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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

by dstein 15y ago

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.

chollida1 15y ago
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?
- dstein 15y ago
  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.
  - chollida1 15y ago
    > 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?
Apocryphon 15y ago
Interesting, this is the third alternative I've heard of what HP should do with webOS, the others being open sourcing it or selling it to a company that will actually do something with it. Unfortunately, it seems like HP will probably lock webOS in a vault for its patents, dooming it to die.
el_chapitan 15y ago
I find it interesting that you're basically calling for them to do almost exactly what they did with PalmOS back in the day. Technically that company still exists, so PalmOS still exists, but I can't remember the last time I saw a PalmOS device. Apparently, this is what happens to Palm operating systems.

by dstein 15y ago

chollida1 15y ago

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?

dstein 15y ago
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.
- chollida1 15y ago
  > 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?

Apocryphon 15y ago

Interesting, this is the third alternative I've heard of what HP should do with webOS, the others being open sourcing it or selling it to a company that will actually do something with it. Unfortunately, it seems like HP will probably lock webOS in a vault for its patents, dooming it to die.

el_chapitan 15y ago

I find it interesting that you're basically calling for them to do almost exactly what they did with PalmOS back in the day. Technically that company still exists, so PalmOS still exists, but I can't remember the last time I saw a PalmOS device. Apparently, this is what happens to Palm operating systems.