PalmSource Ships Palm OS 6

Posted By: Ryan on Tuesday, January 06, 2004 10:44:20 AM

PalmSource has indeed shipped Palm OS 6, the next major release of its operating system, to its licensees. The company has posted a press release this morning, PalmSource CEO David Nagel will also be presenting at the Needham Growth Conference today as well.

PalmSource has fulfilled its commitment to deliver the next major release of the Palm OS before the end of 2003. Palm OS 6, shipped December 29, 2003, combines the flexibility, simplicity and ease of use that we believe are the hallmark of today's versions of Palm OS with the emergent operating system requirements that meet the demands anticipated for tomorrow's smart mobile devices. These requirements include modularity, multi-tasking, memory protection, robust security and state-of-the-art multimedia capabilities.

Palm OS 6 enables the development of a new class of Palm Powered mobile products and strengthens PalmSource's position in the wireless and telephony markets. Palm OS 6 now joins PalmSource's growing family of product offerings. More in depth, technical information about Palm OS 6 is expected at the PalmSource developer conference in San Jose February 10-12. Some general preliminary info about OS 6 can be found in this article. Developers at the conference will be given a copy of Palm OS 6 on Feb 10th.

"Palm OS 6 is a major milestone for PalmSource, and we are happy to deliver the final version on schedule," said Larry Slotnick, chief products officer at PalmSource. "We believe that our team has developed a tremendous product for our licensees to bring innovative Palm Powered mobile products into new markets."

Needham Growth Conference
David Nagel, president and CEO of PalmSource, will discuss the company's corporate strategy with investors and analysts at the Sixth Annual Needham Growth Conference at the Palace Hotel in New York on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2004 at 2:00 p.m. ET/11:00 a.m. PT.. A live audio webcast of the presentation and a replay will be available on the PalmSource website.

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Article Comments
37 total comments

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Screenshots

Verteron @ 1/6/2004 11:38:56 AM #

I want more screenshots! Will be watching the presentation later this evening (I think it corresponds to 10pm GMT...).

RE: Screenshots

chinchorrero @ 1/6/2004 12:12:42 PM #

Great News.
My T3 is ready and waiting
Cheers

"Life is Too Short"
Tungsten T3-Sony ericsson T610,HBH-60,SanDisk 256Mb Sd Card

RE: Screenshots

Enfors @ 1/6/2004 1:59:57 PM #

Remember, there is absolutely no guarantee that you will be able to upgrade your T3 (or any other device for that matter) to PalmOS 6. It may be that they want you to buy a new device instead.

-Enfors-

Screenshot of OS6

LiveFaith @ 1/6/2004 2:35:04 PM #

Looks like leaked amatuer photo of OS6 running on a T3. Can it really be?

http://www.churchoflivingfaith.com/images/t3-os6.jpg

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com

RE: Screenshots

bobes @ 1/6/2004 2:55:44 PM #

that could be the T|4 or the T3-200 or whatever the next one is called

RE: Screenshots

Foo Fighter @ 1/6/2004 3:24:07 PM #

I wonder why no one has leaked screenshots by now? Come on! Let's see what the new OS looks like! :-)

-------------------------------
My blog: www.pocketfactory.com

RE: Screenshots

Verteron @ 1/6/2004 3:30:54 PM #

> http://www.churchoflivingfaith.com/images/t3-os6.jpg

Hahaha... that's hilarious :)
I don't think PalmSource are quite that desperate yet!

For anyone who doesn't get the joke, that screenshot is of Windows Mobile.

RE: Screenshots

mikecane @ 1/6/2004 3:46:45 PM #

I thought that huge blue bar at the top looked AWFULly familiar...

RE: Screenshots

NikMan @ 1/6/2004 4:33:48 PM #

Yeah, screenshot would be cool. Their marketing isn't so cool I think. I hope we will see something new!

I really wish a Today screen, becouse every PDA should have that feature.! And I want it from Palm!

