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Access, which bought up PalmSource, has confirmed that the future Palm OS will be Linux-based. You'll be able to run Linux apps on future Palm devices that use the OS, but you'll also be able to run current Palm apps (well, most of them).

PalmSource was already walking down the Linux path when it was acquired by Access. This was partially because of the complete failure of any device manufacturers to license Palm OS 6, the next generation version of the current Palm OS 5 that incorporated lots of lovely technology from the acquisition of Be's technology. The question is, will anyone bother with this new Palm OS either?

Sure, it's easier to find Linux developers than Palm OS developers. But the last big Linux PDA, which was produced by Sharp, is no longer available in the UK because of lack of popularity. Ultimately, what made Palm successful was the Palm interface in combination with existing software. If there are no good reasons to move to the next OS, you lose compatibility with a swathe of software and the Palm interface gets replaced with something more Linux-y, why bother migrating?

I get the suspicion that by the time the last Palm device gets made, it'll still be running Palm OS 5, not Linux.

One of the big announcements of MacWorld was the licensing by Microsoft of Flip4Mac's QuickTime components as a replacement for Windows Media Player (WMP) for Macintosh.

On the face of it, this should be good: one fewer media player to worry about; Windows media files accessible within any QuickTime-aware application; a promise of continued updates.

Unfortunately, practice has thrown a spanner in the theoretical works. For one thing, Flip4Mac isn't very good. It frequently has problems displayed WMV content in browsers, despite an accompanying plug-in. It also is slow at converting WMV within QuickTime, a process no other codec I know of has to go through anyway.

But the biggest problem is wretched DRM. Since QuickTime sends a different user agent to servers than Windows Media Player, streams such as those used by radio station XFM will refuse to work with Flip4Mac. It also seems to have even more problems that WIndows Media Player when it comes to viewing content such as Channel 4's The IT Crowd previews; while WMP at least has a stab at redirecting to the Channel 4 web site, Flip4Mac just serves garbled music and a white screen.

Unless Flip4Mac gets a big boost of Microsoft R&D, Mac users are going to be third-class citizens when it comes to Windows Media content. Pity the poor Linux users who come in fourth though.

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, but Adobe have confirmed that none of their products, including those acquired from Macromedia, are going to run natively on Intel-based Macs until next year. That means that it will be at least a year to 18 months before two of the major application suites - Microsoft Office and Creative Suite – are Intel-native.

I've been in two minds about whether to buy an iMac G5 or an iMac Dual Core (three minds, if you include the “not going to buy a new computer at all” option), but combined with the recent price drops on the G5, I'm now pretty much erring in favour of the G5. After all, for half of the iMac's lifespan, it won't run the apps I use every day at full speed. With Windows XP booting and Virtual PC for Intel chips looking like extreme improbabilities at the moment as well, the G5 is definitely the better option for me.

Fancy a preview of the next version of Google's search algorithm? Then take a visit to Matt Cutts' blog where he'll tell you all about it and where you can go to use it.

You write an article, naturally everything changes almost instantly. Intel, Motorola, Nokia and Texas Instruments have clubbed together to create a mobile TV alliance that will promote DVB-H. Would have been useful for me to know about it before I wrote this piece for iSight, but that's journalism for you.

Still, I don't think it changes things too much: these guys were all heavy promoters of DVB-H, as is much of the industry. All this means is they're working together on it. Given the number of alliances, groups, unions and so on that are promoting one technology or the other in various other fields without much to show for it, I'm sure it'll have a similar effect on the mobile TV market. The only thing that matters there are the customers: no matter how interested network providers are, without consumer interest, it's for nothing. And if the 3G market has shown us anything, it's that consumers really aren't that impressed with what network providers have to offer beyond voice and text.

Ars Technica reports that GMail's full-stop/period system has bugs after all. You may recall I pointed this out ages ago, complained to Google about it, and was told that someone was merely guessing my email address and it was impossible for someone else to have a dotless version of my GMail address. Bloody Google.

