Palm announces Linux-based OS

Speaking of PDAs, Palm, one time king of the PDA hill, has finally announced that it will release a homegrown, Linux-based OS for its next generation of handhelds. The OS will ship with Opera and will utilize Chattermail (which Palm recently acquired) for messaging. Such an OS has been rumored for quite some time and is essentially a no-brainer for the company: Palm has always won customers over on the strength of its distinctive operating system. However, increased competition from the likes of Windows Mobile (which Palm now offers on some of its products and will continue to sell, even after launching the new OS) has made the Palm OS a tougher sell. Too little, too late? We'll have to wait and see, though the fate of Palm may rest on the company's ability to develop a killer OS. The new OS is set to ship by the end of the year.

For more on the new OS:
- see this article at Palm Infocenter