Macslash reports that handheld maker Palm announced today that they were no longer going to develop Palm Desktop for the Mac platform, freezing the current version as their final. UPDATE: PalmSource today introduced Palm OS Cobalt & Garnet, previously know as Palm OS 6.Cobalt is a new enhanced version of the operating system that is designed to enable the creation of new categories of devices for the communications, enterprise, education and entertainment markets. PalmSource also announced Palm OS Garnet, an enhanced version of the popular Palm OS 5, designed to accelerate the development of Palm Powered handhelds and smartphones.
Palm: No More Mac Support; Palm OS Cobalt and Garnet
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Thats just weak on Palm’s part. Windows users are just gonna end up buying PocketPC any ways… Thanks Palm. real cool.. Hows that Linux support?
The palm desktop was stupid anyways, Apple’s iSync did a much better job anyways.
I was just looking for a replacement of my PalmV, with something more up-to-date, probably a smartphone with PalmOS. Hm, so no Palm, welcome Symbian.
IBook-user
I don’t think anyone has used it since isync and ical came out anyhow.
If anyone wants a new device, get an OS5 device. Palm is still developing OS5 for consumers and OS6 will be for the enterprise. I think it makes sense since Apple isn’t in the enterprise market really. It’s too bad of course, but then there’s Missing Sync and third party software that does a better job than Palm. Linux support is in the same boat.
Thats gotta be the stupidest move on Palm, i have a palm w/ os5 on it I love the thing, its simple! And with osx becoming popular because it is Unix w/ a pretty shell, its really awsome.. but freez’n the palm desktop (not that i use it much but im sure some people do) is absolutly retarded.
As a person who depends greatly upon both by Palm and PowerBook I must say that I don’t think this is really a big deal. Although we can’t tell at this point I would be VERY suprised if the ability to sync a Palm with a Mac didn’t continue either from Palm or Apple.
Palm Desktop isn’t a great application anyway and any serious user will use iCal/Address Book or Microsoft Entourage. The elimination of Palm Desktop means very little to most who sync a mac and palm.
What I would guess will happen is either Apple or Palm will produce a plugin for iSync so that integrates Palm synchronization into iSync better then it is now and we’ll be better off then where we are now!
Palm Desktop has always sucked ass. It’s the 21st century and that shit-pile of an application still does not make it easy for multiple people to synch their palms using a single computer. Not to mention the horrific conduit implementation. The sooner Palm dies the better.
Apple has their iCal and stuff.
Personally, this is the greatest strength of open-source. You never loose anything. Even when a company goes under or looses interest in development, the program still progresses with the help of people that want to take it on and make it better. If Palm Desktop was open-source, it would never die. This is why GNU/Linux is such a threat to Microsoft. GNU/Linux won’t die like BeOS, Amiga or OS/2. No matter how unpopular Linux gets or how outdated it may get, it just won’t die no matter what MSFT does. It just takes one enterprising programmer to take it up again. With something proprietary, people are always starting from the beginning. Rather than improving the wheel, they are reinventing it.
It’s just interesting to think about how open-source prevents this end-of-life stuff that plagues closed-source software.
… no, it isn’t just you. All the other paranoid Mac zealots prolly feel just the same whenever they see a story that mentions something negative about Apple.
This has nothing to do with GNU/Linux. If people want to right software for the Mac or Windows and give it away they can. There is all kinds of free software floating around out there that doesn’t have the tag of open-source as well as plenty of open-source projects geared towards being platform independent.
Now that’s really stupid. I don’t use a Mac, but being able to sync with a Mac would be a very desirable feature for many users, I guess. Seems a great way to drive even more users in the arms of PocketPC…
“… no, it isn’t just you. All the other paranoid Mac zealots prolly feel just the same whenever they see a story that mentions something negative about Apple.”
You fall into the aforementioned “more ignorant among us” as mentioned in my original post.
there is already a third party developing a version for apple users so all you palm/apple users can rest easy.