RE: Screenshots

just_little_me @ 1/6/2004 9:12:10 PM #

Wassup does the job nicely for me. There are other options too, but after research I found Wassup the best for me.

http://www.palmgear.com/?xyz=42044

JLM

RE: Screenshots

NikMan @ 1/7/2004 11:15:58 AM #

Best today program is from Jonas Lientstied. But it is not compatible with beyond contacts!

Tick tock tick

mikecane @ 1/6/2004 12:46:52 PM #

And so the Countdown Clock begins to which one:

a) Palm OS's Revitalization

b) Palm OS's Doom

Rust doesn't sleep. Neither does Microsoft. (And I hear Symbian has started stocking up on NoDoz too!)

RE: Tick tock tick

Foo Fighter @ 1/6/2004 1:10:52 PM #

I just want PalmOS6 hardware to arrive in a timely manner. Hopefully sooner rather than later. :-(

-------------------------------
My blog: www.pocketfactory.com

RE: Tick tock tick

Courante @ 1/6/2004 1:33:08 PM #

March/April = early and swinging
Summer = on time just barely
November = toast, there goes another 10% marketshare.

RE: Tick tock tick

abosco @ 1/6/2004 2:41:26 PM #

>>March/April = early and swinging
>>Summer = on time just barely
>>November = toast, there goes another 10% marketshare.

When in the hell are you going to learn to ****?? PalmSource has proved a competent enough corporation to release a major product on a time they specified. This is absolutely fantastic news for Palm. Hopefully it offers everything as promised including that efficient multitasking system.

This isn't the time or place for you to rant as always about the doom and gloom. You're that kind of schmuck that goes into a perfect dining room and criticizes the folded corner on a napkin.

-Bosco
NX80v + Wifi + BT + T616

RE: Tick tock tick

LiveFaith @ 1/6/2004 4:47:43 PM #

PSRC up only a nickle today and less than NAS composite? I would have thought the stock would have moved a little on the + news. I don't track either closely, but is not MSFT notorious for delay after delay on OS? PSRC makes the huge change on time and ... it seems everyone exected it. Guess 12/29 was built into today's $$$.
Guess that's why I don't manage a mutual fund.

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com

RE: Tick tock tick

Courante @ 1/6/2004 6:28:03 PM #

Bosco, they have been late on EVERY major product upgrade, Remember m5xx and Tungsten?

multi-tasking?

southbound747 @ 1/6/2004 11:28:38 PM #

abosco...multi-tasking? that sounds cool. i am wondering if 6.0 is really going to be anything new. i now use a treo 600. true multi-tasking like i had with my jornada 560 2 or 3 years ago...would be a godsend. i have always loved palms. i had one of the first palm pilots professionals in 1996. but i got frustrated and "defected" for a couple of years to ppcs because for a while they really were better. But I am back in the palm camp and happy to be there...but i really miss being able to multi-task...

so my real question is: what new can be expected from 6.0?

RE: Tick tock tick

The_Voice_of_Reason @ 12/11/2004 12:04:44 AM #

http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=7375

PalmOS 6.0 - December, 2003 (after two years of development). No shipping devices. Now PalmSource admits this was just a "proof of concept", not meant to be for real shipping devices.

PalmOS 6.1 - September, 2004. No shipping devices.

PalmLinux - As of December, 2004, no date yet announced for this to even start development, much less be ready for prime time. Don't realistically expect betas until well into 2006.

Remember the lessons of the many Apple OSes that were DOA prior to OSX? Looks like PalmSource's Apple-derived execs are doomed to repeat history.

******************************************************************
Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.

PalmOS reaches End. Of. Line.

The_Voice_of_Reason @ 12/11/2004 9:04:42 PM #

Pity.

******************************************************************
Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.

PalmSource link down

sremick @ 1/6/2004 1:08:55 PM #

What the hell... PalmSouce has a link on their front page to the press release, but it doesn't work!

http://www.palmsource.com/press/2004/010604_os6.html

"We're sorry. The page you requested can't be found."

Well, crap.

I'm still exciting, but I'm suffering from lack of info and eye-candy. Yeah yeah I'm lame, but I do care since I'm buying a T3 soon.

