Fifteen years after the discharge of the iPhone, it’s straightforward to miss the function early innovators like Palm performed in popularizing the smartphone. By the time HP unceremoniously shut down the corporate in , Palm had struggled for just a few years to carve out a distinct segment for itself amongst Apple and Google. But ask anybody who had an opportunity to make use of a within the late ‘90s or early 2000s and they’ll inform you how fondly they keep in mind the {hardware} and software program that made the corporate’s imaginative and prescient doable. Now, it’s simpler than ever to see what made Palm OS so particular again in its day.

This week, archivist Jason Scott uploaded a database of Palm OS apps to the . In all, there are about 560 applications to take a look at, together with outdated favorites like and . Even should you don’t have any nostalgia for Palm, it’s effectively value spending a couple of minutes with the gathering to see how a lot – or, in some instances, little – issues have modified since Palm OS was a dominant participant out there.

For occasion, there’s a complete part dedicated to shareware and it’s fascinating to see simply how a lot some builders thought it was applicable to pay for his or her software program. Want to make use of the total model of ? Just ship $15 by publish to DDT Investments in Plaistow, New Hampshire.

In an interview with , Scott mentioned it took about six months to get the emulator to work with the Internet Archive. There’s nonetheless some work to be executed. Specifically, a number of the extra obscure apps are lacking descriptions and metadata. Scott additionally hopes to write down directions for every program. Still, wanting shopping for an outdated Palm gadget off of eBay, that is one of the simplest ways to expertise a bygone computing period. That’s as a result of lets you navigate by way of Palm OS. You may even launch the database out of your telephone and there is full assist for Palm’s Graffiti handwriting recognition system. If you need to assist Scott with the challenge, .