With the recent announcement by MotionApps that webOS 2.0 would not include the necessary files to enable its Classic PalmOS emulator to continue to function, Classic users have been scrambling to plan how to transition away from their remaining mission-critical PalmOS apps. Among the many PalmOS apps still in active use is HanDBase, a flexible, powerful relational database that enabled users to create more than 2000 "applets" for a huge number of functions from medical to education to personal.

While DDH Software, the developer of HanDBase, offers versions of the software for almost every major platform (desktop and mobile), it does not have a webOS app. Nor, apparently, is one currently in the works, according to DDH’s president and owner, Dave Haupert. In a pair of e-mails last week, Dave laid out his great respect for Palm, PalmOS and webOS, but also explained the company’s lack of plans for a webOS version of HanDBase, driven both by the current state of webOS development tools, and the unknown number of potential customers. With his permission, we are sharing his words with our community (you’ll find them below).

Here’s hoping that the many existing and potential HanDBase users now on webOS devices demonstrate their interest by contacting DDH, and that the Developer Relations folks and their colleagues at HP/Palm continue and expand their efforts to encourage and support not only new developers, but those that (like DDH) are already aware of the power of webOS and the loyalty of the Palm user community.

(The text of Dave’s e-mails can be found after the break.)

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According to multiple news reports, Microsoft has just agreed to license multiple smartphone-related patents (74 in all, according to the Wall Street Journal), including those involving technology created by Palm.

In fact, the Palm technology is being licensed to Microsoft not by Palm or HP but by Access Co., Ltd., the Japanese company that owns the rights to PalmOS after having acquired Palm spin-off company PalmSource in 2005. (Access’ independence from Palm is notably clear in its having recently developed and marketed Graffiti handwriting technology for Android phones, as we reported in July.)

Microsoft’s new licenses from Access, together with others obtained as part of the same deal from Acacia Research Corporation, may help Microsoft avoid or fight some of the ongoing smartphone-related patent suits being crossfiled all over the world. It is not clear, though, what implications this move by Microsoft may have for Palm itself. It is possible that, under the terms of the licenses and/or because of the original Palm/Palmsource relationship, Microsoft might be less likely or able to bring smartphone patent claims against Palm, and vice versa. It’s certainly a safe bet, though, that Palm retains its own rights to use PalmSource-derived technology now owned by Access, regardless of the Microsoft deal. (PalmSource’s patents can be seen on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office here.)

Sources: Wall Street Journal; InformationWeek (Thanks to Brian for the tip!)

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PalmOS veterans fondly remember Graffiti, Palm’s easy and reliable character recognition method that was its first innovation (predating even its own devices, since it launched as a software package for Apple’s Newton), and that paved the way for its phenomenal success in the PDA marketplace. While Palm’s own Graffiti fell victim to a longstanding and expensive Xerox patent dispute and was replaced by the less-useful Graffiti 2, many of us still long for unistroke character entry for our modern webOS devices.

While we wait for some homebrew developer to take this on (hint, hint!), Android users have just gotten Graffiti for their devices, courtesy of (ironically enough) Access, the company to which PalmOS veterans fondly remember Graffiti, Palm’s easy and reliable character recognition method that was its first innovation (predating even its own devices, since it launched as a software package for Apple’s Newton), and that paved the way for its phenomenal success in the PDA marketplace. While Palm’s own Graffiti fell victim to a longstanding and expensive Xerox patent dispute and was replaced by the less-useful Graffiti 2, many of us still long for unistroke character entry for our modern webOS devices. While we wait for some homebrew developer to take this on (hint, hint!), Android users have just gotten Graffiti for their devices, courtesy of (ironically enough) Access, the company to which Palm sold its PalmSource software division back in 2005, and which now has the official rights to Graffiti following the settlement of the Xerox case. We wish our AndroidCentral colleagues fun scribbling on their screens! Source: PalmInfoCenter, via Engadget”>Palm sold its PalmSource software division back in 2005, and which now has the official rights to Graffiti following the settlement of the Xerox case. We wish our AndroidCentral colleagues fun scribbling on their screens!

