[openbeos] Re: Name suggestion
- From: John Tegen <john.tegen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "'openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'" <openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 09:23:30 -0700
Without going into too much detail, Palm's basic reply was:
1) Yes, we own the copyrights and trademarks from Be Incorporated.
2) We reserve the right to enforce our copyrights and trademarks.
3) We are not currently interested in developing the BeOS (and please stop
asking).
This conversation took place around last December/January. It is unknown if
the latest development would change their mind. Palm's market is handheld
devices. Period. They are losing market share to MS, their stocks are low,
and probably getting a lot of pressure from shareholders and their board.
They need to focus on their core capabilities. They are not in the desktop
market. That market is too crowded and controlled by MS. For Palm/Be to
even consider venturing back into that market, MS will need to be
neutralized to some extent with current anti-trust suits, the US economy has
to turn around to provide addition investment in that area, and Palm/Be has
to see a viable ROI. It is also unlikely that the board and key investors
would allow Palm/Be to enter the desktop market until they can re-gain
market share in the handheld market; demonstrating that they are able to
compete against MS.
By the time all that occurs, it will be a couple of years from now. It is
likely Palm is not spending any resources on moving their BeOS forward. So
by the time they would even consider the possibility, their BeOS will be 4-5
years older with no growth and OBOS will just begin to reach R5 status.
Meanwhile, Windows and Apple will have moved even further down the
development trail.
Take for a moment, that they want to enter the desktop market again. They
would take minimally a couple of years to polish off their BeOS. They might
see OBOS (or what ever name it is in 2-3 years), as a competitor and either
will wish to adopt or destroy. Who can tell which. Like most products,
there has to be a consumer demand or market potential. The majority of
regular consumers don't even know what an operating system is let alone that
others might exist. That will be up to the distro's to inform and market to
their customers. And unless alternative OS's can seamlessly interoperate
with MS products, it will have limited consumer draw. But a 0.5% market is
still very large!
So basically, don't worry about Palm/Be until they actually and publicly
announce something. Get a good name for the OS to limit your exposure. Be
careful in using words that show a relationship with the BeOS. And keep
coding. A lot of people are watching your efforts. You should all be very
pleased with the team work and progress accomplished so far. I also hope
you all are learning a lot form your efforts and don't feel it is a waste of
time.
Cheers,
John
-----Original Message-----
From: pascal@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:pascal@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2002 6:00 PM
To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [openbeos] Re: Name suggestion
Hello!
On Thu, 27 June 2002, John Tegen wrote
> Yes (asking Palm), and the lawyer representing Lindows
> is a friend of my family, plus I just finished a law
class
> on this topic.
>
> John
So could you develop a little bit?
Did Palm reply?
If yes, what did Palm reply?
Pascal
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