ZDNet: When I write about one handheld or another, several members of ZDNet's audience invariably respond with a technical support request because they think we have all the answers. A recurring question for the Palm OS has been getting old applications to run on the new OS.

Nagel: You're right. It hasn't been perfect. Not every application works. But the vast majority of them do. We do not get a lot of complaints about this.

ZDNet: But what about the way some products are shipping with the old OS while others are shipping with the new one? If all the apps worked, doesn't it make sense for everyone to ship with the new OS?

Nagel: It's not as bad as you make it sound. Of about 28 devices currently in the pipeline, only about three are on OS 4 and they're the ones being sold in China. So, that's one of the things that could have been nightmare for us, but it actually hasn't been one. I'm sure there are some glitches, but for the most part, it has been a pretty smooth transition.

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ZDNet: I still think Java is a better direction. Based on what you've said so far, you're clearly trying to target and demonstrate some superiority over Microsoft and PocketPC. There's no one single development community that's more focused on that mission than the Java one. With PalmSource remaining focused on PalmOS, the phone guys working with Symbian and Java, and with RIM going Java all the way, Microsoft is succeeding at dividing and conquering. But, if you joined the battle, the outcome might be different. The other benefit is that Palm users immediately get access to a lot of Java applications that are portable from one device to the next. That's a strong selling point of Java--the compatibility of the applications with a variety of devices.

Nagel: Since the beginning of last year, we've gone from 12,500 applications available for the PalmOS platform to about 19,000 now. In terms of developers, we're up to 280,000. We're getting our share of I.Q. points focused on the platform, so we're not worried about lack of software. We have a large enough share of the market.

ZDNet: OK, why not have your cake and eat it too? You can stay with the PalmOS apps but still make it a great Java platform and then you could see which way the developers gravitate.

Nagel: I have no problem with that. I'd love to work with Sun. But Sun is very difficult to work with. They do not make it easy. We were one of the early members of the JCP. We tried to build a PDA profile, sort of a J2ME grown up a little bit. But we decided ourselves that that was sort of a bifurcation and that it created more problems than it solved. Sun didn't like it. They wouldn't support it, so we just decided that we weren't going to go through with it and that we would leave J2ME be.

ZDNet: Are you saying that PalmSource followed the rules of the JCP's framework and Sun vetoed it? Sun says it has never vetoed anything at the JCP.

Nagel: No, they didn't veto it. We actually got it approved. But in the end, there wasn't a lot of enthusiasm for promoting an extended platform. But I just want to address the attitude that you described where everything else goes away, operating systems become kernels, and everything runs on a runtime like Java. I just don't believe it.

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