Just two months ago, Palm spoke of its forthcoming operating system that will be a marriage of Linux and parts of the Garnet OS. Palm CEO Ed Colligan went as far as saying products with the new OS would be available later this year. Looks like Colligan spoke too soon. He was recently quoted saying that the OS is not going to be available until 2008.Palm's core operating system has long needed an upgrade. Users of the Palm-based Treo line of smartphones have been stuck with the same OS seemingly forever, with only minor functionality updates to the latest models, such as the 755p. Palm generated a lot of excitement when it first announced plans to develop a new OS based on Linux.

According to some new statements from Colligan, the Palm faithful will have to wait a little bit longer than they originally thought. He said, "Products based on the new Linux-based platform that we're working on, that won't be until some time next year." Palm will continue to sell Treos based on the Garnet OS and Windows Mobile until this new operating system is ready.

Beyond the Treo, though, Colligan also spoke of some plans for the Foleo product. He said, "The Foleo is a smartphone companion today but will become a full-fledged computing platform for those intimidated by traditional computers, with its own dedicated applications."

Uh, didn't the Foleo land with a resounding "thud" back when it was announced? I seem to remember it being panned by every critic in the industry. It's hard to believe Palm thinks it can grow the smartphone accessory into a platform it its own right. I guess we'll have to wait and see.