Palm OS 6 To Be Released in Late 2003
According to new statements out of PalmSource, Palm OS 6 will be released to licensees before the end of late 2003. The new version will focus on wireless technology standards, security and multimedia.
Update: Possible screen shots of Palm OS 6 have been posted.
Albert Chu, PalmSource's VP of business development to News.com, "PalmSource expects to debut major OS releases every 12 months to 18 months after the first hardware ships."
Palm OS 5 was released to licensees in June of 2002. Devices that made use of the new operation system became available in October of the same year.
Developers at the conference are being given a sneak preview at Palm OS 6, in order to outline long term product plans and strategies for using the new os. PalmSource expects to have applications that can take full advantage of OS 6 ready when devices running it become available.
Focus on Wireless and Security
PalmSource CEO David Nagel commented at the PalmSource Developer Conference, "The operating system (Palm OS 6) was designed nearly from the ground up for wireless capabilities, with a focus on security for wireless data transfers." He went on to say that PalmSource is committed to supporting all of the current main wireless standards and that PalmSource has put a major emphasis on building the most secure OS environment.
In previous talks about the upcoming OS Nagel stressed that Palm OS 6 will focus on next generation communications and frameworks for new and upcoming technologies. Specifically, scalable communications, more robust security features, a new multimedia framework with a scalable graphics engine, interchangeable I/O features (such as the ability to incorporate many different methods of data input) and a new messaging framework.
Developers will also be able to write fully ARM native applications. With OS 5 developers have had to use armlet's, or snippets of ARM code, to speed up applications to take advantage of ARM processors. OS 6 will also include Multi-processing/threading features, web services (XML/SOAP), a reference Java VM and the PalmSource proxy-less web browser.
Update: PIC has received what might possibly be a early screen shot of Palm OS 6. The two images show a revised interface with a new UI look, form buttons and a soft input area (aka virtual graffiti). The image on the left appears to show an updated version of the datebook application and to the right, the main application launcher showing time, sound controls and a battery meter.
PIC could not confirm if the images are indeed from OS 6. There is a possibility they are from an early design concept.
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RE: wireless , security and multimedia?
RE: wireless , security and multimedia?
Hoping from one connection to another, protocols, ect.
>>For multimedia, palm already got a fast CPU, good speaker, and camera on their PDAs. what else can they add?
That does not mean it is as good as it can be. My guess is new UNIVERSAL APIs (meaning media players that work on every device), support for diffrent codecs, ect.
security? So what are the security holes Palm has so far?
A whimpy password is not good security. REAL 128 bit encrytion is security.
Did you really think the OS was perfect? Its good, but not perfect. Technology moves on, and operatins systems must keep up.
RE: wireless , security and multimedia?
Shhhhh, don't tell anyone. Our little secret.
RE: wireless , security and multimedia?
As for wireless, at this point other there are multiple directions. Palm seems inclined to wait until cellphone chips come down to $10 and include them. But they might well in the short term, relent and include a CF slot, so that for *today* the user can choose best of breed solutions for themselves, and/or mix and match. For example the pocketPC camp can add a tri-band GSM phone to any CF slot:
http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/3542.html
But in the mid-term the better solution might be the now FCC approved software definable radio. It takes more horsepower and battery (but we have lot of both currently in the platform), but one DSP array can be any wireless technology, or given sufficient resource availability, be multiple wireless flavors at the same time.
Imagine now your PDA is a IS-95 or CDMA2000 phone by day with an office number, a GSM phone by night on a personal account, or when overseas on a trip. And all while offering BT and or WiFi in the background as needed.
RE: wireless , security and multimedia?
RE: wireless , security and multimedia?
As for 2.4Ghz cordless phone around the house, there used to be just that, in fact, as a Visor springboard module from a local company. Pop it in, and voila, a cordless phone. Some of the models even gave internet data abilities to the Visor in addition.
RE: wireless , security and multimedia?
"I can't think of anything of wireless other than 802.11 and BT.."
Are you serious? How about 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11a, other 802 stantards, BT, TDMA, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, CDMA, CDMA2000 1xRTT, CDMA2000 1xEvDo, CDMA 2000 1xEvDv, GMRS/FRS radios, 5.8 GHz DSS, 2.4 GHz DSS, 2.4 GHz, 900 MHz DSS/digital etc, DGPS, WAAS GPS, IR, FM modulators, various RF modulators, UWB or "sneaky wave" and on and on...
RE: wireless , security and multimedia?
Great News!
My wish list of features would be:
- Improved support for WiFi, BT, and plug-in 3G and GPRS for devices that want to support it with seemless connection hopping
- Properly encrypted file system (Blowfish or similar at the file system level), WEP, RSA/DES for Internet security (SSL sockets)
- More optimisation for the ARM processors
- Support for 'real files' in internal RAM and hierarchical structure. Now we have 32MB and 64MB devices this will become important.
- Better multi-tasking (might have to wait until POS7 for this depending how much they've taken from BeOS...)
RE: Great News!
