Palm is set to release a beta version of its forthcoming operating
system (OS), the first that will run on chips designed by ARM, at
the PalmSource Conference and Expo on 5 February.
David Nagel, president and chief executive officer of Palm's
operating system subsidiary, will preview the new software, called
Palm OS 5, in his speech at the start of the show. The software
subsidiary will also get a new name, PalmSource.
Palm expects to deliver the final version of Palm OS 5 to its
hardware partners in June or July, said Steve Sakoman, chief
product officer of PalmSource.
The OS will run most of the applications written for current
versions of the operating system, and will add new security,
communications and multimedia functions, he said. "Developers can
continue to use the same tools they have been using and provide a
single application that works on the installed base [of Palm
devices] and the new ones," he said.
For corporate users, Palm OS 5 adds support for 802.11b wireless
connections, 128-bit data encryption and Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
support for wireless Internet access. Users looking for improved
multimedia capabilities will get higher-quality audio playback and
a sharper screen resolution of 320 pixels x 320 pixels, more than
double the resolution on current Palm devices, PalmSource officials
said.
The company managed to add these improvements without compromising
battery life or increasing the amount of memory occupied by the
operating system, Sakoman said.
Nagel will demonstrate the operating system running on ARM chips
from Texas Instruments, Motorola and Intel, he said. The chips are
based on a core designed by ARM, a UK company,. The company does
not make the chips itself, but licenses its designs to
chipmakers.
Developers at the show will be able to test applications they have
written on devices running Palm OS 5, the company said. They will
also receive a CD with the beta software on it, along with
application tools and 20 compatible applications. Additionally,
PalmSource will let members of its developers' program download
related tools from its Web site. Those tools include an OS 5
simulator running on Microsoft Windows NT and third-party tools for
testing the compatibility of applications with the operating
system.