HP Updates Enyo 2 And Opens Up Ares 2

With the runway from April showers into May flowers growing short, HP is closing out the week by making good on their April code commitments for webOS. What can you expect to find in HP's various GitHubs today? How about the beginnings of Ares 2, an update to Enyo 2, and the Node.js JavaScript platform? Yeah, that'll do (and it matches up with what the roadmap said to expect).

First things first, let's tackle Ares 2. While just a bullet point on the roadmap, Ares 2 is the next generation of Palm's in-browser app builder, and it's now fully paired with Enyo 2 (whereas the original Ares was built for Mojo and Ares of the original variety). Ares 2, unlike its predecessor, is built off of Node.js (more on that later), which will enable developers to use it locally on their own machines or up in the cloud - all with a "pluggable, decentralized approach to file storage" to give developers even more flexibility. Ares 2 isn't yet complete - it's described as being "still in the early stages" - though that isn't stopping HP from turning public the GitHub for the project. But hey, you'll be able to easily build Enyo 2 apps that work across all web-compatible platforms, so that'll eventually be cool.

A number of other webOS components are seeing their release into open source today. There's an updated build of Enyo 2, bringing significantly-improved mobile scrolling performance and a "highly-optimized cross-platform virtual list control" widget. the Node.jsevent-driven Javascript services platform is also going open source, and in an April surprise, the System Manager Bus (otherwise known as Luna-service2) is going open source three months earlier than planned. The Node.js-reliant System Manager Bus manages the inter-process communications mechanism for Open webOS and includes monitoring and debugging utilities. You know, for when we have enough components to build a functioning operating system; we're getting there, we swear.

So there you have it, April's Open webOS code commitments are here. Coming up in May… well, actually, there's nothing on the roadmap for May or June. Could be a quiet few months, or HP could surprise us and release some other components to open source early. We wouldn't mind that one byte.

Microsoft Forms Subsidiary To Work On Various Open-Source Projects

Microsoft on Thursday formed a new subsidiary that will work with open-source projects, open-standards groups and interoperability initiatives. The subsidiary is called Microsoft Open Technologies Inc., and it will be formed from the company’s Interoperability Strategy team. Microsoft executive Jean Paoli will lead the new spin-off, which will consist of between 50 and 75 employees. In an interview with GeekWire, Paoli said Microsoft’s existing groups and divisions will continue to be involved with open-source projects, but at the same time the subsidiary will have the ability to work with outside projects at a faster pace. “We believe that the subsidiary will provide a new way of engaging with open-source communities in a more clearly defined manner,” he said, adding that the effort is about “bridging Microsoft and non-Microsoft technologies.” Microsoft Open Technologies will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft and will feature a board of directors that includes executives from the company’s business groups.