Earlier today, the Linux Phone Standards (Lips) Forum launched itself into the mobile OS market, as an alternative to the likes of Mirosoft of Symbian (see 'Lips' Forum For Linux Lovers). One founding member of Lips, PalmSource, is particular well-known to the readers of this Website and no stranger to Linux.

PalmSource was once the software arm of Palm, Inc., the company that kickstarted the handheld market we know today. Spun off on its own a couple of years ago, it has struggled. A couple of months ago, Japanese firm ACCESS - known chiefly for its mobile Netfront browser - acquired the platform developer.

The most recent edition of the traditional Palm operating system (OS), Cobalt, (unveiled almost two years ago) most likely won't make it to a device in your hand. In the meantime, PalmSource licensees like Palm have done pretty well making their own adjustments to the current Palm platform, known as Garnet. They'll need a new version of the OS eventually, however.

Hence, Linux. That is where PalmSource's future lays.

The company made that clear with the acquisition of China Mobile Soft Limited (CMS) about a year ago. CMS offers a Linux-based phone platform that PalmSource plans to use to create a Linux version of the Palm platform.

This Linux-based Palm platform should feature the same interface and software frameworks as the traditional Palm OS, which would continue to be supported. As a result, it should be capable of running all regular Palm software.

PalmSource vice president of engineering wrote in the open letter at the time of the CMS acquisition that "We think the combination of Palm OS and Linux can attract more mobile licensees and developers, create more new devices, and bring in more users than either could on its own."

"Participating in the open source development of Linux is a natural extension of our culture," he continued. "Our business has always been based on open innovation. Unlike certain other mobile platform companies, we encourage licensees to make changes to our OS, and we don't put onerous restrictions on what sort of hardware they can create. Also, we try not to prey on our application developers; we rely on them to provide many of the most important features of our platform."

Last March, PalmSource was accepted into the Consumer Electronics Linux Forum (CELF). CELF is an open standards-based consortium that encourage the adoption of Linux for the development of consumer electronics devices.

A few months later, PalmSource announced it would combine its expertise with MontaVista and to develop integrated Linux solutions for handset vendors and mobile operators. Consequently, the Palm platform provider has enrolled in MontaVista's Mobilinux Open Framework partner program and, for its part, MontaVista has signed up for PalmSource's Palm Powered Mobile World initiative.

When we spoke with PalmSource at the CTIA Wireless 2005 trade show and conference in New Orleans in March, PalmSource VP of business development Albert Chu explained a bit more about how the acquisition of China Mobile Soft (CMS) would affect the company and the Palm OS in general.

17 licensees in 58 phone models in China use CMS software. It is also one of the top three independent mobile software vendors in the country.

He said, PalmSource would like CMS's applications to become qualified for more standards around the world. For example, its MMS (Multimedia Message Service) application is certified for China but not internationally.

PalmSource plans to create a version of Palm OS Cobalt based on a Linux smartphone platform developed by CMS. Chu told us the company views Linux as a strategic move, one that is also being explored by many handset vendors and carriers, principally outside of the U.S. The Chinese government, in particular, has made Linux support at all levels of technological development an important goal.

It is apparent that the Linux edition of Cobalt would become the main version of the Palm platform moving forward. It would be capable of running standard Palm applications through an emulation layer. The company also plans to make as many of CMS’s current lineup of mobile software Palm OS compatible as well.