LAS VEGAS - In a major snub to Microsoft Corp., Sony unmasked plans Monday to build new hand-held gadgets that could allow people to view videos, listen to music and organize information -- without the help of the Windows operating system.

The Japanese consumer electronics giant instead chose the Palm operating program to run the basic functions of the devices, advancing the 3Com Corp. unit's bid to spread its software into the far reaches of lightweight computing.

Sony Corp. is betting the popular Palm will help further its ambitions to expand its leadership in consumer electronics into computing. Importantly, 3Com agreed to adapt the Palm operating system to Sony's Memory Stick removable storage medium, which Sony is fighting to get widely accepted for storing and transferring data, sound and images among a variety of gadgets and computers.

While Sony remains a strong advocate of Windows with its Vaio line of desktop and laptop computers, Monday's agreement is the latest evidence of Palm's growing clout as a reliable operating system for handling simple functions.

The Palm hand-held computer is a utilitarian device that has gained loyal adherents for handling relatively simple functions, such as maintaining address lists or checking e-mail.

Despite its dominance in desktops, Microsoft's Windows CE, a lightweight version of the desktop operating system, has lagged in the faster growing market for small computing devices. In another recent slight, mobile phone giant Nokia agreed last month to use the Palm's operating system in a next generation of "smart" phones that give people access to the Internet.

Even though a federal judge has depicted Microsoft as a monopolist, such deals point to a future direction in computing that may be dominated by several operating systems, not just Windows. In addition to the Palm, the Linux operating system is catching on in new home gadgets that let people access the Internet.

"(The Sony agreement) is a vast disappointment for Windows," said Richard Doherty, an industry consultant who heads the Seaford, N.Y.-based Envisioneering Group. "I'm sure there were some fists pounding the tables at Microsoft."

A Microsoft official played down the Sony deal, saying that Microsoft was striving to improve Windows CE by making it simpler.

"It's an announcement we have to pay attention to," said Rogers Weed, director of marketing for Microsoft's productivity appliances division. "(But) it doesn't change what we need to do with Windows CE."

The company is hardly idle. On Sunday here at the Comdex computer show, chairman Bill Gates unveiled new "MSN-enabled Web companions" that are expected to be available by next summer.

While Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft is one of the industry's most aggressive negotiators, Sony had strong incentives to sign up with Palm in talks begun earlier this year with 3Com.

Memory Stick, about the size of a stick of gum, is mainly used in just Sony products, including digital cameras and Vaio personal computers.

Getting Memory Stick accepted is crucial to Sony's plans to leverage the breadth of its products. Additionally, a new version of Memory Stick will store only copyrighted music and videos, which is important to protecting the royalties Sony earns from its music and movie units.

Palm is free to adapt its software to rival removable storage media made by such companies as SanDisk and Toshiba. But Sony said several dozen other manufacturers on Monday also agreed to adapt their gadgets to Memory Stick.

That's important for Sony.

In a keynote speech Monday at Comdex, Sony chairman Nobuyuki Idei stressed the company's unique strength across three major computing methods: digital TVs and set-top boxes; mobile computing and cameras; and video-game consoles.

Such ubiquity gives the Japanese maker of the Walkman unusual sway over the consumer electronics market, but the company has been frustrated in recent years by attempts to extend that influence to computers.

Recently, Sony has redoubled its efforts and has won praise for the design of its slim, silvery Vaio laptop. It is expected to break new ground next year when it introduces PlayStation 2, which in addition to game-playing will let users watch movies, listen to music, surf the Web and even exchange e-mail.

Sony officials said it is too early to say what hand-held devices it would develop using the Palm system, or when they would be sold. But analysts say Sony will try to bring its unique expertise in making products that are easy and fun to use.