Well, all Palm is doing is having a Garnet emulator on top of their Linux, that to most programs would look exactly like running on the original device, and their new apps will be in linux just like Maemo apps (obviously, different window manager, etc). Basically it'll do very similarly to Styletap does, though it'll help for Palm that they can freely modify the source code of Garnet now. Honestly, any touchscreen device that adds support to run Palm apps natively would get a huge advantage, why else would StyleTap (for WM and S60) be so popular? If there was a Maemo StyleTap type application, I don't see why anyone would see it as a disadvantage.

Palm and it's OS and apps need to die off to make room for better stuff.

Worst. Idea. Ever.

I don't think a Garnet emulation layer is a bad idea at all. I seriously doubt it will happen, but there are plenty of Palm apps I'd like to run on my N800.

Like contacts and email?

I would like to run some apps too , like all the medical apps there are. Only thing the clie was useful for me.

If you want to, for example, make business applications available, how about wine mobile?

By the AllSpark no! If there was any doubt Palm is toast, it was sealed today when Google announced their own Linux-based OS. Palm has been working on their own Linux OS for 3 years now, they're still working on it, and recently announced it wouldn't be ready until 2009. During that time, Nokia, FIC, and now Google have developed their own Linux-based OSes, and Nokia has released 3 devices based on it. Palm's ingenuity in UIs has long been overshadowed by their inability to put together a modern, well, anything. Nokia, please let Palm die already.

(That said, I'd love to have a Palm Tasks-like app on the N8x0. Along with Contacts and Calendar apps that worked right.)

And how is that different from what I've proposed (other than it wouldn't be "-like", it would be the actual thing, running via a compatibility engine)?

Well, most importantly, running Palm apps via compatibility layer would look horrible on an N8x0 screen. Assuming such a layer could do the pixel-doubling Palm devices do, the app would still show up as a 320x320 app in the middle of the tablet's 800x480 screen. That alone is enough to make anyone not want to use it.

Secondarily, as much as the Palm apps "just work," the unfortunate reality of the situation is that the Palm PIMs are aging less than gracefully. The simplicity of the Tasks and Calendar apps has been complicated by multiple dialog boxes with odd behaviors, and the Contacts app on the Treo has a near-horrible list view that I dread having to use.

Finally, current Palm OS barely has a "framework" of any kind; it's a mishmash of Palm OS 5 (Garnet), the long-dead OS 6 (Cobalt), and various hacks Palm put together on the way. Remember my statement about Palm and Linux: 3 other companies have implemented Linux-based mobile OSes in the same time Palm has been working on theirs, and theirs is still 2 years away. Why? It must be the leaden baggage that is Palm OS. It's become a poison, and Palm, Inc. a victim to it's own success. Nokia buying Palm would only infect the fast-developing Nokia with Palm's failure. Best to take what usability lessons can be learned and let it die peacefully.