The Mystery of Palm

Since Palm has announced it will use Windows Mobile in an upcoming Treo, I’ve been trying to figure out what is going to happen to PalmOS. I’ve been having problems with my Tungsten, but I am not about to give up on PalmOS as I prefer it to Windows Mobile (I have a Dell Axim, which I use to write my PC Magazine column). I’d like to replace the Tungsten, but is Palm going to come out with a newer version of its OS? I am not impressed with the devices that have come out since buying the Tungsten T3.

But I can’t see where Palm is going for the long-term. I don’t want to buy another PalmOS device until I know something more. It has not been that long since I bought the Dell Axim and yet I can’t upgrade its OS to Windows Mobile 5 (only the x50 can be upgraded and I have x30). I don’t want that to happen when I buy a PalmOS device.

BusinessWeek (free registration required) believes Palm is not likely to dump its own OS. Computing Unplugged has a long article sharing the history and speculates the future. I vote PalmOS to stay. The OS is very different from Windows Mobile and replacing it is like replacing apples with oranges instead of Granny Smiths with Galas.