Yes, that is correct.  The company that names all of their products so they begin with the letter “i” has finally after multiple releases of devices running the OS has decided to name the aforementioned OS.  It took many painstaking months to come up with this amazing name and now we can all be wowed by its magnificence.

Ok so by now you should have figured out that the above paragraphs are extremely sarcastic.  In all seriousness, how can this even be an announcement?  Why couldn’t they have come up with something else at least a little original?  Maybe they should have contacted the team that names their desktop OS to come up with something less lame.

On top of this super crappy name, it is not the first IOS.  Cicsco (which is likely super angry right now) has an operating system called “IOS” that is used on its routers.   Originally called the “Internetwork Operating System“, IOS’s only naming difference is the capitalization of the “i”.

I am not a lawyer and would never try to be, but I suspect that Steve Jobs is going to be getting some calls from lawyers over this one.

Check It Out> IOS

UPDATE:: In looking around it looks like I was not the only one to pick up on the Apple IOS name stealing.  Crunch Gear also has an article on it.

UPDATE #2:: Apparently this time Apple actually asked Cisco first if they could use the iOS name for their OS.  This still doesn’t change the fact that it is a terribly lame name for the operating system.

This week has been pretty interesting with Google saying they will no longer be using the Windows operating system for their corporate machines. Now as of today it was revealed that the new Google Chrome OS will be released this coming fall of 2010.   The first announcement of Google no longer using Windows really took the world by surprise.  However if any of us had thought about it for a second, we would have actually been surprised that Google is still using Windows at all.

Google Android is gaining an amazing amount of traction in the smartphone market but maybe they are looking for even an even bigger audience?  Are they going to “Dog Food” their own desktop version of Chrome OS?  With Android being based on Linux it stands to reason that they would already be moving more towards Linux in general.

I have not been the most approving of Chrome OS as I have used it on and off since it was first leaked and I found it to be basically worthless without an Internet connection.  For things such as netbooks this makes them unusable for even basic tasks.  In places where internet connections are not reliable this just does not make sense.

I am sure that Google has the internet connection part of this nailed down for their corporate offices but maybe this move is part of a much bigger plan.  Maybe this is part of a plan to steal the Linux crown from Ubuntu?  While the average consumer has heard of Linux, the portion that knows about Ubuntu is much smaller.  However what would happen if the almighty Google released a full version of Linux?  It might actually be enough for Linux to show up on a desktop OS pie chart again with more than a micro percentage of the market share.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulXDL6ODask

Somehow I don’t think that when Google released the Nexus One it would be loaded with Windows, particularly Windows 3.11.  This is exactly what Eric Tate has done and while it might not be the most useful OS on a phone,  it is cool.  Somehow I doubt Microsoft ever imagined a day that Windows 3.11 would run on a phone.

Check It Out> Eric Tate via Engadget

When it comes to controlling a device, there is no one quite like Steve Jobs. I am sure that he will not be happy to hear that Google Android can now be installed onto his precious iPhone.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yO2KQHkt4A

Check It Out> Linux on the iPhone Blog

While it is still speculation as to exactly what they will announce, the latest release for webOS (version 1.3.5) has brought a lot of surprises including the addition of OpenGL ES files. This has enabled the WebOS Internals team to release DOOM for webOS via Preware (an application used to load un-official applications onto the Pre). This also gives more evidence that the Need For Speed video released this past November was real despite everyone saying it was a fake.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCVnxXvEAPo

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbGFJF4M77U

Check It Out> Precentral

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

Google Android is most peoples first thought due to the Google brand backing it. The downside to Android is that third-party developers are required to support 3 different versions of the operating system, as well as the additional customization done to it by the carriers.

Palm on the other hand was able to capture only a very portion of the market and is losing what little they do have due to their poor choice of carrier (sprint). As if Sprint wasn’t bad enough, Palm has decided to release updates to their operating system that have made the phone unusable.

You would think that with the abundance of phone choices there would would be one that would rise up and figure out we not only want good phones, we don’t want to be tied to crappy carriers.

Palm Pre has finally made the jump from Sprint and into Canada! This is sure to make quite a few Canadians happy that they can finally get their hands on it. To commemorate this momentous occasion Palm has also added a few more applications to the App Catalog. It’s just too bad that they think a few more demo applications are going to appease the masses.

Now Palm has 45 applications including the new Tetris and Yatzee demos that were added today. I am all for adding more applications to the App Catalog but Palm really needs to wake up and start working with all of the developers out there that have been making them look slow.

For Canadians to get the Pre they will need to spend a whopping 199.95 CAD which is $183.88 so it looks like they are getting a slightly better deal, that is until you look at the contract. In order to get the Pre they have to sign up for a 3 year contract as opposed to the 2 year contract Sprint users get treated to in the US.

Check It Out> Bell Mobility via MobileCrunch

When it comes to adding applications to their marketplace Palm appears incredibly slow. It has been 2 1/2 months and they still appear to be dragging their feet on their app store. The ironic part to all of this is that Apple took a year to deploy their app store but it has been such an immense success that consumers have gotten spoiled. Even non-Apple customers now expect that any smartphone they purchase has a large list of applications they can buy.

Palm will soon open up their App Catalog to developers wanting to sell their applications but if you don’t want to wait any longer there is always the “Un-Official App Catalog” where there are currently 148 applications you can download and try out. And what makes it even better is that you don’t have to worry about fake reviews from PR companies.

Check It Out> Pre Central

Despite the Palm Pre being a game changer for the entire mobile phone industry, things are not looking good for them in the short term. Palm has been very quiet about exact sales figures and the initial rush of people buying them only lasted for a few weeks. Most recently the speculated sales numbers is just below 300,000 devices. Now today there is a report coming out that Palm is cutting their production plans of the Pre. Palm is still expected to sell 500,000 devices by the end of the year but things are looking to have slowed a great deal for them.

This is a good wakeup call to Palm to not be so stupid as to lock themselves into a single carrier, especially Sprint. I admit that I personally really want a Palm Pre but I am finding it difficult to bring myself to purchase one when the carrier is Sprint. When the phone is carried by Verizon I am sure that Palm will see a surge in sales of the device but I think it would have been a much wiser move to offer it to multiple carriers from the beginning.

Check It Out> Tech Trader Daily