Palm Teams With Microsoft for Smart Phone

UltimaGuy writes "Yahoo! News is reporting that Palm Inc. is teaming up with Microsoft Corp. to launch a Windows-based version of the Treo smart phone, marking the first time the handheld computer pioneer will sell a device based on its former rival's software. 'In terms of the level of importance, this would be - in this space - the same thing as Apple announcing they were going to be using Intel processors.'"

And Palm OS?

[Simon (S2)]

I hope they don't stop develping their Palm OS and start focusing to much on Win Mobile. Palm OS is a great platform, and its dead would be really bad.

A deathblow for Palm OS

[ciroknight]

As embedded operating systems go, I will really miss PalmOS. It was the OS X of the handheld computer era; slick, easy to use, if you liked it you loved it and if you hated it, you really hated it.

Now that Windows is on the Treo, it won't be long until PalmOS is completely phased out, I feel. I wonder what will happen to PalmSource (weren't they just bought back by Palm?).

not quite

[sdnoob]

the same thing as Apple announcing they were going to be using Intel processors.

no.. more like if apple announced they were releasing a windows-based computer; or a wma-only ipod...

my question... will phone calls to windowsupdate be free? or will package minutes apply. i might need to up my plan.

What a Bunch of Idiots

[segedunum]

Bye, bye Palm then and hello to being a Microsoft OEM on phones where there is absolutely no money and you're over a barrel all the time. A lot of Microsoft's competitors take it like a bitch all the time, that's the problem. No doubt Nokia will do the same and integrate support in for Exchange etc. and once that support is in Microsoft will use it to strong-arm Windows Mobile into the fray. Idiots.

Re:A deathblow for Palm OS

[jessecurry]

I liked the Palm OS because I learned Graffiti when the original Palm came out. It really was a nice, no-nonsense OS, it did everything that I wanted it to do and left out features that I didn't need. I think that sadly many users don't care about the actual functionality, but want to have stupid bells and whistles; just look at the cell phone market today... people own phones that record video, record audio notes, have specialized ringtones, have flashing lights, have changeable faceplates, and can play games, but most of the time they can't get service inside a building... shouldn't that problem be addressed first?

Re:And Palm OS?

[aussie_a]

Is PalmOS really so great?

It's better then Windows. Palm doing away with PalmOS would allow the software giant to gain more of a hold on the PDA market, decreasing the need for Microsoft to compete with it's software features in it's PDA's.

Competition is a good thing, as it fosters development. Another company losing it's OS department and climbing into bed with a competitor doesn't foster development, and the people that lose out are the customers.

Pics of the Treo 700w

[Anonymous Coward]

Engadget has pics of the new Windows Mobile Treo: http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000867059961/ [engadget.com]

Weird reporting, rather than the end of the world!

[D4C5CE]

Recent press reports make this sound as if Microsoft had devoured its one and only contender to the smartphone crown - and we'd all have to start clicking tiny Windows icons (and the reset button) on our cellphones, forever, really soon now. Curiously, almost all of these reports seem to forget how Symbian [symbian.com]/Psion [petitiononline.com] (and Linux itself) make a great platform for a smartphone OS while having many years of extremely loyal following by both countless customers and the mobile industry giants.

Re:Death of PalmSource

[Planesdragon]

Essentially Palm is going down (stock wise and tech wise). With Linux Zaurses becoming popular and new products like the Nokia 770 coming out, there's not much room between Linux and WinCE for Palm to build a niche market.

You speak as if the next Palm OS wasn't already going to be linux.

Rumors about a WinCE Treo have been flying around for months. Rumors about a "windows Palm" have been even longer-lived. And, you know what? It isn't going to do jack against PalmOS. All it does it let a very well-designed device (the Treo) compete in just another area.

In the last few months I did my biannual palm upgrade. In two years, when I expect to do it again, the devices will have a Linux core, and they will have the Palm UI. WindowsCE (or whatever the heck the call it) will likely be an option, just as it would be an option to install Windows Vista or Linux on my 2007 iBook.

