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webOS is Open For Business

By: , 12/9/2011 2:18 pm | 38 comments

Well, who can say they saw this coming? HP announced today that webOS is going to the masses. Meg’s all-hands meeting did reveal the ultimate fate of webOS. HP will be contributing “the webOS software to the open source community” and also “plans to continue to be active in the development and support of webOS”.  Wait, what?

So it seems instead of telling webOS to go out and be a good boy and stay out of trouble, they might actually be chaperoning this little shindig.

According to the press release:

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

We may be new to this whole open-source thing, but we’re still a little fuzzy on how exactly HP plans to be involved in this project. Hardware? Software Development?

HP did go on to say that ENYO, the application framework for webOS, would be following its little brother OS into the wide wide world “in the near future” (read: The coming weeks?).

There are a few things absent from the press release:

  • Hardware? Not from HP probably, so of course they wouldn’t be able to speak for others.
  • App catalog? Might be part of the “the remaining components of the user space.”
  • Cloud Services?
  • Patents???
  • But, most importantly, the fates of the 600 or so employees left in the webOS GBU.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see. HP says they plan to be involved in the project, and we would imagine any involvement would have to include a paycheck or  a few, so time will tell.  We wish our Palm brothers and sisters the best and hope that HP can continue to support the fine folks who have worked so hard on their behalf.

In the meantime, webOSRoundup will keep the lights on. And you can bet you haven’t heard the last from us on this and many other topics going forward.

Full Press Release follows:

HP to Contribute webOS to Open Source

HP to enable creativity of the community to accelerate the next-generation web-centric platform

PALO ALTO, Calif., Dec. 9, 2011

 

HP today announced it will contribute the webOS software to the open source community.

HP plans to continue to be active in the development and support of webOS. By combining the innovative webOS platform with the development power of the open source community, there is the opportunity to significantly improve applications and web services for the next generation of devices.

webOS offers a number of benefits to the entire ecosystem of web applications. For developers, applications can be easily built using standard web technologies. In addition, its single integrated stack offers multiplatform portability. For device manufacturers, it provides a single web-centric platform to run across multiple devices. As a result, the end user benefits from a fast, immersive user experience.

“webOS is the only platform designed from the ground up to be mobile, cloud-connected and scalable,” said Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive officer. “By contributing this innovation, HP unleashes the creativity of the open source community to advance a new generation of applications and devices.”

HP will make the underlying code of webOS available under an open source license. Developers, partners, HP engineers and other hardware manufacturers can deliver ongoing enhancements and new versions into the marketplace.

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

HP also will contribute ENYO, the application framework for webOS, to the community in the near future along with a plan for the remaining components of the user space.

Beginning today, developers and customers are invited to provide input and suggestions athttp://developer.palm.com/blog/.

Source: HP NewsRoom

 

 

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About Adam Doud

Family Man, @DeadTechnology, webOS Ambassador, Geocacher, Baseball/Hockey Fan, All around geek with unrequited love for webOS. Treo 650 -> Centro -> PrePlus -> Pre2 -> Veer -> Pre2 -> Morris, the Panda-Veer -> Andre the Pre3 Co-host to the ChicagowebOSMeetup group - @ChiwebOSMeetup
View all posts by Adam Doud →
  • http://twitter.com/DataJog Scott L

    Love the title and glad to see it!  Here’s to an amazing reboot of webOS!

    • http://sorli.com sorli

      Yes great title and way better then P|C announcements…talk about confusing the masses.  

      Oh and btw….nice images! Fantastic guys and girls! Sorli…

  • Ajay

    wow…

  • ajguns

    Jojojojojo!!! WebOS is alive! It’s ALIVE!!!What?! You think they open sourced their $ 1.2 bill investment (nearly $ 3.3 bill “lost”) just so everyone else makes money but them?! Na-a! WebOS lives and we (webOS lovers) are the ones responsible for it, so lets demonstrate to hp and everybody else that  YES WE CAN!!! LONG LIVES WEBOS!!! 
    – sent from webOSroundup XL

    • jbrandonf

      …crickets…

      • jbrandonf

        OK that was mean. I guess I’m tired of seeing webOS users hearts stomped on. I mean, there’s no manufacturers ssigned on to release phones and HP has shown they’re incapable of releasing an on-demand tablet unless they epicenter it at firesale prices.

