
HP: To Save The webOS Dev Community, Open-Source Enyo Now - codedivine
http://funkatron.com/posts/hp:-to-save-the-webos-development-community,-you-must-open-source-enyo-now.html
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trun
"...one day your washing machine, stove, or even car infotainment system will
run on webOS"[1]

If this is truly the direction they're heading then webOS is dead to me
anyhow. Any further courting of developers is just salt in the wound.

edit: Don't get me wrong, I'm all for open sourcing Enyo and webOS, I just get
the complete opposite vibe from HP's actions this week. They've basically said
"screw you" both to die hard consumers and developers of the webOS platform.

[1] [http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/16/hp-looking-to-appliances-
au...](http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/16/hp-looking-to-appliances-autos-to-
grow-and-save-webos/)

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schrototo
I thought most of webOS was built on somewhat high-level web technologies like
node.js? Why would they use something like that in embedded systems?

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masklinn
> I thought most of webOS was built on somewhat high-level web technologies
> like node.js?

Yes. Enyo is webOS's second-generation SDK and development framework
(replacing the original Mojo), and it's a javascript framework.

FWIW, during the original presentation of Enyo (late 2010) it was described as
"for resource-constrained devices" where "resource-constrained devices" are
the original Pres: 500MHz CPU core and 256MB RAM.

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dstein
Open souce isn't the only possibility.

I think HP should skunkworks it. Round up all the engineers who developed the
platform, form an independent LLC, retain an equity stake, and let them
proceed with full autonomy.

Tablet and smartphone hardware is going to get so dirt cheap in just a few
years, that they'll probably be able to outsource all the hardware and run the
operation like a scrappy startup.

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chollida1
Who supplies the funding for it?

HP has already made it clear that they won't put in another dime.

The problem with hardware is that the enterprise won't buy without a big name
backing it as it makes it alot less likely that the brand will be around.

I'd like to think that your idea will work.

What is your "secret sauce" that will make this work that didn't with Palm,
HP, the crunch pad, newton, Go tablet, etc?

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dstein
Funding isn't a problem, there has never been a better time to raise money
than right now. If WebOS could become the premier development platform
(develop on WebOS, deploy to the web and others platforms via Phonegap) you
could gain a following.

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chollida1
> Funding isn't a problem,

That's a pretty big assumption but lets say that's true. I don't doubt that
they coudl raise some money, I'm just not sure that a WebOS company could
raise enough to fund a complete hardware and software product through to
finish.

The biggest reason I think this wouldn't happen is that I can't see HP wanting
to assign any patents to this company as patents have significant value, as
we've seen of late.

Who would support a company that doesn't own any sort of patent portfolio to
defend itself?

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HaloZero
In case people were wondering what Enyo is, it's HP/Palm's Framework for
building WebOS apps (or generally mobile apps using HTML).

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drgath
... and it is just JS/HTML/CSS so it will run on any webkit browser and you
can use it to write nice-looking mobile apps for iPhone, Android, etc...

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rbanffy
Guys... The idiot who killed WebOS came from SAP. If you think Microsoft is
evil, they are 10 times worse.

> Release Enyo under a liberal open source license (Apache, MIT, etc)

Why not GPL? That would ensure no competing platform could grab it and run.

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drivebyacct2
>Why not GPL? That would ensure no competing platform could grab it and run.

Not that I don't like GPL, but why would HP care at this point? They just took
their only viable product and said "Whatever". They act like they have an
interest in licensing webOS. Ha! How long have they been shopping licensing?
Even if it is true, they've just coated it in a nice splash of red paint.

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rbanffy
> but why would HP care at this point?

The GPL would ensure their competitors can't keep their improvements to
themselves. But I agree - the odds of a former SAP kahuna understanding how to
leverage open-source are very close to zero.

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CrazedGeek
Also, if you're feeling generous, open-source webOS too please? :)

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watmough
I have to say that I was really impressed by the Netflix and Mail demos in
this talk.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsZX2dJW5Ss>

Assuming the speed was there, and it will be as hardware improves, WebOS could
take over as a cross-platform rapid development environment.

If this was open-sourced and made to look platform native on the iPad, I would
use it for sure.

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drivebyacct2
Please, please do this HP. WebOS is really impressive in terms of technologies
in my opinion. You can build entire Enyo apps in your browser, add a few hooks
for WebOS services, and you're done. It's crazy easy, and Enyo makes it
equally easy to have one app that works well on mobile, tablet and desktop
devices. It's a shame to see HP pull the rug out from under it, but I'm really
hoping they open source Enyo or better webOS.

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rsanchez1
Meh, I would just be fine with them allowing it on other platforms. Don't
really care how they license it to make that happen.