I’ve noticed that too.. sad really. I’m not a Mac user either.
Not only should apple make a rebranded Palm PDA, but they should port Quicktime on it, and try to make it a PALM standard. I agree that the Palm desktop application stinks in a cross platform way, but they have a special niche market that MS will never go near. Linux support would be a good idea as well. One way to beat MS is to go places where they wont! That was a very short sighted buisness decision.
As the world evolves, people are producing more and more smart phones. Palm has steadfastly avoided putting phone capability into their machines. They have also avoided flash memory. People ultimately want to replace too many devices with one or two more convenient ones. Exit Palm and enter Nokia… Just blue tooth iSinc/iCal your new smart phone to your trusty ol Mac and forget undependable inconvenient Palm. 3Com didn’t want them for a reason… See ya.
Well, this could be a sign of reality. There is less reason for companies to support macs. They are loosing market share. Install base doesn’t matter. If apple can’t take up more market it becomes pointless to develope something for Mac. Furthermore if Apple keaps making products that do the job of 3rd party people then they remove any interest a company might have. Why develope for Mac if Apple will take your idea and run with it. You’d just be wasting money.
People complained about MS sucking up companies or taking over ideas and intergrating apps with the OS, but everyone seams to praise apple for doing this. In time all programs for OSX and future releases will be only from Apple since no one else will see a point in making anything.
You have to have market share, and you have to have 3rd party apps, or in the end you end up as Be. Maybe OSX will slowly by recycled into a PDA os and be used by MS in 20 years on MS made handhelds, not that that has ever happened to companies that had good product and bad strategy.
As the world evolves, people are producing more and more smart phones. Palm has steadfastly avoided putting phone capability into their machines.
Um… what? Have you somehow missed Palm’s acquisition of Handspring?
They have also avoided flash memory.
Um, what? Take a look at the products that are out there, why don’t ya? Besides, even if one of us has our terminology mixed up, I don’t see anything lacking in the Palm handheld memory addon capabilities.
People ultimately want to replace too many devices with one or two more convenient ones. Exit Palm and enter Nokia… Just blue tooth iSinc/iCal your new smart phone to your trusty ol Mac and forget undependable inconvenient Palm. 3Com didn’t want them for a reason… See ya.
Are you just trolling? You’re obviously not paying much attention to the reality of Palm and Palm OS products… There have been Palm OS phones for a while now. They’re only increasing in number.
Palm OS Cobalt sounds like Windows CE to me. I’m a palm user, and the best thing about this platform is the simple OS which is able to fit in minimal hardware. Which practically means PDAs with a small form factor. Palm PDAs are much smaller than Windows CE types and fits into my pants pocket without that too much of an unsightly buldge.
Now with all this new whizzbang features, its going to be much more hardware demanding and an end to small Palm PDAs i’m afraid. Looks the Zire 71 is going to be the last of the small and elegant Palm PDAs. From now on, its going to be huge multipupose monstrocities.
– Apple is not “loosing” (it’s “losing”, chump) market share any more.
– To thos saying “iSync is better”. It is, but it uses Palm’s hotsync software. In order to sync a palm you need to install the iSync hostsync conduit. So the the real question is, will Palm continue to update its sync software?
>Apple is not “loosing” (it’s “losing”, chump) market share any more.
Sorry, but this ain’t true. Do you have facts to back your opinion up? Latest stats (see our archives for links) show Apple below 2% for the first time in their history. They were at around 2.6% last year.
This is poor decision-making at its best. It would make sense to support as many viable OS’s out there as is possible, but not Palm (now PalmOne). It is sad, and I really feel for the Mac users in this world.
