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Open letter from PalmSource to the Linux community
2004-12-08 Article Rating:  / 0
Foreword: PalmSource Inc. stunned the mobile device world today by annoucing that it has acquired Chinese mobile Linux vendor China MobileSoft (CMS), a leading Chinese mobile phone software company with business operations headquartered in Nanjing, China.
CMS is a prominent proponent of embedded Linux in China, where it specializes in embedded software stacks for smartphones and featurephones. To explain its intentions, PalmSource has issued the following open letter to the Linux Community . . . December 8, 2004 Today we at PalmSource announced we're going to extend Palm OS to run on top of Linux. We've written this letter to explain what we're doing and not doing, why we re doing it, and how we're doing it. We'll also answer some likely questions. Some background: PalmSource is the software-only company that develops and licenses Palm OS. We spun out of Palm, Inc. more than a year ago, and we're now an independent company. PalmSource licenses Palm OS to palmOne (the Palm hardware company) and more than a dozen other device companies. What we're doing. We intend to offer future versions of Palm OS Cobalt as a software layer on top of Linux (specifically, on the Linux kernel plus selected Linux services appropriate to mobile devices). The Palm OS software layer will include our well-known UI as well as a set of middleware and applications that encompass the best of Palm OS. We intend that properly written Palm OS 68k applications will run unchanged on Palm OS for Linux, and that Palm OS Cobalt native applications using the Palm OS Protein APIs will port with a simple recompile. In addition, Palm OS for Linux will be able to run many third party Linux applications and services (GUI applications will need to use the Palm OS APIs). What we're not doing. We're not open sourcing Palm OS; we're going to implement it as a software layer that runs on top of Linux. Our business model will be licensing that layer, with hardware companies that use the layer in a device paying us royalties. We don't charge developers a license fee to create software that is compatible with Palm OS. Our development tools are also free; they are built on Eclipse, and we are a member of the Eclipse Foundation. While we're not open sourcing all of Palm OS, we do expect to open source some of our code, and will actively seek to invest in the open source community through code contributions and other means. Why we're doing it. We think the Linux platform will become a leading operating system for mobile devices, and we believe the endorsement and support of PalmSource for that platform will greatly accelerate that process. We think the combination of Palm OS and Linux can attract more mobile licensees and developers, create more new devices, and bring in more users than either could on its own. Participating in the open source development of Linux is a natural extension of our culture. Our business has always been based on open innovation. Unlike certain other mobile platform companies, we encourage licensees to make changes to our OS, and we don't put onerous restrictions on what sort of hardware they can create. Also, we try not to prey on our application developers; we rely on them to provide many of the most important features of our platform. We look forward to contributing code to the Linux platform under its existing licenses. We believe that PalmSource's expertise in building great mobile solutions can help make Linux even more compelling than it is now. The Palm OS layer written for use on Linux will be designed to be portable to any suitable mobile Linux distribution, and we'll expose Linux APIs under the Palm OS layer. We look forward to partnering and cooperating with Linux companies and developers to contribute to the on-going development and adoption of mobile Linux. Together, we'll have the technological and market critical mass to challenge -- and, we believe, beat -- even the biggest proprietary operating system companies in the mobile market. How we'll do it. We are acquiring China MobileSoft, a leading Chinese mobile phone software company. CMS has been developing a version of Linux with optimizations designed for smart mobile devices, especially around battery management and fast boot time. We will be using that technology as the foundation of Palm OS for Linux (although we will also support other Linux distributions). We're very excited about this change, and we look forward to working with you. I have attached below some links to more information, and answers to likely questions. I look forward to your feedback. Sincerely, Mike Kelley Vice President Engineering PalmSource Inc. More information Here's a Financial Times article on the prospects for Linux in the mobile market. We think the combination of Palm OS + Linux can answer all the concerns raised. Here's some information on the mobile Linux market in China. Today's announcements extend beyond Linux. We also plan to offer the Palm OS user interface and PalmSource PIM applications for other mobile phones. For details on the full announcement, please click here. If you are a Palm OS user, we have posted a letter explaining all the changes and their impact on users, here (PDF file). Q&A
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