Handheld computer maker Palm offered delegates at the Comdex trade
show an early chance to buy the next version of its operating
system.
Version 4.1 of the Palm operating system will be made generally
available on 15 November, but the company is selling the new
software now at Comdex. Available on a CD only, delegates at the
show can receive a $10 (£7) discount on the software, which will
normally sell for $39.99 (£28).
Released as an upgrade for the Palm III and Palm V series of
handhelds, the operating system adds some additional security
features, as well as new applications such as a notepad program
that allows users to sketch and save notes. They are the same
features that were released with Version 4.0, a system only
available on Palm's m505, m500 and m125 devices, according to
Palm.
On the security side, the release comes with an auto-lock feature
that makes Palm devices password-protected. Other new features
include SMS technology, designed for sending text messages when a
device is connected by infrared link to a GSM mobile phone.
Palm is developing a Bluetooth card that will work with its m500
and m505 handhelds running the operating system. Demonstrated at
Comdex, the card will be available in the second quarter of 2002
for under $150, said Ray Combs, Palm's director of software
solutions.
The operating system upgrade is only available for Palm devices.
While the company licenses its operating system to several hardware
makers - including Sony, Handspring and Symbol Technologies - each
of those companies is responsible for making Palm operating system
upgrades available on their own respective handheld devices.
Handspring, for example, still runs Palm operating system Version
3.5 on its devices. The company said it does not plan to upgrade
its operating system soon, although it has added several
enhancements to the basic system released by Palm that match those
in Version 4.1.
Handspring devices are also not capable of being upgraded to the
latest version of the Palm operating system, because they do not
include Flash memory, which is the technology that enables software
upgrades, Combs said.
In the meantime, Sony has its own Palm operating system Version 4.1
for its line of Clie devices..