{
  "id": 15431387,
  "title": "Releasing Palm OS Archive, Developer Rediscovers Working Virus After 25 Years",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/18/releasing-palm-os-archive-developer-rediscovers-working-virus-after",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-18T14:34:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Slashdot",
    "slug": "slashdot",
    "url": "https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/26/10/18/002223/releasing-palm-os-archive-developer-rediscovers-working-virus-after-25-years"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "Developer ardiri has released a substantial archive of historical Palm OS development resources, preserving over 1.5 GB of tools and knowledge accumulated during the early days of handheld computing for more than 25 years. The collection, available on GitHub, includes SDKs, conference presentations, documentation, programming examples, source code, and development utilities. Ardiri's archive aims to support the retrocomputing community by promoting historical preservation, education, and research, especially as enthusiasts work to maintain, emulate, and revive the Palm OS platform. In a surprising discovery, Ardiri found the original source code for a self-replicating Palm OS virus called \"The Palm OS Virus That Never Was,\" which he developed in June 2001. The virus, named \"Virii,\" could infect legitimate applications while preserving their functionality and spread between handheld devices via infrared beaming. It also included a date-triggered payload designed to interfere with system time reporting between October 23 and 27, 2001.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}