VisorCentral.com (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/index.php)
- Visor & Deluxe (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1)
-- OS 3.3 for VX ONLY! (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=150)

I just got the following email back from Palm with regard to OS 3.3.

I wrote:

Noticed you released the Vx with OS 3.3. I would sure like to upgrade my operating system to 3.3 from 3.1. Is it possible now? and if not will it be?

The response was:

Unfortunately the answer is negative. There will not be any upgrade available. Palm 3.3 is only for Vx which has a totally different concept in design.

I guess that might settle a few question with regard to upgrading the OS. I guess we will have to look forward to 4.0.

jonpod

Information that I have seen indicates that beta testers have been working with 3.3 for some time now. Several beta testers have said their expectation was the 3.3 would shortly be released for Palm III's and up through some means of upgrade (software or flash).

Someone's got the wrong data, though I'm not sure who.

I would be more inclined to trust info straight from 3Com than third hand expectations from beta testers. If this is so it defeats the flash argument against Visor, for the time being.

I think Palm said they were planning on releasing two new OS improvements in the short term (3.3 then maybe 4.0?). Maybe all the beta testers are actually testing 4.0 but since they all think it is the next one they assume it is 3.3.

Palm also said something about a OS with color support and also support of larger screens. This was from an interview with the CEO @ Palm (I forget his name) a few month back.

jonpod

What are the big differences between 3.0 and 3.1 and what you've heard about 3.3?

3.0 -> 3.1::
Palm III's shipped with OS 3.0. The IIIx and the V shipped with OS 3.1. A couple things came into play here. First, there was a processor change from the DragonBall to the DragonBallEZ that contained some different instructions. Second and partially because of the new processor, some of the OS was optimized, taking advantage of some new system calls.

3.1 -> 3.3::
Someone's bound to know off the top of his/her head what all comes with OS 3.3. But one of the big things is supposedly USB support, WHICH, BTW, the Visor ALREADY HAS (for those still panicking about OS upgrade potential).

But here's an interesting point to ponder... If the Vx is the only machine that can use OS 3.3 (for whatever reason), what makes everyone think that their III's, IIIx's or V's will be able to run "OS 4.0"? You don't see any stock PalmPilot Professionals running OS 3.1, do you?

-Chazzz Fishburn

Good point !
Why would one be able to upgrade from 3.1 to 4.0 when it's not possible to upgrade from 3.1 to 3.3 ?!
Can't rule it out but pretty low odds !
Besides OS 4.0 is supposed to offer color support so it might not even be an option to upgrade from 3.3 to 4.0 !
Palm have been pretty good at offering decent upgrade paths (Pilot to Pro, then III, but now that they have some competition they might not be so generous...
Competition will mean lower prices and arguably lower sales so they're going to have to find a way of pushing sales and there's no better way than by offering new features not available to older units.
just my 0.02cents.

3.3 for the Vx---who cares. There can't be that much difference and most of the developers will continue to write software for at bare minimum 3.0 and the Visor to boot. I'm still upset that I paid XXX for my Palm V even though I got a deal as a beta tester and a T-shirt that only came in Large. To small for me.

Going back to what Yellow1 said, I don't think it will be a matter of Palm being generous or not. I think at this point, Palm really only has a couple of options as far as "upgrades" go.

The first is the whole color option. For some reason, people think it's a must (must be wince pollution). I, for one of many, can do without it.

The second is a faster processor. That would be cool, but I don't use my IIIx for it's processing power (no Maple/Mathematica/MathCad). And I can only enter things so fast. At this point, my IIIx is fine for everything I use it for, although the screen updates could be faster.

The third option could very well be to follow Handspring's lead (wouldn't that be ironic?) and incorporate support for Springboard technology.

But any of those above options are hardware-specific. So it doesn't matter what you have now -- what you'll need isn't even out yet.

I could be wrong, but what else can be packed into an existing III or V as far as software is concerned? I believe the answer to that question is "Not much."

[This message has been edited by Chazzz (edited 10-05-1999).]

[This message has been edited by Chazzz (edited 10-05-1999).]