  • ajguns

    Jojojojojo!!! WebOS is alive! It’s ALIVE!!!What?! You think they open sourced their $ 1.2 bill investment (nearly $ 3.3 bill “lost”) just so everyone else makes money but them?! Na-a! WebOS lives and we (webOS lovers) are the ones responsible for it, so lets demonstrate to hp and everybody else that  YES WE CAN!!! LONG LIVES WEBOS!!! 
    – sent from webOSroundup XL

  • Gr8tfullyblessed

    Hope the homebrew community will rally behind this and see if we can get webos on fantastic unlocked hardware

  • Pierre Rumenigay Chery

    It is up to the community now…
    HP wants to wait and see, it has been their game all along.
    At least WebOs has somewhat of a future.
    :|

  • ajguns

    What we WebOS lovers need is someone that explains us the pros and… pros about this news! I’m so excited because WebOS’ still on the run… will I be able to port WebOS into iPad3?! Oh man, possibilities are limitless!!! LONG LIVES WEBOS!!!
    – sent from webOSroundup XL

  • ajguns

    What we WebOS lovers need is someone that explains us the pros and… pros about this news! I’m so excited because WebOS’ still on the run… will I be able to port WebOS into iPad3?! Oh man, possibilities are limitless!!! LONG LIVES WEBOS!!!
    – sent from webOSroundup XL

    • http://sorli.com sorli

      Exactly….please someone with open source experience clarify!  Sorli…

  • http://sorli.com sorli

    WOW…not a big surprise or maybe surprise coming from HP who has just been a complete failure execution wise.

    Either way, big THUMBS UP HP and Fantastic News!!!!    Glad you made the right decision…though it isn’t very clear what you mean by Open Source.   I guess you need more time to figure this out.  Sorli…

  • Djpeaks

    Wonder how all this affects the “Deathclock” for Webos app I saw a month or two back  ??? Seriously though with the  touchpad still retaining 2nd place in the overall tablet sales during the last quarter, this csn  only be seen as brilliant news. I suspect precentral will have lots of insites over the coming days so I’m hopping over there for a gander . I know why I have kept my tablet as a webos only device to date so here’s hoping the open source community does us proud !!

  • Anonymous

    Ok, so I just got my Touchpad and want to install Preware Homebrew. Should I just wait and see what HP does or go ahead and do this now?

    • http://twitter.com/bikeguychicago Keith Sheehan

      Preware doesn’t depend on what HP does or does not do. It is independent of HP and makes the whole Touchpad experience better.

      • Anonymous

        Thanks, Keith. So, if I install the Preware it won’t interfere or “mess up” anything that might be coming down the pike with the open source community? The reason I’m asking is so many different “jailbreaks” were implemented when people thought WebOS was dead. I don’t want to do anything now that will affect my TP adversely. I bought my TP for $299 hoping that HP would do the right thing and now I’m excited for what may happen in the future with my tablet. :)

        • http://twitter.com/bikeguychicago Keith Sheehan

          No. Unlike Apple (or most carrier’s Android offerings), HP actually supports the homebrew efforts. I’m assuming that was a big determining factor in today’s announcement. 

          A good write-up on how to optimize your Touchpad can be found here:
          http://www.touchpadplus.com/

          If you haven’t already done so, make sure your device is updated to the latest OS version (3.0.4) before following the steps above. You can see if you device is up to date by running the ‘System Updates’ app under the Settings tab.

          • http://twitter.com/bikeguychicago Keith Sheehan

            The main reason I say to update first is that Preware identifies which patches/kernels/etc. are valid for your device based on the version of the OS installed.

          • Anonymous

            Excellent feedback! Thank you. I will begin unlocking my Touchpad right now. :)

  • WarezCoxtrong

    I’ve got to say, I just thought about it.. and it makes total sense.  The Touchpad sells like hotcakes at 99 dollars.  If HP leaves software development entirely to the open source community, then all they have to spend money on is the hardware, if they decide to make more, enabling to sell the hardware at a much cheaper cost. And if they don’t make new hardware, hey, it’s open source now, we can get it up and running on all our gadgets now..  Don’t be surprised if before long, somebody has it running on a Linksys router or a Playstation 3. Let’s hope this pans out like I’m picturing it.

  • eid

    This was a big and difficult decision because HP now can’t make significant income off of webOS (even though that was hypothetical income anyway ) and cannot make back its 3 billion+ dollar costs associated with webOS. 

