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September 25, 2005
Palm to ally with Microsoft?
The New York Times' John Markoff reports that Palm is about to announce a new version of its popular Treo smartphone that will use Microsoft's operating system, turning the company into a Microsoft OEM, according to The Register.
In a move that will make Palm users - and the extensive Palm development community - extremely nervous about the future of PDA civilisation as they know it, Markoff reports that Palm's chief executive, Ed Colligan, "apparently decided that it was more expedient to join Microsoft than fight on as an alternative".
Despite palming off its operating system then licensing it back, and despite various shortcomings, the company was very much identified with it, and most users liked its low overheads and huge range of applications. But Silicon Valley software developers told the New York Times Palm may move its programming environment to the new Windows Mobile operating system.
Posted by cw at September 25, 2005 11:07 AM