Palm to preview more advanced, secure OS
Published: 05 Feb 2002 09:55 GMT
Palm on Tuesday plans to show developers a test version of a new Palm operating system designed to make handhelds more powerful and secure, as well as better able to connect to wireless and corporate networks.
Although the final version won't be ready to ship to developers until the summer, Palm wants developers to start making sure their programs will work on version 5 of the Palm OS.
With the new OS, Palm is moving to a new class of processors. Although emulation software is designed to allow older programs to work in the new OS, Palm estimates only about 80 percent of programs will be compatible because of nonstandard programming techniques used by developers to make their programs run better on Palm's current chip, the relatively slow Dragonball processor from Motorola. Upcoming processors are expected to have clock speeds anywhere from two to more than 10 times faster than the current top-of-the-line Dragonball, which runs at 33MHz.
The move to a new OS and new class of chips is just one of many changes going on at Palm, which is looking to split itself into two units: one that makes handhelds, and one that develops and licenses the Palm operating system.
As previously reported, Palm has renamed the OS unit PalmSource. Palm plans to formally announce the change at its developer conference of the same name, which kicks off Tuesday in San Jose, California.
Although Palm has been the market position leader, analysts have been eagerly awaiting the move to a more modern chip architecture, as well as other features that Palm has promised for OS 5, including improved security, virtual private networking software and support for 802.11b wireless networks.
Microsoft touted similar features last year when it released Pocket PC 2002, the latest version of its handheld operating system.
Although Palm is adding these features into the operating system, along with support for better screen resolution and audio playback and recording, it will be up to licensees to decide which features they want to include in their products.
Meanwhile, Nokia will be recruiting Palm developers for its Communicator combination device that is both a cell phone and an organiser, which uses an OS from Symbian. Nokia plans to announce a deal Tuesday with AppForge that will allow developers to write programs in Visual Basic that can then run on both Palm OS handhelds and Nokia's Communicator. AppForge already has tools that allow programs to be written in Visual Basic and then translated for both Palm OS and Pocket PC handhelds.
In addition, Palm is taking a cue from Microsoft by adding support for themes -- essentially a customised background, similar to the wallpaper feature on a PC. Microsoft supported themes in Pocket PC 2002.
The new OS will feature only a modest influence from Palm's acquisition of the assets of Be. Palm executives said future versions of the OS will use more Be technology, although Palm is not continuing development of the Be operating system.
Despite the changes, Palm executives say the goal is to keep the hallmarks of the Palm operating system, including its small size, ease of use and long battery life.
"Our philosophy is to keep the OS tight and reliable," said Steve Sakoman, PalmSource chief product officer.
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