HP Open Sources WebOS

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Posted By: Joel McLaughlin

HP Open Sources WebOS

HP has put up a press release regarding the fate of WebOS.  WebOS has been given to the open source community.

HP will engage the open source community to help define the charter of the open source project under a set of operating principles:

  • The goal of the project is to accelerate the open development of the webOS platform
  • HP will be an active participant and investor in the project
  • Good, transparent and inclusive governance to avoid fragmentation
  • Software will be provided as a pure open source project

This is probably the best thing that HP could have done with this.  Once everything is finalized, it will then be possible for new handsets to be made by companies other than HP which I hope happens.  As much as I like Android, I do think that WebOS is a very nice mobile OS that is just screaming to be put on some quality hardware.

What do you think?  Will this help WebOS or will it limp along like OpenMoko?  Will it even be able to compete with iOS and Android?

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About the Author

Joel McLaughlin
Joel is a consultant in the IT field and is located in Columbus, OH. While he loves Linux and tends to use it more than anything else, he will stoop to running closed source if it is the best tool for the job. His techno passions are Linux, Android, netbooks, GPS, podcasting and Amateur Radio.

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10 Comments on "HP Open Sources WebOS"

  1. Michael Anderson | December 9, 2011 at 2:09 pm |

    My estimation is this: they open-sourced it because noone was buying. That said, it is a great opportunity, and webOS already has a great community. I really hope that they can take it apart and make it better than ever!

  2. Anonymous | December 9, 2011 at 5:52 pm |

    Indeed.  Chris Dibona from Google wondered what license they will use?  I bet it will be their own open license or something like that.  My preference would be for GPL, Apache or BSD.

  3. Anonymous | December 10, 2011 at 6:25 pm |

    I wouldn’t mind having one to tinker with at $99.  Cyanogenmod (still in alpha stage, I think) comes readily to mind as an alternative OS, but it would be cool to see what becomes of the OS once it is opened up.

  4. Michael Anderson | December 10, 2011 at 6:36 pm |

    I just saw something in passing about someone porting ICS onto the TouchPad … kewl stuff!  And since I had someone flake who was going to buy mine, I still have it … hmmm ….

  5. Anonymous | December 11, 2011 at 4:14 pm |

    I’ll offer you $99 for it around 6pm CST… 😉

  6. Michael Anderson | December 11, 2011 at 5:15 pm |

    It is a 32GB, so if you wanted to do $149 I would be more than happy 🙂

  7. Anonymous | December 11, 2011 at 5:45 pm |

    Sold! (If you accept CC paypal)

  8. Anonymous | December 11, 2011 at 6:22 pm |

    Hm, they sold out just as I tried a Buy it Now…as luck would have it my two kids were in fisticuffs at PRECISELY 7:00pm EST.  I had a BUY IT NOW selected, got up to break up the fight and…zip.  Nada.  Sold out. 

    Oh well.

  9. Michael Anderson | December 11, 2011 at 7:09 pm |

    No kidding around, as noted by email!

  10. Anonymous | December 11, 2011 at 7:14 pm |

    Excellent.  Payment sent!  Woo hoo!

Comments are closed.