Palm Strongly Declines BeOS Licensing to BeUnited

Eugenia Loli 2002-01-14 Haiku 123 Comments

There have been many BeOS items in the news lately, not all so good for the BeOS community, though. BeUnited, the organization which tried to license BeOS from Palm, has received today a final answer from Palm: “…we have made a firm decision NOT to license any part of this technology other than that which we incorporate into the Palm OS”. It is already known that the new 32-bit PalmOS will feature some elements of the Be technology, but that OS is built for PDAs, not for the desktop. OSNews learnt that BeUnited will now focus into fully support the Open BeOS and maybe even the BlueOS efforts. YellowTAB, the company that is preparing a BeOS 5 updated version, has no ties to BeUnited, but it is safe to assume that Palm won’t license anything additional (things like BONE or GL, let alone “BeOS 6“) to them either, and we are not sure, judging from Palm’s standpoint today, if they will even be allowed to distribute BeOS NG (their deal is not set in stone yet, Be stopped negotiating with YellowTAB when the time was near to sell their IP to Palm). Read More for David Nagel’s (CEO of the Palm subsidiary, PalmSource, which controls Be’s IP) full email reply.

“Helmar,

We have fully discussed the possibility of licensing the BeOS operating system. At this time we have made a firm decision NOT to license any part of this technology other than that which we incorporate into the Palm OS. There are a variety of reasons for this, both technical and business. We are a small (and new) company that simply must focus all its energy on the principal task of providing great operating systems and other platform
components to the handheld computing and communication device market.

While I understand that this decision may disappoint you, please understand that we make it having thoroughly discussed both the pro’s and con’s of such a decision. It is a final decision.

Sincerely,

David Nagel
President and CEO
PalmSource, Inc.”

About The Author

Eugenia Loli

Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.

Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli

123 Comments

2002-01-15 8:05 pm

Anonymous
After reading 100 comments… I’m kind of amused. I’m as passionate about BeOS as many of you, but there’s a point at which even I have to move on. I’m still using it, btw.

My Palm Pilot (yeah PILOT) still works. It’s still mighty useful. I love it. I don’t think a few thousand people angry at Palm will hurt them, so I’m not going to waste the energy trying to “teach them a lesson” they are incapable of learning anyway. I do think they made a mistake in ignorance; I do believe that they have every intention of dumping the BeOS community (the OS, the users, all of it) as fast as they can so that they can focus on what they bought, for their own uses. Fine, let them. People like to say “I guess that’s just business.” Well, yeah, since you let it be that way. The world is what you make it (or, in passivity, allow it to become).

I agree that this chapter is over. My efforts are now planted firmly in the OBOS camp. BlueOS… no. It’s still a Linux distro. I wish them luck.

Everyone swearing at Palm… just calm down and focus on constructive things. If you’re going to send letters to Palm, send nice ones. Please! More flies with honey, you know? Besides, anger or not, it won’t affect them unless you have $50,000,000 to offer them at the same time. Money is all that matters here. Just because we are visionary does not mean that we can make businesses see what we see.
2002-01-15 9:06 pm

Anonymous
Keep walking man, skip the trolling. You let go whatever fits you, now or 10 years after, in Prague or in bloody Venus.

We go whith what we like, that is the other way. Your idea of aiming to dominate any market is pathetic, you just haven’t get it, have you?
2002-01-15 9:36 pm

Anonymous
Why can’t a full blown desktop PC or even a server Be based on ARM?

Why couldn’t PalmSource create many new platforms including Desktops, HandHeld, Server Appliances, audio boxes, Laptops, Tablets etc… based on the Advanced RISK Machine (ARM) processor? Is it really Advanced or what?

All desktop PC don’t have to Be x86 based! So why not change the world?

It would certainly Be easier to support. Just ask Apple Computers.

Perhaps BeUnited should hire some hardware folks and work with Palm on developing the necessary OS components!

ciao

yc
2002-01-15 9:39 pm

Anonymous
Sorry, that should have read RISC not with a K.

ciao

yc
2002-01-15 9:43 pm

Anonymous
As an ageing (soon 23 gah!) BeOS and Amiga user I can tell you that I honestly don’t care if the other OS’s has the same fancy features as BeOS and/or Amiga, as long as they are being honest about it.

What bothers me is when a company like Microsoft takes an old proved idea, though reasonably unknown to the mainstream users, and stick a large Microsoft logo on it and tries to make people believe that it’s their innovation. _That_ does bother me. Cause I hate when companies are brainwashing people in order to get a little bit closer to world domination.

I don’t have anything against people adopting other peoples ideas, as long as they are being honest.

If I would make a list of the features in BeOS there wouldn’t be many of those features that hasn’t in some way allready been used in other OS’s or apps. But that’s not really the point, it’s the way things are put together, the philosophy and ideals behind it. But I have allready explained that in an earlier post.

About OpenBeOS, BlueOS etc. I don’t expect much from it. I appreciate the effort, but I seriously don’t think that it will rule the world when it’s release. It will probably make me a lot happier though.

