China Buyout Means Palm OS for Linux
PalmSource announced it has acquired Chinese embedded software company China MobileSoft (CMS), broadening its reach to more mobile hardware platforms. CMS applications currently ship with over 30 phones and the company is also working on a version of Linux designed for mobile devices.
PalmSource says it will extend this effort to develop a version of Palm OS that runs atop Linux. Although it will continue to offer Palm OS versions 5 and 6 to licensees, PalmSource plans to bring its user interface, Palm OS and BeOS software frameworks, as well as numerous applications to Linux.
"We believe the combination of PalmSource, CMS and Linux gives us the technological and market critical mass to compete with even the biggest proprietary operating system companies," said PalmSource CEO David Nagel.
The company pledged its support for Linux in a letter to the open source community, but clarified Palm OS will not be open sourced. Nonetheless, the Linux community has seemingly welcomed PalmSource with open arms.
"It may not be clear to everyone just how great a potential is being unveiled today. Because Linux standards will be exposed on Palm OS devices, much of our existing desktop and server software can be moved to the mobile platform just by typing "make" and waiting for the sources to compile," said Open Source Initiative co-founder Bruce Perens.
The deal also has the blessing of Novell, a recent Linux convert and currently one of its loudest advocates.