RE: PalmSource link down

rsc1000 @ 1/6/2004 1:45:38 PM #

the link you posted works fine for me.

RE: PalmSource link down

mikecane @ 1/6/2004 1:47:47 PM #

Works for me too.

Isn't technology wonderful? (I had the same thing happen to me with amazon last night!)

RE: PalmSource link down

sremick @ 1/6/2004 1:57:47 PM #

Yep, working now. I figured it'd be temporary, but I was looking for instant-gratification after the news and was like, "AHHHHH!"

Now where is all the eye-candy? :)

RE: PalmSource link down

ozz @ 1/6/2004 2:56:28 PM #

Works for me, too :-D

Webcast time

dnorton @ 1/6/2004 2:38:12 PM #

It apparently is starting at 2:00pm Pacific not Atlantic now.

RE: Webcast time

Verteron @ 1/6/2004 6:15:30 PM #

It's still not started... oh well, I'm going to bed (it's 11pm here).

RE: Webcast time

Foo Fighter @ 1/7/2004 1:07:45 AM #

No archive available? Jeez, that sucks.

-------------------------------
My blog: www.pocketfactory.com

RE: Webcast time

McMagnus @ 1/7/2004 9:13:28 AM #

Did it happen at all? The webcast page at Wall street webcasting still says "This presentation has not yet begun...".

RE: Webcast time

temp_user @ 1/7/2004 12:47:56 PM #

Where the hell is this webcast?

RE: Webcast time

Foo Fighter @ 1/7/2004 12:57:37 PM #

Apparently there isn't going to be an archive copy made available to the public.

-------------------------------
My blog: www.pocketfactory.com

RE: Webcast time

temp_user @ 1/7/2004 12:59:16 PM #

I can´t beleive this. The stock shorters are making a joke out of palmsource and OS 6.0!
I thought the webcast would help to clear out the confusion! Now the webcast has become a joke itself!

why is this happening?

bfs

Thunderball @ 1/7/2004 6:37:27 AM #

So... did we get a proper filesystem?

RE: bfs

RhinoSteve @ 1/7/2004 6:56:30 AM #

And what you consider proper? I think the problem with most Palm OS third party developers is the "desktop mindset." There is not disk on a handheld so why you expect it to perform like a DOS file???

This reminds me of some early 80s managers complaining about PCs not being able to read paper tape or punchcards.

RE: bfs

Thunderball @ 1/7/2004 8:02:54 AM #

I guess you're not familiar with BeOS then, because you didn't notice my small "bfs" line in the subject.

I hope PalmSource did put bfs into OS 6, since that was one of the strong points of BeOS, and one of the things which made it so fast.

Bfs treats the harddrive kinda like a database, and one of the cool things is that you can assign meta data to files, via attributes. These can then be used for indexing and searches, which give results at near constant time.

For example, each e-mail on BeOS is in a separate file, with attributes corresponding to who it was from, and perhaps importance or category. So, regardless of where you put the e-mail on your harddrive, you can always find it by bringing up a list of, say the category attribute.

On OS 6, you could move ID3 tags of music files into attributes, and then enter a value and have all the matching songs added to the playlist without delay.

In other words, bfs provides a system wide unified way of accessing data, via an incredibly fast database-like system.

Also, another reason for having any sort of file system, is that you'd be able to move any file to and from the device, from, for example, SD cards.

RE: bfs

madmaxmedia @ 1/8/2004 1:49:23 PM #

Thanks for the info about BeOS file system. Sounds very Longhorn-ish to me...(of course a few years ahead of Longhorn.)

This seems to be the optimal solution to file system on a PDA. Originally there were 2 camps- 1 that said "file system on PDA is too complicated, database is better", and another that wanted a proper filesystem they could manipulate. Well, this would give them the best of both worlds.

RE: bfs

madmaxmedia @ 1/8/2004 2:02:00 PM #

A good link about BeOS FS (there are plenty of others too):
http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=421&page=13

Palm Software on sale