We've waited, we've asked, PreCentral forum members have lobbied, and now we're officially being rejected: DataViz announced today on its Facebook page that it "made the difficult decision to cancel development for Docs To Go for WebOS":

We regret to announce that we have made the difficult decision to not produce a Web OS version of Documents To Go. We understand that our delay in this area has caused much disappointment to our current and very loyal user base. We would like to explain in more detail the reasoning behind our decisions thus far.

Our intention had been to replace the Palm Viewers, which were based on the Documents To Go technology, with a full editing, aftermarket version of Documents To Go. In order to do this in a way that we felt would be most intuitive to users, we wanted to have the full version seamlessly replace the built in viewers. To do this, we needed some technical help from Palm. Because Palm was focusing on other areas at the time (including their very survival), and there was no official information available allowing developers to help ourselves, i.e., an SDK, there was a delay in getting us this information. Rather than do a substantially larger project that would result in a "sub-optimal" user experience, we decided to wait. This wait was much longer than anyone at DataViz expected. During this wait, we focused our efforts on other smartphone platforms, not because we were not loyal to Palm, but because it made "business sense" to do so. We have now come to the realization that it is not in DataViz' nor our users' best interests to continue the wait and produce the full version. We understand that another developer has chosen to create an editing Office product for webOS and we wish them the best. Again, we apologize to our users for taking this long to reach, what is for DataViz and many of our users, a disappointing conclusion.

This decision is both disappointing and irritating for many within the webOS community, especially those who have been loyal Dataviz customers since the original Docs To Go came out for Palm OS. Its rationale is also a bit suspect, given the ready availability of Palm's PDK for months, as well as the fact that the HP acquisition closed more than two months ago, with many, many PDK-based apps being developed and released, some quite sophisticated, since then.

Here's hoping that we get an editing solution in short order, possibly from "another developer" with the interest in webOS users' business that DataViz apparently lacks.

Source: DataViz; Thanks to BruceBradford in our forums for the heads-up!

UPDATE: Oh, well that might explain it. DataViz has been bought by BlackBerry maker Research in Motion for a cool $50 million. So it's not just webOS that's about to be left out of the loop; we wouldn't be surprised to see all non-BlackBerry OS DataViz products discontinued or left to waste away in the land of no updates. Read all about it over at CrackBerry.com.

Palm has released the webOS 2.0 Beta SDK to developers - go grab it at Palm's Developer Center (developers will need to sign up for the early access program). The SDK is emulator-only for now, but developers can use it to get a glimpse as some of the many features coming in webOS 2.0 - see our full breakdown.

The Beta SDK will give Early Access developers their first look at the new features available to them, including Stacks, improved Synergy support, Just Type & Quick Actions, Hybrid PDK/SDK apps, improved Javascript support, Mojo Core, improved HTML5, and more. Palm's Touchstone-based Exhibition feature isn't present in this release, but should be available soon. 

Developers interested in getting their hands on the webOS 2.0 SDK should send an email to pdc@palm.com to join the Early Access Program. To be eligible, you need to be both a registered developer and have an app in the Palm App Catalog. If you're already registered with the Early Access Program, all you need do is log in and get to it.

Palm says they're committed to opening up webOS with 2.0 and extending what's already great about it. Developers - how's it look to you?

Source: Palm Developer Center

TIME finally comes to Android

We just finished watching a rare solo appearance by Palm Developer Relations' Ben Galbraith at MobileBeat 2010 in a "fireside chat" with VentureBeat's Matthäus Kryzkowski. The discussion was fairly general about where webOS has come in the past year with a few hints at where it might be going, including another mention of the cloud-syncin'est database technology known to mobility, DB8, which we reported on past April. It was a "fireside chat," and so not the venue for big announcements, but still illuminating to those looking to get a feel for where the thinking inside HP's newest subsidiary is right now.

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Promising bigger and better things for the future, Palm’s email to customers about the HP purchase (or is it HP’s email to customers about the purchase of Palm? We can’t tell anymore...) indicated that there is indeed a new generation of Palm webOS products brewing (emphasis ours):

Great news. Palm is now part of the HP family. And that means bigger and better things for customers like you. With the power of HP behind us, the excitement created by the first Palm® webOS™ phones will grow even stronger as we introduce a new generation of devices. At the same time, you’ll still receive the same outstanding support that you’ve come to expect from Palm.

Of course, that’s little surprise, and the folks at Palm, Inc., a subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard, is being their characteristic tight-lipped selves. New smartphones? A tablet or two? Sure, maybe.

But what else does HP make that could benefit from a dose of webOS goodness? A lot, it would seem. A quick perusal of HP’s product catalog reveals a veritable cornucopia of devices ripe for some newness. Apart from the printers that HP keeps crowing about, and the tablets they keep hinting at, several other devices fit the bill. How about a webOS-powered netbook? Or a TouchSmart desktop PC running super-sized webOS? What of the webOS digital photo frame that passively brings seamless multi-tasking to your desk? Or maybe we could see the resurrection of the PDA, this time running the awesomeness that is webOS? Okay, maybe that last one's a bit far-fetched.

The possibilities for the future of webOS on HP devices are pretty much wide open. Only time will tell where webOS is going to end up, but we wouldn’t be surprised if more than a few HP devices outside of the Palm division are running webOS this time next year.

Source: Palm

The cloud client computing gurus over at Wyse Technology released a public beta of their Android application into the market last week, giving…

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