I think it’s kinda sad that you obviously haven’t had such strong feelings about something. You can’t understand the emotions involved if you just look at the ones and zeros people call BeOS.
2002-01-15 10:24 pm

Anonymous
http://www.be.com/press/sakoman_letter.html“ rel=”nofollow”>http://web.archive.org/web/20000815060544/

2002-01-16 12:19 am

Anonymous

goodbye BeOS, its been fun…

2002-01-16 12:50 am

Anonymous

>>>Why couldn’t PalmSource create many new platforms including Desktops, HandHeld, Server Appliances, audio boxes, Laptops, Tablets etc… based on the Advanced RISK Machine (ARM) processor?

PalmOS 5.0 is already years behind schedule. Would Sony or HandSpring tolerate any more delay if PalmSource decides to do a mp3 jukebox or staging a desktop OS fight with microsoft? Sony and HandSpring would drop their PalmOS-based PDA like those pro-audio developers dropping beos-based projects the minute PalmSource decides to do something else — and then Palm just lost their 2nd and 3rd biggest customers.

2002-01-16 1:43 am

Anonymous

Everytime a story pops up about WindowsXP, Linux, FreeBSD, QNX, MacOSX etc

err… this is a BeOS story I think that gives BeOS [x]users to complain.

I’ve not seen an Amiga user go on about Amigas on online forums for quite some time….

But they were all crap compared to the C64! Amigas Sucked!:)

linux over NewOS

Choice, it’s nice to have it. I don’t think Linux/X make a good base for an OpenBeOS, I do however wish BlueOS luck, and will give it ago when it comes out.

BeOS is dead

Good, ignore BeOS news. Move on.

I got board of you lot back in 1999

[1] Where dead means no longer maintained.

2002-01-16 1:59 am

Anonymous

So it’s come to this. I am VERY disappointed, but I can’t say I’m surprised. That’s business for you – it doesn’t give a shit about people, only generating more cash. Personally, I hope that the people at Palm do something other than stripping the bones of a great OS & then leaving it to rot – that would be an incredible waste. But, I’ll keep using it as long as my computer runs it. Sure, I may have to run something else in the future – but the OS runs great, & the software I paid for still does the job I got it to do, so WTF.

(Ya know, I always enjoyed the fact the /. label “Anonymous Coward”. Seems fitting…)

2002-01-16 2:05 am

Anonymous

Well i have to say i am disappointed but it’s not entirely unexpected.

it seems obvious to most of us that nothing will happen in terms of a Palm Desktop OS until the DOJ abolish Microsofts anti-competetive bootloader practises and their monopolistic pressurised OEM deals.

Yes in hindsight it’s easy to criticise Be Inc’s decisions. I would have preferred that the infamous “focus shift” announcement had have been worded better…..we would have had Nuendo and a few other Good Things by now.

OpenBeOS is good place to start. There’s already progress and there’s already stuff to download and try, albeit in its’ infancy.

I’ll continue to use and develop for BeOS BONE and possibly 5.1 and really once you’ve tried BeOS it’s difficult to go back to anything else. The myth about driver support is just that – a myth. I mean really it’s not going to support uncommon hardware. Why would it? PC Solaris doesn’t. QNX doesn’t. They support the most common hardware and really to write a driver for your own unsupported hardware is not that difficult. Just go over to http://www.bebits.com/ and check out the abundance of 3rd party drivers there. A lot of them come with source code so you can have a look as well.

Keep the faith people, BeOS isn’t dead until it’s wiped from my hard drive.

cheers

peter

2002-01-16 2:17 am

Anonymous

Why would a Palm desktop OS would magically happens when the bootloader issue is resolved by the feds?

If you take Sony’s and HandSpring’s point of view, Palm Inc. doing a palm desktop OS would be the same as the Be Inc. “focus shift” — nobody can fight Microsoft on the desktop OS market on a part time basis. Sony and HandSpring would drop their PalmOS-based PDA’s right away.

Then what you are advocating for Palm is exactly what Be Inc. did — focus shift to an unknown market with unknown sales potential and loses all your current customers in the process of the focus shift.

2002-01-16 4:46 am

Anonymous

>>If you take Sony’s and HandSpring’s point of view, Palm Inc. doing a palm desktop OS would be the same as the Be Inc. “focus shift”

Well, it does not have to Be a focus shift. Microsoft for example focuses on handhelds, desktops, servers etc… The Microsoft platforms were gradually built. Palm can take a similar approach except that they can use the same foundation. The very scalable BeOS/BeIA environment.

ciao

2002-01-16 5:23 am

Anonymous

Microsoft has 36 billion dollars to start side projects.

Do you really think that anyone can fight Microsoft on their desktop OS turf on a part time basis?

Do you really think Sony and HandSpring have the patience to see their PDA OS provider doing side projects while Palm is years behind schedule on PalmOS 5.0.

2002-01-16 7:26 am

Anonymous

When I first read about the possibility that BeOS might be used on PDAs with ARMs I thought “rubbish”. Why?

I have a computer from the firm that originally developed the ARM processor in 1985, so I know the processor and what it’s capable of.

