today announced the ACCESS Linux Platform (ALP), the latest evolution of Palm OS® for Linux. The ACCESS Linux Platform is designed to be an integrated, open and flexible Linux-based platform tailored for smartphones and mobile devices."
Last summer, ACCESS acquired PalmSource, the maker of PalmOS, which was spun off from Palm, Inc. several years earlier. In late 2004, PalmSource itself purchased China MobileSoft. The replacement to the current PalmOS 5 version, PalmOS 6, or Cobalt, was faltering even then having no device makers interested in bringing a device to market. With the acquisition of China MobileSoft, it was assumed a Linux version of the PalmOS would follow. Sure enough, a few months later, PalmSource halted all non-Linux development, essentially declaring PalmOS, as we know it, was dead. In September, ACCESS announced it was buying PalmSource and in October, said that PalmOS was nearing the end of its life - which is what I said back in June. ;) ACCESS had no interest in PalmOS itself, just the look and feel, their customer base and the tools necessary to make today's PalmOS apps work on a full blown Linux version at some point in the future.
The announcement today confirms all of this and gives us a peek at what is next. App compatibility will probably mean all "properly written" 68K apps can run unchanged. That means emulator. No one cares about Protein (Cobalt APIs) anymore so there isn't anything to support. As for the apps that take Garnet (PalmOS5) to the limit, it is unknown. The press release doesn't speak to that directly. Most OS5 apps are really 68K apps anyway that occasionally make calls to the APIs outside of the current Palm Application Compatibility Environment, or PACE.
The SDK is supposed to be available by the end of this year. This is probably a beta SDK. For comparison, Microsoft typically releases a beta SDK 3-9 months before a Windows Mobile OS ships to device manufacturers, and then there is another 3-6 months before devices start flowing freely. Given this is a totally new OS, ACCESS may be trying to get the SDK out even earlier to get developers involved in some degree of testing as well as having ample time to get their apps ready for a launch. It is definitely safe to say it will be the end of 2007 before devices come out and more likely, mid-2008.
