It is easy to forget the contributions that Palm and other early entrepreneurs made to the widespread adoption of smartphones now that the iPhone has been out for fifteen years.

According to Engadget, when HP abruptly ceased operations in 2011, Palm had already spent many years attempting but failing to carve out a market share for itself amid competitors like Apple and Google.

Those who used Palm PDAs in the late 1990s and early 2000s will recall the technology and software that made the company's ambition a reality with great fondness.

What made Palm operating system (OS) so unique back in the day is simpler to dissect and understand than before.

(Photo : Photo By Getty Images)

Palm OS Apps

The Internet Archive received a database of Palm OS applications this week thanks to the efforts of archivist Jason Scott.

As per The Verge, there are exactly 565 different apps to try out. Some of them are known and trusted classics such as DopeWars and SpaceTrader.

And it is not just the individual programs; each launch loads the whole Palm OS, along with all the preinstalled utilities like the calculator, notepad, and the Graffiti touchpad writing system.

Even if you have no fond memories of Palm, spending a few minutes going through the collection is still well worth your time. You will get a sense of how much or how little things have changed in the years since Palm OS was a dominating competitor in the market.

For instance, a whole part is dedicated to the shareware. It is indeed fascinating to see how much different programmers consider it an acceptable price for their creations in this sector.

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CloudPilot Emulator

Scott told The Verge that the current CloudPilot emulator, a web-based emulator for Palm OS, was ready to embed after just six months. He gives credit to both the emulator's inventor, Christian Speckner, and the POSE emulator that came before it.

Scott claims that the GPS application on his Palm III was his favorite piece of Palm software. When you give it a try, you will see how simple it is.

You may also find some comic gold in his devoted collection of Palm Pilot trialware, back when developers attempted to figure out what would make users pay for software.

There must be a special place in hell for a calculator that says, "you can't do any math calculations with the number 7."

Site Maintenance

Scott says he is sort of bored of folks noticing that he missed a spot, so he is "soft-launching" the Palm Pilot emulator collection while he fixes certain bugs and adds missing information.

To be more specific, Engadget said several less well-known applications lack their respective descriptions and details.

The documentation for each program is something else he intends to provide.

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Written by Trisha Kae Andrada