Open webOS Will Not Support Existing webOS Devices

In addition to today's release of the core apps  and LunaSysMgr for Open webOS, we got some news that's both surprising and heartbreaking: Open webOS will not support existing webOS devices. According to today's blog post on the Open webOS Project Blog, the development team is "aiming for support on future hardware platforms where SoC's [system-on-chips] support Linux 3.3+ lernel and where open source replacements for proprietary components are integrated. Existing devices cannot be support because of those many proprietary components, including graphics, networking and lack of drivers for a modern kernel".

Feel like you just got punched in the gut? Yeah, us to. Despite being a modification and enhancement of the existing webOS, Open webOS will not be able to support any existing webOS devices, including the most-recently-released TouchPad and Pre3. Reasoning? Their processors don't support the Linux Standard Kernel nor are there complete open source replacements for hardware component drivers. If you were hoping to run Open webOS on your TouchPad, you're going to have to rely on the community to get it done, not HP.

We're not at all thrilled with this decision. HP already has access to the proprietary drivers for the TouchPad, Pre3, and a whole slew of webOS devices and could put together a release of Open webOS for those devices. But yet again, HP's made the decision to neglect off a small but loyal customer base in favor of pursuing bigger dreams. We understand that the resources available to the Open webOS team are limited - certainly much more limited than they were eighteen months ago when HP decided not to bother finishing a webOS 2.0 update for older Pre and Pixi devices and buried it under the news of the TouchPad, Veer, and Pre3 announcements - but this pattern of dumping on those who have stuck with the platform isn't the makings for continuing loyalty. People love webOS, but they can only put up with being slighted for so long.

As pointed out in the blog post, there is at least the webOS Community Edition release for us to tinker with for existing devices (i.e. the TouchPad), which included the older version of the LunaSysMgr as released in webOS 3.0.5. Today's announcement crystallizes the Community Edition's reason for existence: it was a pre-appeasment meant to be there, ready for this news, so HP can say, "But we already gave you that! Isn't that enough?"

There are two things to keep in mind moving forward. One: there's a large and growing number of Android devices out there that offer support for the Linux Standard Kernel 3.3, and given the number of devices supported by the open source CyanogenMod Android project there are plenty of drivers available for those components. Two: The webOS homebrew community cannot and will not be held back. They've already started working on the webOS Community Edition release of LunaSysMgr to see how well they can get it to work on the Pre3, and it'll only be a matter of time before they figure out how to get the goodness of Open webOS to work on our current webOS devices.

Open webOS LunaSysMgr Released To open Source

In typical Open webOS team fashion, the releases for this month have come right at the very end of the month. While the System Manager Bus saw an early release back in April, this month's releases didn't come before their time. Up for July is the LunaSysMgr and the core webOS apps. For the uninitiated, LunaSysMgr is the system manager for webOS, responsible for the launcher, card view, menus, running WebKit, and rendering Enyo applications. In other words, it's kind of a big deal for webOS. The core apps include Accounts, Calculator, Calendar, Clock, Contacts, Email, and Memos, and are all the Enyo 1.0 versions of those apps (minus some features) as they debuted on the TouchPad.

On the LunaSysMgr front, the big news is both the open sourcing and the inclusion of the QtWebKit engine for "state-of-the-art support for HTML rendering and I/O". Using QtWebKit is said to provide for improved stability and performance in Open webOS. Apart from that, it's not radically different from the existing LunaSysMgr in webOS 3.0.5.

As for the core apps, they're a little handicapped at this point (not that there's much you could do with them). Even though the Accounts app was included in today's release, the services needed to enable Synergy haven't yet been open sourced, meaning you're severely limited in how the apps that rely on outside services can be used. For example, Contacts and Calendar can manage on-device contacts and events, and Email can hook up to POP and IMAP accounts, but none of them can sign into services like Google, Yahoo, or Exchange. Synergy support is expected with the beta release of Open webOS 1.0 later this month.

Things are starting to pick up steam with Open webOS as we approach the full release of the open source successor to webOS. As we move into August we can expect the build release model and the beta and final releases for Open webOS. From there, well, that's another story.

Source: The Open webOS Project Blog; Open webOS (GitHub)

Enyo 2.0 Beta 3 Release Now Live With Improvements

Less than a month after the release of the Enyo 2.0 beta 2, beta numero 3 is now out, bringing bug fixes, core improvements, and some new user interface elements.

The Onyx user interface style (heavily-influenced visually by but not code-based-on the Enyo 1.0 UI) has gain a new set of sliders and progress bars. There's the basic slider, which can come with or without a "this much" blue fill from zero. There are also two sets of progress meters - the standard progress bar, and a progress button. Both have the option of including stationary or moving diagonal stripes (the moving one making it seem like it's loading faster, or at least working when you've got a larger action to complete), or just a plain gradient. The progress buttons are taller vertically and include an X button to kill the action. As with the Enyo 2.0 beta 2, these UI widgets (and the framework as a whole) are fully open source and support all browsers, not just WebKit.

