There are more 3rd party applications for the Palm OS, so the P version may suit you better.
The P version though is known for lags, random reboots and freezes which ironically doesn't happen with the Windows Mobile version (W). However, the Windows Mobile verison is more suited for the Corporate/Enterprise user.
I had a Treo 700P for a day before returning it. They keyboard is a tad small and it doesn't seem like a durable device (easily broken). For $650 you should have something you can put in your pocket and not be deathly afraid to drop it.
Palm has not been sold or acquired by another company yet. There were rumors of such an event happening but to my knowdlege it is just speculative. Palm's stock price has tanked in recent months.
In terms of the operating system. Palm just paid $44m US to acquire the source code from ACCESS, the Japanese company which held the rights to the source code.
There are other rumors abound also stating that the current Garnett OS is beint scrapped and a Linux based system is being developed from the ground up. In terms of dates, developers should see something by late 07' and release in 2008.
But of course those are just rumors. I hope that helps.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_os
