Hypocritical much?
We say that we want companies to be Open Source friendly and then we dump on them when they are. This is a huge gift and the community could do a lot with it regardless of what HP does.
We say we want companies to be transparent and open but then ***** when they announce their intentions before reaching 100% complete. There will be a license (the word is they are favouring APL). There will be governance too. That is when we will know WebOS has a shot or not. There may even be hardware.
Why do we freak out at Google for buying Motorola and then beat-up HP for not producing WebOS hardware? If Google can build the Android ecosystem through partners, then why can't HP do the same with WebOS? Given that Android now costs Samsung $15 per unit (in licensing fees to Microsoft), it may well be that WebOS is an attractive alternative. People seem to love the UI. Also, did you know that HP released more TouchPads into the market just yesterday? I think it is the second best selling tablet after the iPad.
But of course, the real hardware that HP cares about is printers. I am sure that is how they justify the continued investment in WebOS. WebOS is a huge opportunity for the industry and for the community. If we take good advantage of it, HP will have a nice bonus return on their investment and will perhaps get into the game directly with hardware of their own. That is clearly what they are thinking.
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