RE: Palm OS 6
RE: Palm OS 6
RE: Palm OS 6
Unless, of course, technology from BeOS was used to develop OS6.
Did you expect that they would just dump BeOS on a Palm device without modification or without making is compatable with the vast amount of software already written for OS 5 and earlier?
Possibly, if it hadn't been for the purchase of BeOS, OS 6 might be a couple of years away?
RE: Palm OS 6
Well I beleive if they had another chance they wpuldn't buy Be. They would invest in better marketing and better UI on PalmOS 5.
And yes, UI could be better and i dont want to buy Aeroplayer, LauncherX.....ETC.
RE: Palm OS 6
'Old' is PPC legacy win32 code bloating out every PPC device their is. My 144mhz OMAP driven T|T feels snappy compared to the latest PPC.
RE: Multitasking?
But don't tell anyone I told you. Shhhh, HUGE industry secret.
RE: Multitasking?
-Bosco
Proud Member of the Top Non-Mods
Members: abosco and ImpReza M3
Now accepting new applications
RE: Multitasking?
RE: Multitasking?
RE: Multitasking?
How about Java?
- Rene
RE: How about Java?
Thomas
Check out the Palm Tungsten|T review at www.comp-talk.co.uk
RE: How about Java?
RE: How about Java?
RE: How about Java?
Java support should be built in. Should have been in OS4. Should have been in OS5. If they build it in, the programs would run "faster" since they wouldn't need a interpreter (unless that what was built in). Apple did something similar for OS X.
_____
Fammy
RE: How about Java?
RE: How about Java?
http://www.palmos.com/dev/tech/java/
Moreover you get more information on this thread at brighthand:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?V5D432B74
The Sun Java impelementation of MIDP for Palm is only supported on POS 3.5. It's old stuff that is not going to be updated. It may work on OS5 devices, but there will be no update for any problem it might have.
Palmato
------------------------
Tired of PPC? Get a TT!
RE: How about Java?
> know, Microsoft does make the OS for the
> competition.
.NET is a misunderstood beast. On one level it is a programming framework allowing for allowing "buzzword compliance" between networked devices and applications (B2B, P2P, LAN, WAN, etc). This is .NET Gold Level partnering.
Taking a step back, .NET is a communication "standard" that makes heavy use of XML/SOAP to allow networked devices to communicate. Adhereing to the communications guidelines, but not using the underlying .NET framework will get you a .NET Silver Level partnership. I'd guess that Palm fall into this camp (as do Sun Microsystems, and the company I work for).
It is possible for individual apps to be .NET apps independant of the OS, so you might see these on the PalmOS BEFORE a formal integration at the OS level.
~ "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed." - DV ~
Java: no way
Palm has no interest in making it easy for people to write cross-platform applications. Palm has consistently tried to create a franchise of proprietary APIs, and they still have the developer base to get away with it.
If PalmSource has anything to do with it, Java isn't going to ship with Palm until Palm has absolutely no other choice.
However, PalmSource now faces a dilemma: if they do a reasonable job with PalmOS 6, then porting Java and cross-platform toolkits will be easy. If they continue shipping the kind of weird architectures they have been shipping until now, they are going to lose market share and developers.
RE: How about Java?
RE: How about Java?
For those of you waiting for PDAP, it was essentially dropped. The main APIs from it (for accessing PIM info and FileConnections, if I remember right) were kept as optional API packages. The PIM APIs will be nice if/when they ever see the light of day on a device. In the long run, I think they made the right decision, but it is also hard to not see it as a setback.
Instead of dragging their feet to a J2ME CLDC MIDP 2.0 with the FileConnection and PIM APIs implementation, which is where I can only guess they are heading (since JSR-75 was for CLDC). Why don't they get Insignia to do a PersonalJava port for OS 5 (like is available for nearly every other PDA) and/or head toward J2ME CDC Personal Profile with the PIM APIs (which is where I'm assuming everyone else will head in the future)? The CLDC stuff is nice for an OS 4 device, but I fear it is going to be too little, too late for the OS 5 (or 6) devices.
Microsoft and their promises.
I think that Microsoft would probably be more interested in stringing Palm along as long as possible in order to delay them from introducing a technology that competes in the same space on a platform that numerically outnumbers them in deployment.
If you need an example, MS pulled it's support for Microsoft Reader from the eBookman at a VERY late stage, which has done a LOT to assist in the tanking of the platform.
MS' announcement on Reader support for the eBookman:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2000/Jun00/eBookmanPR.asp
Franklin's rather terse FAQ answer to the ubiquitous 'Where is the version of Microsoft Reader for the eBookman????'
RE: How about Java?
Screenshots?
RE: Screenshots?
OTOH: HOLY COW!! *SOFT* Graffiti!! Make it SKINNABLE, dammit!
And I can see this isn't a hoax: I see the WiFi signal strength icon from the Tung C there.
RE: Screenshots?
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wireless , security and multimedia?
For multimedia, palm already got a fast CPU, good speaker, and camera on their PDAs. what else can they add?
security? So what are the security holes Palm has so far?