Google's Motorola Buyout Could Lead To a Closed-Source Android

Former eBay CEO, 2010 California gubernatorial candidate and current president and CEO of Hewlett Packard Meg Whitman took the stage at HP's Global Partner Conference in Las Vegas today. She had some reassuring things to say about webOS and its open-source future, saying HP is committed and that we should  expect it to take some time (2 to 5 years worth) to fully play out what impact this will have on mobile's growing "ecosystem." We're right there with you Meg. We want webOS to stay relevant, and we love the open-source aspect. Bravo, and I could just hug you for doing the right thing.

Then something happened. We weren't there, but we expect the lights went dim and eerie music started playing in the background as Meg went on to say that Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility could lead to Android becoming closed-source and force OEM's to adopt webOS. We can't make this stuff up, kids.

I hate to break it to ya Meg, but it ain't gonna happen. It's against Google's business model with Android, which is to maintain a rich mobile operating system that anyone can install and use for free.  This, in turn, puts plenty of eyes on Google products and services, which leads to piles of money.  Google doesn't sell Android -- it sells ads. Google makes a ton of money every time a mobile device uses the Internet, because frankly, it's hard to get away from Google. No matter what smartphone brand you're using, Google is making money. Google will make money from an open-source webOS, just like it does from a closed-source iOS. It makes even more money keeping an Android open-source OS available for partners to use.

What Is Open webOS 1.0

As we touched on when talking about the revised epectations and hopes for webOS, there's something interesting right at the very end of the open source roadmap: the September release of "Open webOS 1.0". What exactly is this mysterious Open webOS and why are we going to be back at version 1.0? That's the question we posed to HP, because we don't like ambiguity (we've had enough of that over the years). Here's how HP clarified Open webOS 1.0 to us:

“The 1.0 release of Open webOS will include many new features, technologies, and enhancements, benefiting from HP’s ongoing development of the code. This work will also have the effect improving performance on a variety of hardware.”

We're going to deduce from this that Open webOS 1.0 is the combination of two things. The first is the set of modifications announced today (the new standard Linux kernel, switching to JavaScriptCore, etc - and likely more to be unveiled in the coming months) that will make it easier to put webOS on other hardware and aid in the open source process. The second part is webOS 4.0, which we're sure has been in development in some shape or form but with a questionable future. Open webOS 1.0 will combine those, giving webOS a second relaunch effort from HP.

HP Announces More Details for Open WebOS 1.0

You didn’t think HP forgot about WebOS did you? Okay maybe you did, but they are back with announcements today to remind you that they haven’t. HP is changing a few things to make it easier to open source WebOS. The biggest of those changes is switching to a Linux kernel instead of using their own custom one. This is going to make it much, much easier for people to install WebOS on a wider variety of devices. HP has also outed a roadmap for WebOS’ future:

• January: Enyo 2.0 and Enyo source code Apache License, Version 2.0
• February: Intended project governance model, QT WebKit extensions, JavaScript core, UI Enyo widgets
• March: Linux standard kernel, Graphics extensions EGL, LevelDB, USB extensions
• April: Ares 2.0, Enyo 2.1, Node services
• July: System manager (“Luna”), System manager bus, Core applications, Enyo 2.2
• August: Build release model, Open webOS Beta, Open webOS 1.0

Exciting, right? Also note that HP is rolling back the version number to 1.0 since this is basically a new version of WebOS.

Open webOS 1.0 And Enyo 2.0 Revised Dream's

In 2009 the dream of webOS and the Palm Pre was a successful web-based mobile platform with full-featured apps built with web code. It was an ambitious dream, but it came packaged with a flawed plan and debilitating lack of resources. The idea of building apps with just HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and a sprinkling of custom code seemed so obvious and yet something that nobody had yet grasped.

There's a reason nobody had yet grasped it - it's not easy. Sure, programming in HTML isn't exactly rocket surgery, but building an OS to support solely those apps is a more difficult proposition. It took webOS a while to get its footing, too long, in fact.

Today the dream has been revised. webOS is still at its core based on web technologies, but the dream is of those web-coded apps being everywhere and breeding success back down to the to-be-open-sourced webOS. Today's open sourcing of the Enyo application framework was the first of many steps to fulfilling that dream, and it's a pretty big one. It didn't take long after the announcement for Enyo-based apps to find their way into our browsers and other platforms, and we imagine that's just going to be the beginning. There are plenty of well-built Enyo apps that we're certain developers will be excited to be able to bring to other platforms without much effort (at least compared to the effort of completely rewriting the app for other platforms).

Today was really all about Enyo. Having the roadmap for the webOS open source release is great and all, but it's just to set expectations. We now know what we can look forward to in the coming months (ha, gotcha!), but at least in our estimation the most interesting item on the list was the very last one in September 2012: Open webOS 1.0.