Technorati Tags: gmail

Someone's finally got hold of an iMac Dual Core and tried to boot it into Windows XP and a variety of other PC operating systems. The results aren't promising for anyone wanting to set up a dual- or triple-boot machine, since the install disks of neither Windows XP SP2 nor SuSE Linux were recognised by the iMac as viable booting options.

The exact reason for this issue isn't clear: either Apple has deliberately included software that precludes the possibility of running different operating systems (unlikely since Apple has already issued a statement saying they wouldn't) or it might not have included the BIOS-compatibility layers necessary for its EFI firmware to work with operating systems that don't have native EFI support.

This makes an Intel-native Virtual PC for OS X that much more necessary. Worryingly for those who need to run Windows apps on their Macs, MacBU's Roz Ho has been quoted as saying Microsoft is only looking into producing a version of the software for Mactels, but has held back from a firm commitment.

I think that's entirely understandable, though. Clearly, migrating Virtual PC from PowerPC to Intel chips is far more complicated than ripping out the code for translating Intel instructions to PowerPC instructions or porting Virtual PC for Windows to OS X. If Mactels were simply able to boot Windows straight from the standard installer disks and then run it natively once installed, where would the incentive be for anyone to buy Virtual PC? Virtual PC offers other features that make it more desirable than just simple Windows emulation (think of the roll-back options, the ability to archive just a single file when you want to backup a whole PC, the ability to share files between OS X and Windows and so on), but for most people those features probably wouldn't be enough to justify the purchase. So I think Microsoft could be forgiven for deciding that creating a Mactel-friendly Virtual PC really wouldn't be worth the investment if that were the case.

With direct booting off the menu, though, that puts the MacBU in a far better position. The investment necessary for the port will probably be quite high - remember how long it took to get a G5-compatible version of Virtual PC up and running then imagine how much extra work a complete change in processor architecture brings to the table. But without instruction translation required any longer, Virtual PC's emulation could potentially run at near-native levels.

That would give the software real selling points: buy Virtual PC and you get easy, drag and drop Windows XP installation, Windows running identically to on a PC but in its own little sandbox so it can't do any damage if it gets infected with viruses, and you'll have complete access to all your OS X files and programs at the same time.

If anyone can get Windows to run natively on a Mac, it's Microsoft. If they can't do it because Apple hasn't included BIOS emulation in its firmware (or for some other reason I can't think of right now), then probably nobody can without doing some hefty boot driver programming work. That would certainly put native Windows out of reach of ordinary Mac users and make Virtual PC for Mactels the only real solution for a dual boot machine.

So think of any future MacBU announcements about Virtual PC as a litmus test. If they say it'll be discontinued, then in all probability, it's because running Windows natively on a Mactel is possible. After all, Virtual PC is a profitable product so they'd have no reason to discontinue it otherwise.

But, if the MacBU announces Virtual PC for Mactel will be forthcoming then that'll be almost certain confirmation that native Windows on Mactels is impossible.

To be honest, I'd really rather have that than native Windows anyway so I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

UPDATE: I should probably have mentioned that Windows Vista includes EFI support. Since that'll be out at the start of 2007 (on the current schedule) and it'll probably be the best part of a year before a Virtual PC for Mactels could be produced, whether Vista will work on a Mactel will be a big factor in determining Virtual PC's future. As of yet, no one has tried installing Vista on a Mactel and reported the results publicly.

Technorati Tags: macs, mactels, macworld, virtual pc

Updates and related entries
January 17, 2006: Ars Technica has put the iMac Dual Core through its paces. Following on from my entry earlier today about booting Windows, we now have confirmation that the iMac won't boot Vista either: “Just for kicks, I tried to boot...

Google has a reputation for being the anti-Microsoft. With its “Don't be evil” tagline, many regard as a good company whose products can be trusted. Never mind that most of its products have problems, that's its image and most people are willing to trust it.