Source: PalmInfoCenter, via Android Central 

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Among the new 3D games for the Palm Pre that hit the App Catalog last week were two old favorites from my PalmOS days: Monopoly and Scrabble. Having spent countless hours playing Handmark Monopoly and Niggle (the freeware game that evolved into Handmark’s Scrabble, which I installed for this test), including currently via Classic, thought it would be fun to compare the webOS versions to their PalmOS predecessors. My take? It’s a split decision.

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Good news for Palm Pixi owners who happen to be die-hard PalmOS Classic fans. If you are one of the Classic-lovers who migrated to webOS but still use some legacy PalmOS apps and/or like the look and feel of the old PalmOS, MotionApps has come to the rescue. MotionApps has adjusted their popular PalmOS emulator [...]

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Bad news for those of you who need to edit and create Microsoft Office documents while on the go and were hoping for a native webOS solution before years end. DataViz, developer of the popular Documents To Go suite of software (and the company responsible for Doc View in webOS) have confirmed on their website what we were speculating about last month: that they won’t be releasing the webOS version of their software until "early 2010":

As Palm’s document solution of choice for over 10 years, DataViz is happy to tell you that we currently plan to release Documents To Go for webOS in early 2010, allowing you to edit and create Microsoft® Word, Excel® and PowerPoint® files on your Pre!

Their website had previously stated "later this year" for a release date.  Not all hope is lost for those who still need that functionality, however.  While this solution may not be as elegant as a native webOS app, remember that you can still use the PalmOS version of the document editing software in Classic to tide you over until Docs To Go is finally released sometime next year. 

This makes webOS the only major smartphone platform currently not supported by Documents to Go, which can’t be a good thing if you’re a small, struggling smartphone maker trying to gain traction in the corporate market.

Thanks to mwchambers7 for sending this in!

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Disappointed that you haven’t been able to try the recently released Classic 2.0 PalmOS emulator that brings with it enhancements like full HotSync and Bluetooth support, because you’ve already evaluated an earlier version? 

You can now put that disappointment rest. MotionApps has announced the availability of a new 10 day trial of Classic 2.0 for anyone to try, whether you have an expired trial of a previous version or not.

You can grab the latest iteration of Classic from the App Catalog.

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To some the Palm Pre may not have sold as well as other phones (read iPhone), but those who understood Palm and Sprint’s strategy know that it was never the goal. Even Palm will agree …

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3. The Missing Sync for Palm Pre for Windows Pre-Release Now Available

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MotionApps just let us know that they’ve got a demo up of HotSync for Classic, which should hopefully be coming soon.

It’s not as dead-simple as your traditional USB-based HotSync (which is a bummer), but if you can grab your PC’s IP address, you can do Hotsync over WiFi (which is a sweet deal). We’re also pretty impressed with the app installation process, which also can happen over WiFi instead of sideloading to a particular directory.

We should note that as with all things Classic – the data you sync here will live only in Classic, you won’t be able to use this functionality to get information from Palm Desktop onto your Pre’s core apps.

Parsing MotionApp’s post a little bit, when they write "While we are waiting for the highly anticipated update from Palm which will bring HotSync support to Classic users," all we’re reading is "highly anticipated update from Palm."  We’re guessing that means that rather than pushing out a Classic update directly, HotSync support will be rolled into the next webOS update. We also know that webOS 1.2 is out there, hopefully HotSync support in Classic won’t be the only feature.

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According to MotionApps, by far the single most requested feature for their Palm OS emulator on the Pre, “Classic,” is HotSync and it’s not hard to believe. Rest assured though, with this admission comes also …

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1. “Classic” Developers, MotionApps, Extend Trial Period
2. Palm OS emulator goes official on Pre
3. MotionApps demoes 3d gaming capabilities with Classic emulator app

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