Just add this to the list of PalmOne’s great dives… They recently moved their tech support to India, and you haven’t suffered bad tech support until you’ve suffered it across the language/cultural barrier. The “hold” button is still red, however.
that soon enough Palm will change its mind. There will be a consumer outcry, and Palm will not want to sever its arm from its body. Mac users (I think) are a lucrative market. Anyway, If Palm stops making the Palm Desktop APPLICATION, and just provides a conduit for iSync, (whose capablities could be extended) I see no problem. I never really liked Palm Desktop, anyway. It was VERY *clunky.*
Hehe
…and Jobs refuses to realize that it’s not the hardware. How long can Apple afford to keep him around?
Well, for what I read in the header, Palm is stopping support of the Palm Desktop, not the hotsynch itself. So, if the hotsynch still exists, it shouldn’t be a problem for third parties to continue providing software to work with a palm’s data.
Besides, if the impression I got is correct, most Mac users don’t even use Palm Desktop. So what’s the reason for a company to support a piece of software thats rarely used?
– Palm’s Desktop, although rarely used, is the place you can view All of your info. ICal and Address Book are nice, but once in a while you need to look at your ToDo lists on a computer, and install additional software, using the desktop app.
– Why isn’t the desktop a Cross-Platform Solution?!?
Java, or a C++ cross platform library would push Palm into other OS’s: Linux?
– It’s nice to see Palm is so Rich they can give up Millions of potential buyers: 20 Million Mac and 20 Million Linux users. I’d like to see the CTO explain the lost sales to the CEO, because the CTO is Too Lazy to find a Cross Platform solution.
– Abandoning the Mac leaves the Mac market as a nice Incubator for potential competitors. We’ll have to see who steps up to the plate.
It’s really hard to know exactly what Palm is going to stop maintaining. A lot of people have pointed out that they use iCal rather than Palm Desktop anyway. And one or two folks have rightly pointed out that to use iSync to sync with your Palm you need Palm Desktop and the iSync conduit.
The question is whether or not Palm- or maybe even Apple- is going to maintain the naked conduit. As of right now, you install the conduit as a part of Palm Desktop, opening an installer for Palm Desktop. It is a component of the Palm Desktop, not a seperate piece of software from Palm. If Palm states they are doing no more work on the Palm Desktop, there is a good chance it includes all of the Palm Desktop, not just the part you don’t use.
As many articles and folks in forums have mentioned, there is the “Missing Sync” product from Mark/Space. But that is a pain- who wants to spend $40 on top of the cost of their new PDA just to sync with their computer? No one!
I dunno about being biased, but every time I see a headline like this I think “Ah, another article to trigger a 1000 ‘Mac is dieing’ style posts”.
Maybe a better question is: What is keeping Apple from gaining more market share? I mean, I’v wanted to try OS X ever since it came out, but I don’t still have a Mac (mind you I do plan on getting a PowerBook soon). For me, it’s basically price and lack of many games.
Not that Mac hardware is overpriced per se, but rather that you can’t really buy any budget machines. Every Mac comes only with high quality parts. I compared similar Mac and PC machines and the Mac is about the same price (less with the nice educational discount). I guess another factor for me is that I’d really really like to see faster processors. I know that it’s not fair to compare mhz, but even so, I feel the mac processors (well, g4 at any rate) are a tad over priced compared to their intel and amd counterparts.
Any other potential mac customers here who haven’t made the jump? Whats your reason?
Microsoft stopped making IE for mac- well apple has a replacement already for it…
Palm stopped making plalm desktop for mac– well apple has a replacement already for it..
I think this is a good move to cut costs @ Palm. What’s the big deal? There are already good if not better replacements available.
Every Mac comes only with high quality parts
The macs are produced with exact same parts. There is no reason why Apple charge so much. In addition, you have to buy another OS every year to keep up with the new software. Furthermore, your old apps will stop working with every update. Buy a mac if you have so much to lose and nothing to gain. I dunno why people buy macs, except they look good, artistic. The computers are not productive, so many tasks has to be done in multiple steps. It lacks so much development support. If Apple makes a simple API, mac idiots think that it is the best API on earth. Later you learn that there are so many bugs in it, and many apps have to be delayed because of the bugs. So many clueless people screaming about Macs show that Apple is going to go bankrupt. People don’t use computers for the sake of it.
they bought be ip
Where is it? I thought it came out yesterday..
