“Palm: I’m Ready to Wallow Now”, Thom Holwerda2013-03-11 (tech)⁠:

After a few months of planning, several weeks of work, and possibly a few kilometres of aimless pacing through the living room, I’m happy to present “Palm: I’m ready to wallow now”. This massive article (22,000 words) covers countless aspects of Palm, its devices, its operating system, and the company’s importance to the mobile industry. I start with a detailed look at the history of handwriting recognition, after which I move on to the four hardware products I believe are crucial in understanding Palm as a company. Of course, I also dive into Palm OS, covering the kernel, its filesystem (or lack thereof), ‘multitasking’ capabilities, user experience, and much more. Important Palm OS licensees like Sony and Handspring make an appearance, and I cover the failed attempt at modernising the Palm OS: Palm OS 6 Cobalt. Finally, the conclusion ties it all together.

• Introduction

• History of handwriting recognition

  • First steps

  • Stylator

  • The holy GRAIL

  • Going to market

  • Driving the point home

• Palm’s hardware

  • GRiDPad

  • Zoomer

  • Palm Pilot

  • Palm V

  • Defining Palm

• The Palm operating system

  • The kernel

  • There is no file

  • Single-tasking (but not quite)

  • Graffiti

  • The user experience

  • Zen of Palm [more Apple than Apple then]

  • Palm OS’ legacy Miscellaneous

  • Licensing Palm OS

  • Where to go from here (if here is 2004): Palm OS 6 ‘Cobalt’

• I’m ready to wallow now