For all those worried about the fate of the webOS mobile operating system, there is some great news; HP has decided to open-source the OS so that it can be further developed by the community. HP hasn’t itself thrown in the towel with webOS though, and it claims that it will continue to actively develop the OS.
While webOS is based on the Linux kernel, most of the OS is closed source. Soon that will no longer be the case. HP’s OS is quite similar to what Mozilla’s Boot to Gecko, and Tizen intend to be, i.e. a mobile operating systems, which can be developed for using standard web technologies. Hopefully this open sourcing will also be of help to those other projects. While initially only the “underlying code” of webOS will be available as open source, eventually the application framework of webOS, ENYO will also be open sourced.
At one point of time there were rumours of webOS running on all kinds of HP devices, from mobiles and tablets to even laptops, PCs and printers. But of late its future has seemed uncertain. Now even if HP decides to abandon it, at least the open source community will be able to continue supporting it. To avoid fragmentation of webOS, the projects governance will be “open and inclusive.”
Meg Whitman, HP president and CEO has the following to say about the open sourcing of webOS: “webOS is the only platform designed from the ground up to be mobile, cloud-connected and scalable. By contributing this innovation, HP unleashes the creativity of the open source community to advance a new generation of applications and devices.”You can read more about the announcement on HPs website.