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<img src="http://parcom.pro-networks.org/PROneT-News/Linux/News/5.jpg" align="right" alt="Can Linux save the Palm OS?"> Can Linux save the Palm OS?
By Tom Krazit
August 28, 2006, 11:07 AM PDT

Access is betting that the Palm community could use a little push from a penguin. More than two years have passed since PalmSource--the Palm OS developer purchased by Access in 2005--released an update to the venerable operating system. But the next version, which is set for release next year, will be very different under the hood, according to Access executives Tomihisa Kamada and Didier Diaz.

The Access Linux Platform will still be able to run Palm OS applications, but Tokyo-based Access will use an open-source underpinning as its foundation. The mobile software maker asserts that this will make it easier and cheaper to get the update out to developers, who will likewise find it easier to take advantage of a wealth of open-source code to create Access Linux Platform applications.

Still, the operating system's historic leadership in handheld computers is no longer a given. Microsoft has made huge strides in the two years that the Palm OS has languished, convincing even PalmSource's former partner-in-crime Palm to put Windows Mobile onto a Treo smart phone.

At the recent LinuxWorld conference in San Francisco, CNET News.com sat down with Kamada, who is Access' chief technology officer, and Diaz, who is vice president for product marketing. They discussed the Access Linux Platform and the future of the Palm community. An edited transcript follows.

<img src="http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/images/smiles/source.jpg"> CNET News
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