Palm OS to boast full Web browser

Later this year, users of Palm OS devices for the first time will get a fully equipped Web browser with the Palm OS operating system that will provide access to all things Web.

Palm OS 5 is being hailed by PalmSource executives as the version of the operating system that will "fuse personal and professional users." For network managers, the new operating system promises vastly improved security and built-in support for IEEE 802.11b wireless LANs. A doubling of screen resolution, to 320-by-320 pixels, will make the Palm more suitable for business-class applications.

But many of the advanced features will be missing from the first release of OS 5, due this summer. They may be included by year-end.

For example, the OS 5 security enhancements include support for certificate management and software code signing, which lets software run only if it has been digitally signed by a known and trusted entity. The technology is designed to prevent rogue software from running. But neither of these changes will be available until some time in the next two years, says Steve Sakoman, chief product officer of PalmSource. PalmSource is licensing the browser from a third party that he declined to name.

The initial OS 5 release will offer a VPN option. Using this option, companies could create a secure, encrypted connection between a Palm OS 5 client and a corporate network. This option will be included in a distribution early this summer.

Support for the Java Virtual Machine, which will let Palm OS 5 handhelds natively run any Java application, will be available later this year.

Also missing from the initial release will be support for the emerging IEEE 802.11a wireless LAN standard, up to 54M bit/sec over 5-GHz bandwidth, because of a lack of demand from users, Sakoman says. "Almost all product deployment [now] is on 802.11b, which is supported by a lot of established chips," he says. PalmSource says it will wait for market demand for 802.11a before it is included in a later version of the platform.

The new operating system will feature a built-in emulator, so users can run Palm OS 4 applications on OS 5 devices. If developers have followed Palm's published set of application programming interfaces for OS 4, applications should run unmodified, Sakoman says. Palm executives estimate that 80% of existing programs will run on devices using the new operating system.

Currently, users of wireless Palm devices access specially created Web sites that are part of the company's Palm.net network. The information on these sites is formatted using Palm's Web clipping technology, which eliminates unneeded graphical elements and optimizes the resulting page for Palm's small screen. Some Palm OS licensees, such as Handspring with its Blazer browser, let users access the Internet through a proxy server.

Sakoman says Palm OS 5 users should expect a browser more closely aligned with the operating system.

"We will be shipping a Web browser with the platform later this year that will allow people to run wild on the World Wide Web. Unlike HandSpring's Blazer, it will not be proxy-based," he says.