I have iSync which is much better than PalmDesktop. It syncs all at once
– Why isn’t the desktop a Cross-Platform Solution?!?
Java, or a C++ cross platform library would push Palm into other OS’s: Linux?
—————-
I don’t think its got so much to do with a cross-platform C++ library, as the Palm Desktop isn’t a very complicated app to write. I think the major problem is getting the program to communicate with the Palm via the USB/Serial connection. AFAIK, there are different ways to do this on different OSs and that involves quite a bit of work.
Mark/space will be making a missing sync for POS6 devices so dont stress.
I use the missing sync for my pocketpc and it works great, the palm desktop stunk anyway
missing sync runs loops around what palm had to offer 
>>Apple is not “loosing” (it’s “losing”, chump) market share any more.
Eugenia: “Sorry, but this ain’t true.”
Sorry Eugenia, you are wrong.
“Latest stats (see our archives for links) show Apple below 2% for the first time in their history. They were at around 2.6% last year.”
I know you like to post links about this… you make sure to inlcude the misleading marketshare figure in your news posts all the time… but Apple is NOT loosing users… its was just not growing as fast as the rest of the industry.
Market share is a figure that relates directly to quarterly or yearly sales figures (something that doesn’t translate well to Linux and OS X because these platforms tend to outlive their usefullness as compared to their Windows competition this compelling individuals to keep aging hardware longer and not make another sale)
Linux has it even wose than OS X, because Linux is distributed for free, so in most cases… it wont translate to a “sale”
Think of it like this… if a single Windows user buys 4 computers in 4 years and a Linux or OSX user buys 1 computer in that same time period, the way “marketshare” works is that Windows would have the lions share of the market while Linux and OSX users would be religated to a fraction of that figure EVEN THOUGH THE SAME NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS WOULD BE USING THE COMPUTER.
If the *Install Base* term were used instead, each platform would occupy the same number of users. Unfortunately, this misappropriation of words has caused the entire population to believe market share translates to install base.
Yes, Microsoft does hold the lions share of the market, but Apple’s user-base is much larger than the oft-repeated “market share” figure.
This must change. The alternative OS community must work in unison to break this trend by correctly using the appropriate term to describe one or the other.
This is information that even OS News has linked to by even you Eugenia and yet you continue to help propigate the misleading statistic.
Apple spends just as much on OS development as Microsoft does. One of the reasons Macs cost so much.
As far why you “dunno” why people use Macs you’re ignorant and uninformed. Everything just works. Not in steps as you claim either. Also updates do not break your apps. Everything just keeps on working. I actually own a Mac so I’m qualified to speak about this.
One of your most uninformed points was the development tools. Apple provides them free of charge at connect.apple.com So once again you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Show me another platform that’s Unix based, stable, supported, that I can compile Linux apps on as well as run my commercial apps on. As far as quality…
$ uptime
10:24 up 27 days, 2:11, 3 users, load averages: 0.90 0.94 0.84
Show me another laptop that can even approach that while being suspended and taken back and forth to work everyday.
Before everyone goes flying off the handle, they should remember that PalmSoft, who make the OS and PalmOne, who make Palms, are two seperate companies now. Just because PalmSoft isn’t supporting hotsync on the Mac does mean PalmOne won’t continue to support the Mac. In fact they have already stated their commitment to continue providing Mac support on Palm devices. They may do this by bundling 3rd party sync software, or produce their own, but I really think that this is a storm in a teacup, although the way it was announced was pretty shabby, and should have been handled a lot more sensitively
Hi,
I’m sure everyone noticed that Palm Infocenter article mentioned BeOS. Anyone have more details on the alleged connection?