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Now a wholly owned subsidiary of the Japanese company Access, PalmSource has dropped the Palm OS label in favour of the less-catchy Access Linux Platform (ALP).

Designed to be an open platform that will support existing Palm OS applications, ALP includes a standard Linux kernel version 2.6.12 and above; the open source GIMP ToolKit for the creation of graphical user interfaces; an open source, modular and multi-threaded streaming media framework; and SQLite - a high-performance database engine commonly used in embedded devices.

Existing PalmSource messaging and telephony middleware as well as its mobile applications including PIMs, multimedia, messaging, PalmSource HotSync and Palm Desktop are retained in the new OS, alongside Access' own NetFront Web browser.

'We believe that ALP combines best-in-class open source Linux components with proven mobile technologies developed by PalmSource and Access' Linux expertise,' said Toru Arakawa, Access president and CEO. 'As a commercial-grade, flexible, open, robust and standards-based mobile Linux-based platform, ALP is designed to provide handset manufacturers with faster time-to-market while supporting the goal of operators to offer revenue-generating services, applications and content.'

Further details can be found in the PalmSource announcement.