Re:*cry*

[Planesdragon]

Either way, though, this marks the end of Palm. I've never seen a company thats managed to 'cooperate' and 'codevelop' with MS without getting really messed

Apple: One of the Mac's biggest and most popular software programs is Microsoft Office. MS even went so far as to bail out Apple in the mid 1990s.

Adobe: Ever notice how Adobe works so well with MS Office? Indesign reads DOCs, Acrobat installs a custom Office PDF writer, etc. All due to cooperation between the two giants.

Good news

[Anonymous Coward]

The typical Microsoft bashers are on this thread. The simple fact of the matter is that Windows Mobile and more so with Windows Mobile 5 is a better operating system than Palm OS 5.x.

Palm OS 5.x though, a fine OS, is OLD. It is woefully out of step with the hardware in modern devices and is crippled with limitations of its OS. For example, it does not have true multi-threading... that is fine (maybe) for a PDA where you mostly only work on one app at at time, but it is causes all sorts of headaches for developers for a smartphone where the phone app needs to be able to take priority at any time. Also, the age of Palm OS 5 means that it does not come with a unified network or bluetooth stack. Many third parties have tacked on their own "enhancements" to Palm OS 5 but these simply means that software developers have to consider all these variations of Palm OS to have their software working. In general, a Pocket PC app will work for all Pocket PCs and a Windows Smartphone app will work for all Smartphones. With WM5, the code base has further been unified which means you only need to create one application which should work for both Pocket PCs and Smartphones.

Cobalt, aka Palm OS 6 is simply dead in the water compared to Windows Mobile 5 and that should be obvious to everyone. Not even Palm is using it and prefers Palm OS 5. As for Linux based Palm OS, there will not be a functional product for 1-2 years. Do we really expect Palm (as per the hardware company) to sit around twiddling their thumbs until then?

Frankly, a WM5 powered Treo is very exciting. Palm mades some great PDA designs and the Treo is one of the best Smartphones around. WM5 is best featured mobile OS. We should be getting the best of both worlds.

Re:Palm OS killed Palm OS

[TrekCycling]

I've used Linux as my sole OS for almost 5 years now. I recently switched from an old dying Palm to Pocket PC because, frankly, the Palm hardware sucked. Minus the Treo (I already had a cell phone) the new hardware sucks. The screens are either painful to look at or they produce this high pitched whine after a couple months. They're really not made as well anymore. Which is indeed sad, but I think all technologists should be pragmatic. And I made the pragmatic choice to give up on Palm, because they've ceased making good products. And somewhere along the line they did something that made Sony, Handera and other good hardware makers abandon ship. So Palm OS died because of Palm and PalmSource. They have only themselves to blame. They sat around and rested while Windows-based hardware got better and the OS got liveable (I still like Palm OS better, but if the hardware is garbage it doesn't matter).

Re:And Palm OS?

[TrekCycling]

Competition is indeed a good thing, but Palm OS has festered and been neglected for years. I know it's elegant. But that doesn't matter. Microsoft caught up to them in terms of reliability and features and then lapped them. I use Linux as my desktop. Have done so for 5 years. But recently when faced with a dying Palm M130 I chose a Pocket PC instead. The OS hasn't gotten any better and the hardware has gotten much worse.

Re:Visual Studio.NET

[Anonymous Coward]

In a lot of ways, MS got very very lucky: if Borland, Novell, Lotus and WordPerfect/Corel hadn't spent an entire decade shooting themselves in the foot over and over again, the competitive landscape in 2005 would be a very different place.

WTF?! Thats like saying it's the rape victims fault because they should have put up more of a fight! Can you please explain how any of the companys you mention "shot themselves in the foot" when to me their only crime seems to be to dare to have a surprior product which is killed off by either bundling (WordPerfect and Lotus with Office), The network effect (Novell) and some good old fashioned FUD (Borland). Admittedly this is an oversimplyflication but the failure of all the examples you give can be attributed directly to Microsoft and their abuse of their monopoly either by the control of the OS or the usage of market pressure much, much more then the quality of their product. IMHO.

Somehow I think its safer to say that; the competive landscape of 2005 would have been a very different place if - some thoughtless bastard hadn't erected a 50 foot skyscraper, concreted over everything and shot anyone who even dares to wonder in.