---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu,  7 Feb 2002 15:08:01 -0500 (EST)
From: eWEEK Product Update <eWEEK_Product_Update@eletters1.ziffdavis.com>
Subject: Palm Can't Afford to Live in the Past


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eWEEK Labs Exclusive
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PALM CAN'T AFFORD TO LIVE IN THE PAST

-- By Jason Brooks --

I finally got around last week to installing NetBSD on my
IBM z50 Workpad--a subnotebook-sized unit that teamed
excellent design and capable hardware with the extremely
poor-performing Windows CE 2.11 operating system. I'd picked
up the z50 a year or so back when IBM pulled the plug on it
and the devices could be had for under $300 over the Web.

As much as I'd always loved the slim, functional design and
excellent battery life of the z50, I didn't used mine much.
The z50 had no upgrade path to Windows CE 3.0, so I was
closed off from a tempting array of new hardware and
software add-ons.

With NetBSD, the z50 is a respectable laptop replacement
with a stable pipeline to future software and device driver
upgrades, courtesy of the kudzulike BSD/Linux developer
community.

Much more than my newly useful z50, however, this year's
PalmSource Developer's Conference has me dwelling on upgrade
paths and developer communities. Palm's freshly spun-off
mobile operating system branch, also named PalmSource,
launched Palm OS 5.0 in a developer's beta version this week
at the show.

(To read yesterday's news story by eWEEK Senior Editor
Carmen Nobel entitled "Can New Palm OS Take on the
Enterprise?" click here:)
http://eletters1.ziffdavis.com/cgi-bin10/flo?y=eOOC0CxZYQ0DSm0em80AP

Palm faces the substantial task of bridging the wide feature
gap between the Palm OS and those of Windows CE, Symbian and
open-source-based competitors without leaving its large
developer base behind.

Based on what been coming out of the conference, it looks as
though Palm's short-term game plan will go as follows:
Launch a series of faster, ARM-based (and almost certainly
more expensive) devices, the central feature of which will
be compatibility with old Palm OS applications--which, by
their nature, won't take advantage of the newer, faster,
more expensive ARM hardware.

As I learned from my experiences with the z50, it's no fun
being left behind by your mobile OS maker. Technology will,
however, move on: I wonder how many of today's Palm OS
applications will have retained anything approaching
must-have status a year and a half from now. Not many, I'd
wager.

The best thing Palm can do for its developer community is
kick the Dragonball-weaning process into high gear, before
Windows CE.net and mature Linux-based handheld devices start
showing up.

Scratch that. The best thing Palm could do is to tie itself
to a much larger and more Microsoft-proof developer
community by shifting its OS internals to BSD or Linux, a la
Apple, and focusing its efforts on applying their Zen to the
interface.

To e-mail eWEEK Labs Technical Analyst Jason Brooks, click
here:
mailto:jason_brooks@ziffdavis.com