News
Issue #2002 - 42 (November 2002)
(Updated Nov. 5, 2002)

APPLICATION SOLUTIONS & APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

PalmSource Gives Sneak Preview of Palm OS 6 Specifications

31 October 2002 -- The Register -- PalmSource has offered us a glimpse of the next milestone for Palm OS, version 6.0 due for release next year. Version 6.0 will be as dramatic a change for the platform as OS X was for Apple, or NT was for Microsoft, and represents the culmination of work from the former Be team Palm acquired last year. 

The new OS will feature multimedia and graphics frameworks drawn from BeOS, PalmSource's Michael Mace told us. Mace says this is real BeOS code, but Steve Sakoman, the team's former leader at Be Inc, and now PalmSource's chief products officer has denied that Be code would be incorporated into the new OS. More likely, we suspect, the new OS will inherit some algorithms and architecture from BeOS. 

Version 6.0 will feature granular, application-level security and pluggable I/O interfaces. This means that licensees can swap out the Graffiti input mechanism for an alternative, such as biometrics. Application developers need not concern themselves with the specifics: apps will simply receive an event. 

Mace also said PalmSource intended the make the new OS Microsoft .NET compatible, and will likely partner with others to provide a run time for the platform. Version 6.0 will also feature an extensible PIM architecture, which should breathe some life into the now dating applications suite used every day by Palm owners. 

PalmSource also intends to build in APIs for easier roaming. Ideally, it would provide the functionality offered by Intel's Skamania - which maintains several virtual network interfaces and switches between say a tethered Ethernet, wireless Ethernet, cellular packet data and cellular circuit switched calls, depending on where you are - and simply hops onto the nearest, best connection. 

Mace stressed the diversity of the potential market for Palm OS, so the developers are covering as many bases as possible. Meanwhile older applications will run alongside the new applications written to the new APIs: "The emulation layer will be around for a long time," Mace told us. "OS 4.0 and 5.0 will co-exist."

For more information: http://www.theregister.co.uk

MobileInfo Comments and Advisory: It is good to see Palm continue its onward march towards more function Palm OS. While this is still a blue print (sort of vapor ware, some will say), you need to put a stake in ground. Microsoft will surely keep PalmSource organization on its toes. We like version 6's capability to choose the best network connection dynamically. Also, Palm's intent to make it Microsoft .NET compatible.

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