The new Google Pack builds on that trust to offer services that no one would accept from Microsoft. It's essentially just a simple service-configuration tool plus a bundle of software: the Google toolbar, Google Earth, the outstanding Picasa, Google Desktop, plus Symantec Anti-Virus, Firefox, Adobe Reader and Ad-Aware SE Personal. Most people with a passing acquaintance with Microsoft's past history would be loathe to accept any of these products from the Great Satan or other companies.

Cleverly, however, Google can avoid this problem and both build on and improve its “trust rating” through Google Pack. People trust Google (and its promise that it hasn't been paid to include the software in Google Pack) so are willing to install the software; and since the software is designed to make PCs easier to use and more secure, they'll end up trusting Google even more. This will apply even more to newbies: all any PC aficionado has to do is point them at Google Pack when they first get their computer and Google will have them for life.

Google is effectively counteracting the common wisdom that big corporations are out to suck us dry and using the respect it earns to help other companies rehabilitate their images. All this, while implying that Microsoft is not to be trusted. Clever. Very clever.

There's an interview with the Windows Vista kernel team over on the MSDN network. It's well worth watching, just to see what's going on at the lower levels of Windows (in case you thought MS simply had a team of trained monkeys working down there). I've met the VP in charge of the team, Rob Short, who's featured in the video, and he certainly knows what he's talking about as many of the improvements that went into Windows 2003 Server show.

Rob Enderle, who's probably best known for spouting unconvincing opinions about Apple and Microsoft, is now arguing that the Apple-Intel relationship is going to be rocky in 2006. For once, I think he's right.

I've spoken to Enderle and he clearly knows what he's talking about: it's just his conclusions that are frequently the problem. Here, however, he's spot on.

Apple is notoriously bad at dealing with partners: its resellers frequently get a kicking and have to suffer competition from Apple Stores while simultaneously dealing with high wholesale prices that make it impossible to offer significantly cheaper prices; equally, high-profile partnerships such as those with IBM (G5 chips and Via Voice), Motorola (G4 chips/ROKR phones) and Sony-Ericsson have all been truly badly handled.

Intel has been equally inept and arrogant. So the only chance of a smooth relationship being carved out between the two is if they both realise they're never going to be able to push each other around. I hold out little hope of that happening.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Intel

The BBC is reporting that Microsoft, Sun and Google are to fund a lab to research how to make systems management simpler. Sounds a lot like IBM's autonomic computing strategy, but with a greater focus on software than hardware. However, barring one or two interesting spin-offs, I don't see this as anything more exciting than a well-funded recruitment fair.

Technorati Tags: autonomic computing, Google, IBM, Microsoft

Probably not, despite a claim from a well-placed source. Ars Technica lists some of the reasons why.

Technorati Tags: Google, Opera, browsers

NTL is the worst ISP in the country, apparently. Anyone who's had to cope with its customer service will know why. But subsidiary TeleWest came out top of the ISP pops thanks to its customer service. Isn't that odd? Maybe TeleWest could give NTL some hints?

Technorati Tags: NTL, TeleWest

Sun is to open up more of its enterprise software. Ever-falling marketshare forced the decision, I suspect, and making everything in its stack open source is bound to get it goodwill from the techies.

It's not a position they would have taken if they could have avoided it: I remember asking the UK MD of Sun at the launch of their first Sun Linux products whether they would open up Solaris. His response? “What, and give away the crown jewels?”

Technorati Tags: Open source, Sun

So Apple are coming to take the G5 back. I'm gutted. After life with an 800MHz G4 iMac, a Quad G5 was something else altogether. I'm going to be holding a small memorial service on Sunday, if that's all right.

The impending repossession has set me thinking though. Why is that hardware vendors expect their hardware back after you've reviewed it, when software vendors don't?

Technorati Tags: free gifts, PR, reviews