Following Compaq's recent announcement of a port of Linux for the company's iPaq, eWEEK's Carmen Nobel ponders the interesting question of why handheld computer makers are increasingly exploring the possibilities of using Linux, given Palm OS is already well positioned in that space. Nobel writes . . .

“Warming up to the idea that an open palm is better than a clenched one, major computing companies are exploring the idea of porting open-source operating systems to their handheld computing platforms. Compaq Computer Corp. this week began making available a port of Linux for the company's iPaq handheld devices. At the same time, it is hosting a Web site, www.handhelds.org, dedicated to the development of any open-source platform for handhelds.”

“The initiative is born out of a 4-year-old Digital Equipment Corp. project — “Itsy” — in which Digital experimented with Linux on the handheld. Compaq decided to dust off the cobwebs and update the Itsy project with the iPaq. The iPaq runs on the Intel StrongArm processor, which supports Linux.”

“Hewlett-Packard Co. also is seriously considering Linux for its Jornada devices, which currently support only Microsoft platforms. HP likes Linux because it handles multimedia applications well, company officials say, and the fact that the operating system is free means a lower price for the device. The company likely will have a device that runs on Linux next year, according to officials in Palo Alto, Calif.”

“Critics have questioned why companies would choose to support Linux on handhelds over the Palm operating system, which is the most popular among users and already has a very organized development community . . “

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