You could have accomplished the same thing without being so nasty. Instead of threatening TealPoint, you could have licensed them (at no charge, because they're on your side) the right to use the look of the WebOS. Then you'd be protected legally and TealPoint wouldn't have been screwed by your legal team.

In the business world, we call this a win-win. Palm needs some win-wins.

Building software is a lot of work and a big investment for a small company. These guys worked long and hard to build a great little product for your devices. Forcing them to toss all their work -- in a tough economy and after sticking with you when Palm sure as heck hasn't distinguished itself over the last few years -- is just nasty.

You used to have thousands of loyal developers. Many of them have already jumped ship to the iPhone. Since there's no direct migration path between Palm OS apps and the Pre, the rest of your developers will have to decide whether it's worth supporting an unproven environment or, well, the iPhone.

Apple, as we all know, is a pain to work with. You could have differentiated Palm by being a joy to work with. Instead, this action against TealPoint shows you have no loyalty to even your most loyal developers.

Personally, I can't wait to see ShortCircuit, Sudoku Addict, TealAgent, TealAlias, TealAuto, TealBackup, TealDesktop, TealDiet, TealDoc, TealEcho, TealGlance, TealInfo, TealLaunch, TealLock, TealMagnify, TealMaster, TealMeal, TealMemBrain, TealMover, TealMovie, TealNotes, , TealPaint, TealPhone, TealPrint, TealSafe, TealScan, TealScript, TealTracker, TealTools, and VersionMaster all working on the iPhone.

By the way, there's still time to save this. Call up TealPoint. Let them keep selling TealOS. And feature it on your Web site.

That'd be the smart thing to do. It'd help create loyalty. And it would show that you actually get it. Otherwise, you're just another Apple wannabe. And that's just sad.

James Booth is Editor-at-Large at ZATZ Publishing. In addition to writing for Computing Unplugged and Connected Photographer, he's the author of Do-It-Yourself Wedding Photography. A self-taught photographer, James also dabbles in digital graphics and has learned to be a PC and handheld specialist through personal trial and error. James can be reached at jbooth@zatz.com.