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MotionApps' Classic emulator for webOS doesn't -- and can't -- work with 2.0
If you've still got some critical Palm OS apps after all these years... well, maybe it's time to try to find a way to move on. But in the meantime, you might be a little distraught to learn that MotionApps' Classic emulator is completely borked in webOS 2.0. Turns out there's a rather unrecoverable reason for that: Palm has apparently elected to remove the Classic ROM from webOS 2.0's binaries, which MotionApps claims is a violation of the agreement the two companies had in place. As a last-ditch effort to get things rolling again, MotionApps has turned over Classic's source to Palm, but it's not looking good; in light of that, they've stopped selling the app effective immediately, though they're saying they'll continue to support customer on webOS 1.x (which, for the moment, is still pretty much everybody). After this, looks like the only way to get your Palm OS on will be to hit up Access for some Garnet action -- so the question is, just how hardcore of a legacy user are you?
Palm Pre Classic emulator demoed on video
Longtime Palm fans are gonna want to lock the doors and turn down the lights -- our friends at PhoneScoop just got the first demo of Motion App's Classic Palm OS emulator for the Palm Pre. Palm OS apps can be installed by just dragging the .prc files over the Pre in mass storage mode, and they're run as though they were on an SD card. There's no tethered HotSync, although there's a compatibility mode of some kind and apps will be able to pull data down over the air. Check the video after the break, including a demo of ePocrates, which we know a lot of potential Pre owners are interested in.
Palm announces webOS SDK availability, Palm OS emulation for Pre, new cloud services
Well, it's not quite the release date and price you were hoping for, but it's definitely something. Today Palm -- via a short keynote at the Web 2.0 Expo -- announced that the company would begin taking names and numbers on the webOS dev site for potential developers who will receive an "early look" Mojo SDK. And that's starting right this moment... as in now. That news alone would be big, but reps we spoke with said that the SDK would be made available to developers that the company will be cherry-picking as early as tomorrow. So if you were looking to get into the Pre app game, here's your first big chance.In addition to the SDK news, Palm is introducing a new set of "integrated cloud services" for developers (called Mojo Messaging Service) which will use a standardized publish / subscribe system to allow data to be bounced from the "cloud" to devices. Basically, it looks like this is Palm's play for some of that push buzz -- though the indication is that this service can and will be used for bigger tasks as well.Finally, the company announced that third-party developer MotionApps will be making a Palm OS emulator available for purchase to coincide with the launch of the Pre. The application will be utilize the mass storage mode of the device to allow for drag-and-drop of PRCs, though according to the press release, the emulator "won't be able to leverage core webOS functionality," meaning that you probably can't expect pure bliss across all of your applications, particularly those with roots that go deeper into phone databases and the like. What's interesting to note about this app is that it's being built on more than just the standard webOS SDK -- an event which Palm called "unique." They went on to assure us that this was a one-off to allow for emulation, but we're thinking they might want to reconsider that policy by factoring in the clamor for serious gaming on a device like the Pre. You can check an image of the emulator after the break.So, no pricing, no release date, but lots of movement on the developer front -- which is big news if you're a company trying to launch a completely new operating system. Still, we're getting a bit antsy with all this waiting... it might be time to throw everyone a bigger bone than that tired "first half of 2009" line, guys.Read - Palm developer siteRead - MotionApps Palm OS emulator
