

No, HP, you’re off the mark - zacharye
http://www.bgr.com/2011/08/20/no-hp-youre-off-the-mark/

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sunchild
HP, Dell, SAP, Oracle, Motorola, Autonomy... it feels like 1999 all over
again. These companies made their own beds – rather arrogantly, too – and now
they pay the piper. The whole phenomenon of the "enterprise" is drying up. I
see it first hand in my job every day – big companies are moving to smaller
web-based operations in every area except where the 90's-era integrators and
software vendors have them locked in. The House of Cards those vendors built
(with their take-or-leave it anti-user attitude and ever-growing army of aggro
sales-bots) is collapsing inward on them. They're all pimping "services" that,
when you read the contract are essentially a "pay us and we will do as we
please" arrangement. I have never met a salesperson from HP/EDS, SAP, Oracle,
etc. who didn't evoke the Pink Floyd song "Dogs":

And after a while, you can work on points for style. Like the club tie, and
the firm handshake, A certain look in the eye and an easy smile. You have to
be trusted by the people that you lie to, So that when they turn their backs
on you, You'll get the chance to put the knife in. You gotta keep one eye
looking over your shoulder. You know it's going to get harder, and harder, and
harder as you get older. And in the end you'll pack up and fly down south,
Hide your head in the sand, Just another sad old man, All alone and dying of
cancer.

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EGreg
HP should just open-source WebOS and see some real competition. I personally
think WebOS could very well be the WebKit to Android's Firefox. It's extremely
elegant. So sad to see it go to waste.

Rather than have it die in a proprietary silo, open it up like Netscape did
with its codebase. Once it hits the scene I really think it would capture
people's imaginations. Plus, it ain't Java (tm)

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pstuart
And how does that make HP any money?

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smtf
Sure, but how does mothballing WebOS make them any money?

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ryanhuff
I wonder how many patents HP has related to webos that would complicate any
open source initiative, or sale.

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smtf
You may have hit on how they could go about making money even after they open
source webOS. "Here is the source. Do what you will; if you make money, expect
to pay royalties under the following terms". If none of the 'old guard'
licenses work for them, they could tailor a new license to their purpose.

I don't think that such an arrangement is in HP's character; however, letting
the investment die seems foolish in any case.