    But there are some advantages: 1) webOS gains support of other manufacturers with a free os (no significant strings attached) other than android, 2) limits HP’s  webOS development costs since others will contribute to the effort, 3) HP can do future webOS devices if the opensource effort is viable, 4)  opensource keeps webOS alive as development is continued by smaller groups and hobbyists or other companies other than HP, 5) the ecosystem and developers have some future (if still uncertain). 
    Downside:  it will be a long time before new high quality webOS devices are made(maybe there will be cheap knockoff tablet and phone makers first) but the big name players have no compelling reason to abandon android at least initially unless they are not doing well in android market to begin with. 
    I’m glad webOS isn’t dead but its future remains very uncertain.  I hope most of the webOS software group is kept intact and that webOS internals (and other developer groups)  takes a leadership positions. 
    I hope HP will keep app store/backups intact. We need more details about those details.

  • JoeZiehmer

    I had a deep feeling it would happen. It would be a good thing for me to be able to dual boot WebOS on my older desktop. I would like to dual boot for different applications.

  • WarezCoxtrong

    Picture this: Canonical canning the abomination that is the Unity desktop (which was supposedly designed with mobile devices in mind in the first place) and replacing it with webOS, or at least components of the webOS UI.  Something to think about.

  • http://twitter.com/superjunctionco SuperJunction

    hmmm, this could get interesting.

    HP is a name that non tech players know and feel comfortable with but also not cheap to go into partnership with. However, if webOS is free to use and continued to get HP mentorship it has a new appeal to those manufactures a little shy of the other options.

    My prediction, webOS finds its way onto appliances, home communication systems and car stereos by the end of 2012 forcing the tablet/phone makers to start offering webOS tablets and the new race is off with Windows still playing catchup.

  • MPM

    So does this mean I could download webOS on my computer just like Ubuntu?

  • http://profiles.google.com/4dolio Ryan Fulcher

    Sweet…  Faith has been restored… There is a light at the end of the tunnel… Finally time to exhale.

  • Robert

    Hope someone with a Galaxy S 2 puts webOs on it. Then we can see what webOs can do on Grade A hardware. That needs to be HP’s #1 open source goal, if they want to help. The Pre 3 was the best webOs phone made, and was still outdated hardware. I would pay $500 to $600 for a Galaxy S 2 with webOs on it.

    • JoeZiehmer

      Robert I still enjoy my little outdated Pixi+ and it still runs quickly. It will not be a forgotten relic. As much power as it has cannot be forgotten. This fun runs much faster then my iPod Touch running Angry Birds and my girlfriend’s iPhone running Angry Birds. The only draw back is that my volume switch is utterly and completely gone.

      • MPM

        You can get a replacement Pixi for 39.00 on Ebay. I am buying a couple of Pixi back up phones!!

      • Robert

        I know your pain, have a Pre+ that has lost it’s volume button, a chunk plastic missing on the side, the usb door, and a scratched up screen. So the Galaxy Note is calling my name, just waiting for AT&T to sell them next year.

      • Robert

        I know your pain, have a Pre+ that has lost it’s volume button, a chunk plastic missing on the side, the usb door, and a scratched up screen. So the Galaxy Note is calling my name, just waiting for AT&T to sell them next year.

  • JoeZiehmer

    I saw this coming and had documented it in previous discussions. This really is a building block for WebOS to build upon economical gains and ventures. If we took the outdated school computers benched for 800Mhz or 1.2 Ghz then we could turn WebOS into a community venture. I’ve dabbled several times with iBooks and have found Debian one of the most stable systems. In the smart phone markets PalmOS and WebOS shaped my beliefs that it could be tuned toward business but also geared to gamers. In the end as a Linux and Unix user WebOS without a doubt should be used in schools.

  • PinkPink

    I sure hope WebOS runs on a real good smartphone soon. And please make sure it has a good keyboard! (not virtual)!

    • JoeZiehmer

      Agreed my Pixi+ keyboard despite having larger thumbs is natural to me. It is perhaps one of the greatest advancements which made me decide upon it. With that being said a new form factor must be decided upon to keep it dominant.

    • danar

      I’m not the best typist but it seems to me a mechanical key could never keep up with a virtual. That’s just physics. My question to you is; What if the phone is a slider but what slides out is a screen with a virtual keyboard? This would really save screen space. (I dont think electronic devices of today should have any mechanical movements, except maybe a slider for the V-keyboard.)

      • Bushi

        Yeah, typing on a flat piece of glass is such a fantastic & ergonomic idea, that is surely why ALL the PC keyboards look just like you say

  • Rob

    Somebody get back at those people who put android on the TP by putting Webos on their Galaxy Nexus! Poetic justice :)