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But that doesn't explain phone and home electronics manufacturers like Nokia, Palm, Motorola, RIM, Samsung, Sony and Creative who weren't as invested in the MS

by halo 14y ago

But that doesn't explain phone and home electronics manufacturers like Nokia, Palm, Motorola, RIM, Samsung, Sony and Creative who weren't as invested in the MS stack as the PC OEMs. I suspect a major reason was the reaction to the Palm Foleo, a lightweight instant-on Linux-powered ARM subnotebook designed for web and email. Palm were widely mocked and berated in the press for developing a non-Windows non-x86 computer and ultimately canceled the device. Is it any wonder other companies were reluctant to follow in their footsteps?

gnaffle 14y ago
I don't think this is the reason. I think the main reason was that many of those companies were invested in their own platforms, so most likely every new technology or project would be evaluated in terms of "how does it fit with our existing platform strategy". Even Nokia kept their Maemo tablets as a hobby project even though they were taken by surprise at their popularity.
tmzt 14y ago
Of course, and the Foleo was followed almost immediately with the x86-based netbooks. These devices seem to have grown out of the OLPC and intel's long time goal of shrinking their chips for mobile devices. But why was there so much opposition to the Foleo? The software seemed quite useful, it had WiFi so even the lack cellular wasn't that much of a limitation. Netbooks may have run Windows desktop software but were largely used for web browsing and Microsoft Office. I've heard the argument from some on the Palm team that the Foleo had to die, that it was more important to focus on the new webOS platform. But what software was used in the Foleo? A custom system built around Docs-To-Go. A menu which married keyboard-driven interfaces and full screen applications. The concern was that the Foleo wouldn't run the same software as the new hardware devices and also wouldn't run PalmOS software that the Palm developers were relying on, though they all knew that those revenue streams were already drying up. Of course, the new devices barely ran PalmOS software anyway with a required additional download of a trial of an emulator. That wasn't the death of the new platform though, Android and iOS were. I'm aware that the Foleo was underpowered, but it was the first generation of a new device. It was the first netbook, and it is very similar in a lof of important ways to the new Microsoft Surface going on the size of the display and use of ARM processor.

by halo 14y ago

gnaffle 14y ago

I don't think this is the reason. I think the main reason was that many of those companies were invested in their own platforms, so most likely every new technology or project would be evaluated in terms of "how does it fit with our existing platform strategy". Even Nokia kept their Maemo tablets as a hobby project even though they were taken by surprise at their popularity.

tmzt 14y ago

Of course, and the Foleo was followed almost immediately with the x86-based netbooks. These devices seem to have grown out of the OLPC and intel's long time goal of shrinking their chips for mobile devices. But why was there so much opposition to the Foleo? The software seemed quite useful, it had WiFi so even the lack cellular wasn't that much of a limitation. Netbooks may have run Windows desktop software but were largely used for web browsing and Microsoft Office. I've heard the argument from some on the Palm team that the Foleo had to die, that it was more important to focus on the new webOS platform. But what software was used in the Foleo? A custom system built around Docs-To-Go. A menu which married keyboard-driven interfaces and full screen applications. The concern was that the Foleo wouldn't run the same software as the new hardware devices and also wouldn't run PalmOS software that the Palm developers were relying on, though they all knew that those revenue streams were already drying up. Of course, the new devices barely ran PalmOS software anyway with a required additional download of a trial of an emulator. That wasn't the death of the new platform though, Android and iOS were. I'm aware that the Foleo was underpowered, but it was the first generation of a new device. It was the first netbook, and it is very similar in a lof of important ways to the new Microsoft Surface going on the size of the display and use of ARM processor.