This is not HP going back and pulling webOS 1.0 out of the vaults and open sourcing it. Nor is this HP dialing down the version number on 3.0 and shoving it out to the public. As we discussed last month after HP's announcement of their open source plans, there's plenty of work to be done with regards to open sourcing webOS. And today we got a glimpse at some of that work, such as adopting the standard Linux kernel for distribution onto more devices with better driver support and switching to JavaScriptCore over V8. These changes weren't just made with "going open" as a concern, in fact we wouldn't say that was a concern at all, though certainly a nice bonus as a result. The idea behind these changes (and likely plenty more to come) was to make webOS hardware agnostic - more like Linux and Android.

The revised dream is that by making webOS a new alternative to Android they might be able to pick up some marketshare in the process, making it easier to justify bringing back webOS hardware from HP. That's part of why HP's reseting the version counter to 1.0, and maybe pulling off a rename here to Open webOS (though personally we're still likely to just call it webOS if that's the case).

That's the dream. Now if that will be the reality, that remains to be seen. But at least today's news not only puts us a step closer, but also makes it an actual possibility. An open source application framework is one step, but we have to hope that Open webOS 1.0 takes massive leaps ahead, because that's exactly what the competition is going to be doing too

HP to Keep webOS, Make it Open Source

PALO ALTO, Calif., Dec. 9, 2011 – HP today announced it will contribute the webOS software to the open source community.

HP plans to continue to be active in the development and support of webOS. By combining the innovative webOS platform with the development power of the open source community, there is the opportunity to significantly improve applications and web services for the next generation of devices.

webOS offers a number of benefits to the entire ecosystem of web applications. For developers, applications can be easily built using standard web technologies. In addition, its single integrated stack offers multiplatform portability. For device manufacturers, it provides a single web-centric platform to run across multiple devices. As a result, the end user benefits from a fast, immersive user experience.

webOS is the only platform designed from the ground up to be mobile, cloud-connected and scalable,‖ said Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive officer. ―By contributing this innovation, HP unleashes the creativity of the open source community to advance a new generation of applications and devices.‖

HP will make the underlying code of webOS available under an open source license. Developers, partners, HP engineers and other hardware manufacturers can deliver ongoing enhancements and new versions into the marketplace.

HP will engage the open source community to help define the charter of the open source project under a set of operating principles: The goal of the project is to accelerate the open development of the webOS platform

• HP will be an active participant and investor in the project

• Good, transparent and inclusive governance to avoid fragmentation

• Software will be provided as a pure open source project

HP also will contribute ENYO, the application framework for webOS, to the community in the near future along with a plan for the remaining components of the user space.

Beginning today, developers and customers are invited to provide input and suggestions at http://developer.palm.com/blog/.

HP will make new webOS tablets, but not smartphones

HP CEO Meg Whitman talked with the guys over at The Verge about HP’s future plans for webOS, now that they’ve decided to open source it. While all of the official verbiage on the announcement was very careful to avoid any mention of hardware from HP or any other manufacturer, The Verge asked pointedly if HP had any intentions on making new webOS hardware. Said Whitman:

“The answer to that is yes but what I can't tell you is whether that will be in 2012 or not. But we will use webOS in new hardware, but it's just going to take us a little longer to reorganize the team in a quite different direction than we've been taking it in the past.”

So we may or may not see any new webOS hardware out of HP in the next year (though it doesn't sound likely), but as far as the CEO is concerned, HP definitely intends to put out something new that runs webOS. Eventually. But what might that device be? Tablets, Whitman admitted when pressed, commenting that “I do not believe we will be in the smartphone business again.”

HP's open source plan

So HP is going to open source webOS. What does that mean, and how do they do that? We spoke with HP on this matter and here’s what they had to say.

HP intends to fully open source every component of webOS, right down to its Linux core. They aren’t ready to give a public timeframe for exactly when that open sourcing will happen, because there’s some work that has to be done first. HP noted that there are some proprietary parts of webOS that have been licensed from other entities. Obviously HP cannot go an open source somebody else’s work, so they’ll have to replace those bits with open source components (whether that means they’ll source them from the open source community or create in-house, we don’t yet know).

As for the plan, HP intends to release webOS to the open source community in segments, starting with Enyo in “the near future,” followed by the other parts of webOS. Fear not, for there will be a roadmap published for their open sourcing plans. There are still plenty of details to work out (governance structures  and the like), but it's happening.

Lastly, there’s something interesting we’ve observed with the big player in the open source mobile space. That’s Android, by the way. What we’ve noticed are lawsuits over patents. HP told us that they intend to hold on to their patents and will use them to protect developers using webOS. Considering the foundational mobile device patents that HP holds, such as"Integrated Handheld Computing and Telephony System and Services," i.e. “smartphone”, HP shouldn’t have much difficulty defending webOS from the Apples, Samsungs, and Motorolas of the world.