Successor to the Palm OS Goes to Licensees

Access has released the Product Development Kit (PDK) that licensees need to create smartphones and handhelds running the Linux-based successor to the Palm OS.

In addition, this company has also begun distributing a pre-release version of the ALP Software Development Kit (SDK) to a number of developers, allowing them to start work on applications for this platform,

Choosing a Name

Way back in 2004, the company then known as PalmSource announced that it was going to base the next generation of the Palm OS on Linux.

In the intervening years, a lot has changed. PalmSource was bought out by Access, Co., Ltd., for example. And PalmSource sold all the rights to the brand name "Palm" to Palm, Inc.

Nevertheless, development has continued on the Linux-based successor to the Palm OS.

Last spring, Access unveiled a pre-release version of its upcoming operating system. It couldn't be called the Palm OS because, as mentioned earlier, this company had sold its rights to this name. Therefore it was called the Access Linux Program (ALP), although at the time this was just a code-name.

In a rare case of the code name becoming the real name, Access has announced that the official name of its upcoming operating system for handhelds and smartphone will be the Access Linux Program (ALP).

More information is available on Access' web site.

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