The days of shock and awe over Linux should by now be in the past for most people. It should therefore surprise no one that PalmSource plans to develop a version of Palm OS for Linux, right?

But, apparently, it surprised a few—some of whom were quite vocal on palminfocenter.com and other message board sites about the move being a harbinger of doom for the software company.

But according to Michael Mace, chief competitive officer at PalmSource, the purchase in December of smart phone software and Linux developer China MobileSoft makes sense for many reasons. “I think this makes the future better. If somebody was concerned about our viability because of the range of resources that Microsoft and Symbian have, or if they were worried about our long-term technology road map, this helps a lot in both areas,” Mace said.

In addition to CMS’ technology, which includes mLinux, its mobile Linux distribution, a portable PIM suite and its developers, Mace said the move allows PalmSource to tap into the Linux community, which has its own special economics and has proven it can compete with Microsoft successfully over time. “It also makes innovation easier, and it’s easier to get drivers and support for new types of components,” and opens up new partnering opportunities with companies that want to work with Linux, he added.
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Source : SDTimes