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Access Linux Platform delayed until "first half of 2007"
Earlier this year (wow, February seems like an eternity ago), we told you how Access was going to relaunch and rebrand the next version of Palm OS, called Access Linux Platform, which was supposed to be in the hands of licensees by the end of the year. Well, the end of 2006 is almost upon us, and now Access has announced that the version won't get to developers until sometime "in the first half of 2007." We're guessing that translates to "we've got no product" for now, and guys, we're bummed. Still, this has no apparent effect on Palm, given that it has no immediate plans to use ALP -- it's sticking to licensing Palm OS Garnet from Access. And yes, that's the same ol' version Palm's been using since the beginning of recorded time. No bitterness here.[Via Phone Scoop]
Palm licenses Palm OS Garnet source code from ACCESS
For better or for worse, we're about full-circle with Garnet now: Palm just forked over $44 million to ACCESS for a perpetual, non-exclusive license to the Garnet source code, granting Palm "the right to use Palm OS Garnet in whole or in part in any product from Palm and together with any other system technologies," along with the welcome ability to modify underlying Garnet source code. The good news is that in the short term we should be seeing some stability and feature enhancements on the Treo and other Palm handhelds, the bad news is that this appears to be a further procrastination for the introduction of ALP to Palm devices, possibly even spelling a cancellation of that roadmap altogether. What we do know is that ACCESS and Palm have set up a "test/compatibility harness" to ensure "forward-compatibility" of Garnet apps on ALP's Garnet Host layer. For the time being we'll just be glad to see Palm shore up its ever-buggier OS, but one of these days we're going to want a modern OS from these guys to fiddle around with.[Via Palm Info Center]
PalmSource, RIP: 2003 - 2006
Yes, the name "PalmSource" is going away; of course, we all knew that PalmSource's days as a corporate identity were numbered when Japan's ACCESS scooped up the former Palm subsidiary last year, so let us concentrate not on the death of one logo, but on the birth of another. Simultaneous with the rebranding, ACCESS has retooled its corporate logo (pictured bottom), apparently "signifying the Company's evolution as a global corporation." Ultimately, be they PalmSource, ACCESS, Be, or anything else, all we really care about is seeing that Linux goodness find its way into some devices we can actually buy, so how about y'all spend less time on your branding initiatives and more time heads-down in the code, mkay?[Via Brighthand]
PalmSource and Access drop more info on their ALP OS
The recent months have been dark days indeed for the Palm OS, especially for its spiritual successor, codenamed Access Linux Platform (ALP). Palm is letting its license to the oft-delayed OS expire this December, and we haven't heard of too many device manufacturers stepping in its place. The good news is that Access-owned PalmSource hasn't been just sitting around a doing nothing, and they recently hosted a one day mini-conference at LinuxWorld to show off their wares so far. Apparently the core OS is fairly completed, and PalmSource is mainly working on the bundled applications that will ship with the OS. Classic Palm OS emulation is said to work perfectly well, even with the requirement by the OS to scale those 320 x 320 native applications to ALP's preferred QVGA touchscreen resolution. There were plenty of Haier N60 flip-phones on hand running the chosen res, along with a few prototypes with VGA screens and a keyboard -- a good sign of things to come. Unfortunately, the only pics allowed were of the developer tools running a virtualized version of ALP in Ubuntu -- a boon to developers, but no device-based eye candy for us. The biggest enhancement so far is multitasking afforded by the Linux base, though sexy features in the NetFront browser, new HotSync interoperability standards, and a newfound return to Palm OS looks of yore seem quite popular as well. In fact, with the OS's ability to be skinned with SVG graphics, Palm could conceivably make a branded version of the OS that would be quite familiar to old users, and dub it the Palm OS 6 we've always wanted. PalmSource says they're still on track to deliver the OS to licensees at the end of the year, with the first ALP products finally emerging next spring.[Via Brighthand
Palm's license to next-gen ALP to expire this December!
Trouble is a-brewing in Palm land. According to their most recent annual report, Palm is pulling out of a co-development agreement they had with PalmSource (now Access) in regards to the next-generation of Palm OS. They're obligated to pay through December 2, 2006, but they're stopping the multi-million dollar royalty payments after that due to a failure by PalmSource to meet certain promised milestones. Of course, milestones or no, a lack of royalties means a lack of a next-gen OS license to pep up our Treo. Palm states that they will keep producing new products based on the current version of the OS, and are "presently in negotiations with PalmSource to expand our development and distribution rights to the current version of the Palm OS." This would seem to imply that Palm wants to try their hand at their very own branch off of Palm OS 5, but if that were the case it would mean we're in for some more waiting -- the practice of which Palm users must be pretty good at by now.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Carriers and manufacturers form pact to push mobile Linux
Yeah, we've heard it before, but they mean it this time. Carriers Vodafone and NTT DoCoMo have teamed up with Motorola, Samsung, NEC, and Panasonic to succeed where others have failed, busting out a common Linux-based smartphone platform and sharing costs and R&D resources along the way. Besides unifying the fragmented mobile Linux community behind a single open platform, the group's goal is to see the light of day in a production phone before the end of 2007, but let's be honest -- the project won't be considered a success unless the joint venture can produce a popular, well-known platform that can scrap with the Symbians and the Windows Mobiles of the world. Hey, Access PalmSource, you guys paying attention?[Via Mobiledia]
Just what we needed, more 700p pics
Alright, this is just getting silly. Either Palm's much rumored -- and quite anticipated -- 700p is the worst kept secret in the industry, or the fakesters are getting a whole lot better. The newest pics are from a supposed Verizon employee, and shed light on that logo a bit below the Verizon branding on the back. Turns out it says "Access powered," which could be good news for those waiting for an update to the aging Palm OS, or it could merely mean that Access is getting its branding out on Palm OS 5 devices while they continue to work on ALP. Our fingers are crossed for ALP, but here's a better idea: why doesn't Palm/Verizon/Sprint/someone just release the dang device and let us find out for ourselves?[Via Gadgets on the Go]
