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Palm is Dropping Mac Users
I was quite excited to read about all the work that PalmSource has done on the new Palm OS Version 6 Cobalt. However there is one fatal flaw to their plan. They are dropping Mac connectivity.
The new version of the OS is based on the BeOS kernel and features some damn impressive and drool worthy features. It has real multi-tasking, protected memory, flexible graphic resolutions, advanced WiFi networking, backwards compatibility with older applications via emulation and it should usher in a new generation of powerful PalmOS devices that will rival anything that Microsoft can dish out.
But they are not going to be developing a Mac version of the Palm Desktop connectivity software. This sucks. Apple first developed and marketed the first PDA with the ill fated Newton. Mac users seem like the people who would be more likely to own a PDA rather than a typical PC user.
However a PDA third party software developer is stepping in and will be making a new version of their Missing Sync software to link PalmOS 6 devices with Mac OSX. But this will most likely not be shipped in the box with the new PDAs and might fall behind in features with the official Windows software.
I do not own a modern Mac anymore but I used to be a rabid Mac user from 1984 to 2000 and I do enjoy PalmOS devices. I understand that there might be some bad blood between the former BeOS people at Palm and the NeXT based Mac OSX. I think that PalmSource is dropping the ball by putting more emphasis on what used to be a loyal Mac customer base.
Jake at February 18, 2004 
Nerd
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Comments
One theory about this says that Palm's dropping Apple support because Apple's making a PDA, or at the very least, adding native support for Palm devices in iSync. I think the latter of the two is quite likely.
Either way, I don't care. I use the Missing Sync with my Clie and it works great.
Posted by: jason at February 18, 2004 11:47 AM
But if Apple was making a PDA they would not let Palm ( a potential competitor ) know that they were making one.
Posted by: Jake at February 18, 2004 11:50 AM
"In an episode of the Simpsons, school bully Nelson Muntz has one of his buddies take a memo on a Newton. When he wrote "Beat up Martin," on the screen, the handwriting recognition turned it into, "Eat up Martha."
Posted by: gringo at February 18, 2004 2:57 PM
There are reasons why Apple would tell Palm...they might be licensing Palm's OS or Sync technology or planning a Palm-compatible sync system of their own. Or they may have met with Palm about licensing their OS before dropping it in favor of creating something themselves.
I don't think Apple's making a new Newton or iPDA myself (Steve Jobs has even said he thinks cell phones are the future, not PDAs) but it wouldn't surprise me if any of the above were true.
Posted by: jason at February 18, 2004 7:24 PM
