* Linux coming to the Palm Treo, as potentially-big changes come to embedded Linux licensing
Linux has been available in palm-sized devices for a while now. But the open source OS will soon be on capital-P Palm devices, as Palm Inc. — inventor of the Palm Pilot, and maker of the popular Treo, and other handhelds – said it will incorporate its own Linux-based OS later this year.
The company says that it will run a version of its PalmOS on top of a Linux-based kernel, for improved stability to its PDAs and smartphones. It will still continue to make Windows-based handheld devices, as well as gadgets based on its own PalmOS, the company said. Palm is counting on Linux as a platform of the future to allow its devices to be more nimble — such as handling voice and data streams at the same time, as well as quickly switching between applications, and simply booting up faster at startup. Palm says it’s Linux-based OS, which it won’t license to device makers, should appear in late 2007.
Palm is making the Linux move as the company looks to become more of a consumer handheld vendor; it expects its enterprise revenue to drop significantly over the next few years.
A move to its own home-grown Linux platform, and away from Windows Mobile and the associated licensing, should help Palm as it transitions to the leaner-margin consumer gadget market. But the move also comes as the legal licensing environment around Linux is in flux. Proposals in the latest GNU Public License version 3 (GPLv3) would require more openness from makers of cell phones and other embedded devices that use Linux as a core OS kernel. GPLv3 proposes that gadget vendors who use Linux must agree to allow end-users of the devices to hack into and make changes to the software. At the same time, vendors offering products based on software that would be governed by the proposed GPLv3 rules must continue offering technical and warranty support to customers.
Higher support costs could be in Palm’s future, if it were to honor the proposed GPLv3 provisions; the company would have to allow end-users to essentially break the proverbial “quality seal” on their operating systems, and offer to fix whatever users break, and support whatever tweaks are made. While GPLv3 is still in draft form, it will be interesting to see how provisions governing embedded device makers evolves, and how this affects the use of Linux in cell phones and other gadgets.
