When it comes to creating a full application for an operating system, no one makes it easier than Palm. They have received a lot of publicity for the sole fact that their new smartphone operating system is primarily focused on standard web technologies. This allows developers to get started very quickly with languages they are already familiar with. As if using html, CSS, html5 and JavaScript was not enough, now they have released Ares.

Ares is a development environment that is fully hosted inside of an Internet browser.

Ares Features:

• Complete integrated development environment
  • Drag-and-drop interface builder
  • Code editor
  • Visual debugger
  • Log viewer
  • Source control integration
• Fingertip access to the full library of Mojo UI widgets
• Push-button project & scene creation
• Drag-and-drop file upload
• Instant project upload & download for seamless desktop/cloud workflow
• Preview apps in the browser
• Run apps directly on the webOS emulator or device (requires SDK installation)
• Use Ares in Safari, Chrome or Firefox

This past weekend it was released to Beta status and anyone can try it after registering for the Palm Developer Network. When it comes to developing an application it is hard for it to get much easier than Ares. Palm has gone above and beyond any other mobile device manufacture to make it this way so that developers will get involved with the webOS platform. While easy, it is still powerful and is only going to be getting more powerful as time goes on.

Check It Out> Ares

It appears as if Microsoft is not replenishing supplies of the Windows 7 Family Pack that sold for $149.99. The Family Pack was 3 upgrade licenses for those of us that have multiple computers in our household. While Microsoft did say that this package would only be for a limited time, I think Microsoft needs to keep it around for a while longer. At this point it has only been available for 6 weeks which either makes it a very limited release, or it was so popular that Microsoft actually did sell all available copies.

Microsoft has not responded to either Paul Thurrott’s or Ed Bott’s questions about this yet and more than likely will just try to keep this under the radar. No matter why Microsoft has not replenished these supplies I am still happy that they offered it at least for a little while. It gave many of us a chance to purchase Windows 7 for our machines without breaking the bank.

If you are still waiting to purchase Windows 7, keep an eye out for the elusive Family Pack and save yourself some money.

Check It Out> Download Squad,  Windows IT Pro, Ed Bott’s Windows Expertise

There has been a lot of news lately about Google Chromium OS for the simple fact that it is sponsored by Google. The problem is that regular Joe consumer has no idea what he is actually getting with a Google OS. I have been using Chromium for about a week now and while it is still in early “preview”, it is hard to see it becoming mainstream.

This Ally Bank commercial is a perfect representation of a customer purchasing a netbook with Google Chromium OS when they could have gotten Windows 7:

In the “No Big Surprise” category this week is the announcement that Mac cloner Psystar, has lost the Apple lawsuit. Psystar sells Mac clones for much less than Apple, which is typically a very closed platform. It was Psystars circumvention of Apples copyright-protection that caused them to lose the lawsuit. Did anyone actually expect a different outcome to this lawsuit?

When it comes to monopolies and anti-trust issues, how is it possible that Apple is excluded? While they do have a relatively small portion of the operating system market shouldn’t rules be applied to everyone equally? Of course fan-boys, no matter what side they are on, do not want the rules to apply to them. IF Apple was to be a little more flexible they could actually sell more copies of OS X and gain more than an embarrassing market share.

That being said, Psystar substantially over estimated their products ability to sell. They anticipated selling 12 MILLION computers by 2011. Granted this is allowing for at least one more year of sales, but they are more than a little behind on their quotas.

To date Psystar has sold only 768 clones.

Thats right, 768 clones have been sold by Psystar. For the amount of publicity they have received (which is essentially free advertising) this is embarrassing to say the least.

Check It Out> Maximum PC, Psystar, CNN

Microsoft is continuing to branch out and seek out new ways to reinvent themselves and one of the most recent avenues is a partnership with of all things, Family Guy. While it is more than likely a limited partnership, it is still a unique one for sure that helps to improve their image.

Check It Out> CrunchGear