Once bitter competitors in the mobile operating system arena, Palm and Microsoft seem to have patched things up. And done it with good intentions. The latest news from this marriage is the new Palm Treo 700w smartphone - the first Treo to run Microsoft's Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system. This announcement was made at the HIMSS 2006 Annual Conference & Exhibition, the leading healthcare information technology trade show.

Both Microsoft and Palm are exhibiting the popular PatientKeeper Platform on the Treo 700w, at their respective booths. With PatientKeeper physicians can access their patients' electronic records, write prescriptions, enter charges, dictate notes, document encounters, place orders or send security-enhanced messages to other caregivers. The Treo700w will give these physicians the much needed flexibility to access and update patient information while being mobile.

A step in the right direction indeed. More information can be found at Palm Healthcare.