ALP or GULP? A New Operating System Finally !!!!!

It won't come until next year, but Access annonounced this week that they are releasing SDK's for a new operating system based upon the Linux Operating System.

Only two words to respond to this one: ABOUT TIME !

This should be welcome news for high end Palm users. The idea is that the new system will have a smaller footprint than the current one, but upon reading a few specs this week, I am begining to wonder if this may be the case.

That the PalmOS portion of palm, which does not exist anymore since the purchase by Access, is changing to Linux, seems to bear a very interesting resemblance to Apple and its OS X ventures. Apple was very successful at this and since late last year I have begun to notice that Palm is going in the same direction. Similarities are getting more and more interesting. The Palm stock is going up - probably secondary to the Treo for the most part and the declaration of a stock split - symbolizing a bullish sentiment from the company itselfp; the announcement of new products to come and now the move to a new operating system that could put an end to the speculation of "when will Palm OS 5 come to an end?"

The worry about Palm is legitimate, leading to even one of the biggest shareholders of Palm to state that the company should sell itself (or seek strategic alternatives). My suggestion to him is to sell his Palm stock and join Carl Icahn over at Time Warner and raise a ruckus over there!

Palm is moving in the right direction FINALLY. Linux is the way to go! It is something that should have been done a long time ago instead of attempting to pull a Microsoft job of draining every last cent out of the OS 5 operating system (ie. Windows ME ). The present OS is not capable of dealing with the demands of the new hardware. Almost everyone wants true multitasking ability, something that the present OS does not offer. NVFS (the file system used by the new Palms - Lifedrive, Tungsten X, Treo 650) is a fantastic advancement for Palm. The nonvolatile nature ensures that your data remains intact even if the battery is cleared. However NVFS works with FAT-32, the disk system that runs on our PC's. The problem is that although this is fantastic for people like myself because I do not have to hotsync since I do not load a lot of new files, but spend most of my time backing up data files the ability to do this via my SD card is great. However the 3.6 g Lifedrive is not as nice. After using the filesystem to load files directly to the Lifedrive, it does not run programs directly without crashing routinely and becomes more unstable when it is used for anything other than media file storage.

This is where Linux will be a welcome alternative. Linux was made for multitasking. It is in every flavor - SUSE, REDHAT, etc. Additionally, the Linux filesystem is ENVIABLE. It is one of the most stable and with Open Source software it is constantly kept up to date. It has fantastic fileserving ability and ....did I say STABLE ! I have used it and it is fantastic.

Access plans to use a Browser type system for the GUI, something that may be akin to the Explorer motif used in Windows. However the beauty may be a little dampened by the fact that the current PALM OS programs "appropriately written" will run on an emulator atop the linux backdrop. The current Apple move to Intel is showing a little strain with this strategy, since they are using an emulator to convert their Motorola driven programs to Intel. This is an extra step that slows everything down. In terms of the Lifedrive this could become unbearable with its already slow disc access. With Linux it is my hope that even with the 4g Lifedrive, there will be a way to keep the entire operating system in memory and all vital files in memory without having to access the hard drive, thus ending the delay. Additionally, it is my hope that the Lifedrive will stop crashing with an operating system designed for both multitasking and file access -- which could mean running files from the Lifedrive itself and maintaining stability.

With Linux's incredible Open Source community, I believe that we could see the emergence of some of the GREATEST software products to ever come out of the Palm community. Graphic intensive GUI's and apps never before imagined. The ability to print directly without having to purchase separate printing programs, ie. built into the system; wifi, bluetooth and VOIP. Not to mention Google/Google Maps etc. The world of Java is finally here with this operating system. IBM's JavaMobile is a fantastic piece of software that really takes into account the handheld environment. It is prominently featured in the Access Linux package.

In short, the time has come for Palm to move on to the next level and I believe that Linux is the answer. There will be problems at first, there always is, but Access appears to be moving in the right direction to preserve the Palm OS (Incidental note is made of the fact that there are Windows emulators running on Linux already present on the PC. It would only lead to expectation that this could be done for Windows CE and Windows Mobile. In other words, you could possibly run two operating systems on your Palm in the future - just a thought ) !


http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/02/14/75368_HNaccesspalm_1.html

http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/14/palm-os-5-rip-access-linux-platform-alp-hello-beautiful/

http://www.palmsource.com/press/2006/021406_accesslinuxplatform.html

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/02/14/1374521.htm

http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=8388

http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS4663700447.html



More to come.

LDD.