One of the biggest problems is floating-point, as there has never been an ARM processor with an in-built FPU! Sure, there was the FPA10 coprocessor for the ARM3, but none of the latter chips had something similar. The ARM10 has specs for an FPU called VFP10, but I don’t think any firm made a real product with it, not to mention that its performance doesn’t come anywhere near that of a Pentium 3.

The fastest ARM chip is probably the XScale by Intel, but they aren’t available yet and they also lack an FPU.

The main problem here is that according to what was said by Be developers, BeOS strongly relies on floating point performance.

And did you even encode MP3 on a system without an FPU? It takes *ages*!

The ARM was a great processor when it was designed, as it only had to compete against the 68000 and the 80286 at that time.

Now it’s the most used 32-bit embedded processor due to its low power need, and also due to the great work of ARMs former CEO Robin Saxby, who managed to licence ARM to almost any semiconductor firm buy Hitachi.

But is it really capable to compete with Pentium 4 and Athlon XP and run an operating system that had been called the MediaOS for some time? Surely not!

Sorry to burst your bubbles, but that’s the facts…

And what about Palm releasing a PC operating system?

They’d be nuts to do so! They already compete with Microsoft in the PDA sector (WinCE) and are currently struggling quite a bit, as the Palm PDAs lack multi-media performance. Do you really think they also want to compete with Microsoft in the PC sector where Be already failed?

I don’t think so!

2002-01-16 10:12 am

Anonymous

I for one, and hopefully many other BeOS enthusiasts won’t buy any Palm product.

Palm had a chance to do something good for the desktop community for once and win a good reputation while hurting their enemies Micro$oft for once. They chose different. We should now choose not to but anything from Palm. There are other non-M$ options such as psion etc.

Just my 2c

2002-01-16 10:17 am

Anonymous

PALM ??? WE DON’T NEED NO STINKING PALM !!!

2002-01-16 3:42 pm

Anonymous

i can’t shake the feeling that BlueOS is just a glorified linux distro. nor do i don’t see much going on there, either. i just don’t see what’s so exciting about making a bunch of api wrappers and a BeOS themed window manager for X.

OBOS, however, is communicating quite a bit with the BeOS community, seems to be making relatively swift progress, and apparently, the Glass Elevator stuff is coming along nicely, too. they also seem to be fixing some of the problems that BeOS R5 had along the way to OBOS R1. i am cautiously optimistic about this effort; i think it has the best chance to succeed.

2002-01-16 4:25 pm

Anonymous

So you people wants Palm to give you 11 millions dollars worth of software to the community for free and in the mean time pisses Microsoft off — what does Palm gain in return, absolutely nothing.

So a few hundred die-hard BeOS fans will boycott Palm products — so what? If the average price of a PalmPilot is $300.00 — then it would take 36,600 die-hard BeOS fans to dent their sales for 11 million dollars.

2002-01-16 6:55 pm

Anonymous

A couple of qustions(im a end user)

1. since BEOS pe is already released in puplic do they need Plam’s permition to make a CD(s) based on it? **like YellowTab**

2.Couldn’t they write a loader with the new IDE replacement,Mail replacement,open tracker,Betheme (with a custom BeUnited theme), a probe to see if any new drivers(maybe a pre installer from windows?) and then install the driver needed,maybe an option to install the best from Bebits, and maybe licience for the inclusion of “Becasso,binkjet2.5,InsiteDesigner,Corum,Productive,ect” and sell a “BEOS distro” and make some money?

3. Use any money made to advance their agenda and upgrade the Distro to OBOS when its ready? (they shoud try to licience their “distro” contents somehow so others can’t use it!

****all above is wishful thinking if ?1 is a yes****

Sure beats a linux distro for the averge and newbe users

Bedabbler

2002-01-17 4:37 am

Anonymous

Let’s face it. Be Inc had their chance to make something out of BeOS and they blew it. Microsoft will continue to own the desktop until Apple decides to bring their OS to PC’s or when the linux community gets their act together. But the odds of either of those 2 happening (or even both at the same time) are much greater than any resuscitation of a market for BeOS on the desktop. It’s just like the Amiga well except that at least Amiga had a hey day when developers released stuff for it before the other platforms.

What Palm should do is what they are doing-taking what they can and making the best handheld OS from it. They know what’s good about the Be technologies but unlike Be Inc and some people here, they know a little about reality too

2002-01-21 7:03 am

Anonymous

My prediction is that Palm will never release a desktop OS. From all I’ve seen heard & read, Palm is falling into the trap of ignorance is bliss. As ecological history has taught us, if you adapt to a point where you’re specialized in just one way, any good shift of the enviroment will snuff you out 95% of the time. In this case Palm appearse to be oblivios to the fact that the pda marcket is fairly saturated, but yet they aren’t indicating that they are going to branch out into other markets. Any one whos had ny kind of economics class knows that unless you monopolize a market (or have a fish hook no one else can top), you need to diversifiy your product line. & I definitly agree with the notion Palm considers the BeOS community a pain in the arse.

ps: sorry for misspellings / lack of any cohearance, its 2 am & insomnia sucks

2002-01-21 7:25 am

Anonymous

some one play the funeral march, its over………