Palm embraces Linux – a trip down memory lane
It is great to see that Palm is now embracing Linux. I however think that embracing Linux to be relevant again seems like a rather daft idea.
Palm made great products. As someone that had a PDA when it was cool to own one (early 1998, Palm III), I have to say that counting the taps you needed to make to get to an application was what was significant then. Usability was a key focus. Grafitti was something that required learning, but once the hang of it was gotten, it was easy. The idea that you could beam contacts, memos, calendar entries and even software, was simply fabulous. In the early days, I’ll admit to even using the occasional “payware” for free, thanks to this wonderful beaming technology.
I matured after a while, and realized that carrying a cell phone, wallet, keys, coins, and a PDA just didn’t make so much sense. This must have been the stage when I moved from cargo pants, to Dockers Mobile Pants, to just regular pants, when you don’t have all the fancy pockets. I had several Palm PDAs, even a Handera 330, then most recently the Tungsten C.
What worked? Its simplicity. What didn’t work? The ridiculous cost of shareware. A cost you never recouped when upgrading, or even stopped using the piece of software. Horrendous syncing technology, even on the Microsoft Windows platform (double contacts, deleted memos, and the like would happen from time to time).
Over the years, the expandability was good. The Handera meant I had CF and a SD slot, the Tungsten C gave me WiFi, and in the future, it looks like Palm will be releasing an OS that has Linux underneath it.
Will they go all the way into making it into a product that users actually want to use? Or are they hoping that developers fill in the gaps, ala what Nokia is doing with the Maemo platform and the N770/N800. Will people start expecting that because the base is Linux, all software on the Palm will have to be free? Remember though, the operating system under it never mattered – it was always the usability and ease of use.
Technorati Tags: palm, linux, nokia, maemo, pants, usability, handhelds
“Remember though, the operating system under it never mattered – it was always the usability and ease of use.”
true. there is, however, an important consequence to palm basing their operating system on foss. they get the benefit of foss development which equates to lower r&d os costs for palm, the economic benefits of which can be channeled to other parts in the company (eg app dev, marketing etc). this makes the company immediately more competitive, which in turn certainly can make them more relevant if they execute their strategy well.
I don’t doubt what is true about OSS reducing costs, and so forth. Agree with your statements. What I’m referring to, is probably taking a jab at Nokia more than anything – the n770/n800 is clearly just a device that developers tote, but is not something the mass market will have.
If executed well, i.e. there’s great support, everything works, there’s software that can use the video camera, and so forth, without actually depending on external developers to deliver support after the device hits the market, I do believe that these Linux based devices will hit the end user market
End users care about usabilty. And functionality. Not the OS beneath it. That I think might be Nokia’s mistake with the n770/n800 and the Maemo platform in general. Yes, being open is nice, developers drool. But end users, want things to just work.
I do wish well the OpenMoko team – they too can’t just target developers, but the mass market. 80-20 rule, eh?