

Ask HN: Should HP Open Source webOS - oseibonsu

webOS is pretty nifty. It would be sad for it to die off completely and to lose all of its innovative features. Wouldn't everyone, including HP be better off if it was open sourced?
======
ansy
Only if HP can't sell the Palm assets to someone first. That should be
priority number one. If the new buyer wants to open source it let them go
through the trouble of due diligence.

If webOS can't be sold, which would be surprising in this environment, then HP
could donate the source to Apache or Eclipse and maybe get a write off out of
it.

------
Egregore
The obvious answer is Yes (I don't think many will answer No to this question)
But who will do the support and continue development of the WebOS in case it
open sourced. Also based on Java open sourcing, I can suppose that WebOS might
use a lot of proprietary components and so opensourcing it will require a lot
of resources.

------
jefflinwood
Maybe. What I think is more likely is that someone clones the most impressive
parts of Enyo (the WebOS 3 JavaScript framework) into a new web/mobile
development framework that isn't tied to WebOS at all.

I'm not sure what developers would do with just the open source WebOS
application code if there's no hardware - the existing WebKit doesn't seem to
be optimized that well (see Enyo perf in iPad 2/Mobile Safari vs Enyo Perf on
the Touchpad).

------
dstein
An open operating system without any sort of central authority is pointless.
That's a 100% guaranteed way to kill the platform.

They should skunkworks it. Instead of punting, they should round up the HP
employees who built it, form a LLC, retain an ownership stake, but give the
group full autonomy to continue on in whatever fashion they think they can
survive with.

------
jonutzz
This sums it up "So HP’s CEO Mr. Leo Apotheke Apotheker, if you don’t want to
use WebOS in the mobile world, set it free. Let the open source community see
if the old Palm OS is as good and has as much promise as so many of us thought
it did"

~~~
oseibonsu
I wonder how many people would sign a petition to support the open sourcing of
WebOS.

~~~
kls
If I where one of the purchasers of the doomed products that they terminated a
little over a month after releasing I would file a class action suite on the
grounds that they had to have had discussions about ending the product line
before it was ever released. If they can find supporting documentation they
can prove that material information was withheld that affected the purchasing
decision of the consumer. This actually would be a pretty easy case to make. I
would also argue that support has been dramatically affected by the fact that
it is no longer a strategic offering by the corporation as such I would argue
that the only remedy would be the release of webOS as an open source offering
so that the implied support and future updates of the device can be restored
to what was implied by industry norms. I would make the argument that the only
way that I can get the support and updates that are implied in purchasing
technology is for the OS to be removed from the hands of company that has
shown disregard for it's obligations to do so. While it is out of the norm to
be able to force a company to give away a product via a class action, I think
if they argued for punitive damages in lieu of open-sourcing it, if the
damages where grievous enough, HP may opt for releasing the OS over the
monetary damages. IANAL but I think there is a strong case to be made and
their hand could be forced on the issue.

------
teyc
Open Sourcing requires a lot more effort than you think. Even the JDK took a
while because they included licensed components that had to be replaced.

Secondly, HP has little to gain from the effort of open sourcing it.

