Palm Frees Up webOS Development

Per Wigren writes in with news that Palm has just announced a number of changes to its webOS development platform that should really be welcomed by developers — especially after the chilly reception that Palm seemed to be giving to open source in recent days. OSnews notes that "This moves the webOS much closer to Android territory." Quoting TechCrunch: "The first is that they're allowing developers to fully distribute their apps via the web. What this means is that developers can simply submit their apps to Palm, and Palm will return to them a URL that they can then blog, tweet, do whatever they want to share it. When a person then clicks on that URL they can easily install the app, bypassing any kind of store. And while Palm is providing the URL, it is not going to be reviewing the apps in any way — a clear dig at Apple's approval process. The next announcement is that Palm is waiving the $99 yearly fee it normally charges to developers to make webOS apps if those apps are going to be open source."

Comments

Not reviewing them in any way? Really?

[monoqlith]

I'm all for letting any non-maleficent app through without some ridiculous approval process, but some common sense restrictions should be applied. Shouldn't Palm at least be checking to see if the apps are malware?

Re:Not reviewing them in any way? Really?

[DrgnDancer]

I think you will find that Slashdot is made up of more than one person, and that the opinions expressed here are often variable. Surprisingly enough, all of the thousands of people that read a story, and the hundreds that often comment on a story do not agree on everything. See any story or post that mentions: "Apple", "Microsoft", "iPhone", "Linux on the Desktop" for examples of this fact.

Re:Not reviewing them in any way? Really?

[0xdeadbeef]

Shouldn't Palm at least be checking to see if the apps are malware?

Mama's gonna check out all your applications for you. Mama's not going to let anything dirty get through. Mama's gonna wait up until you sign in. Mama's going to always find out where you've been. Mama's gonna keep baby healthy and clean.

Re:Not reviewing them in any way? Really?

[oldhack]

You're completely wrong.

Re:Not reviewing them in any way? Really?

[Tacvek]

Palm here though is hosting the apps on palm owned webspace.

I just don't get it. If palm is letting non-reviewed apps be made available (They will probably still review any placed in the store, but being in the store will not be a requirement for installation), then why require them to come from a special location?

Why not just create a standard archive format for app distribution, and let anybody make and distribute apps. Just like with the Windows Mobile platform, or for that matter the PalmOS platform?

Re:Not reviewing them in any way? Really?

[rwa2]

Well, they still control the URL used to download the app, so they can ostensibly yank an app if "the community" finds out something is laden with malware. Pretty much the same way big open source distribution points work.

I bet they also make you click through some legal disclaimer when you download any app through them anyway.

I'm glad they're going for the side of "too open" vs. "too closed", while still maintaining some modicum of control. It's not like they let people load apps directly from anywhere, propagating who-knows-what.

Re:Wow

[MrEricSir]

It's all in the wrist.

Re:Say what?

[Fallen Seraph]

Ok, now try reading the article. The link is for devs who want a distribution method other than the store, but want Palm to host it, to make it easy for people to download it. This does not mean the app will be listed in the app catalog. If you want it to be listed in the official app catalog, then you can pay the yearly fee (same as Apple) and pick a price point for your app. The link is simply IN ADDITION to the store, not a replacement for it. They're trying to give developers as many options as possible to distribute their apps, on top of the 3rd party homebrew app catalogs which already exist.

And the mention that open source apps will not require a fee to be in the official app catalog is a major boon for open source software, because that means there's no cash or fee required to distribute a free and open app. I'm gonna be honest, thus far, WebOS in many ways seems to be a more consumer friendly version of Android. Hopefully when WebOS gets Java support it will expand even further.

Close

[Kludge]

It's HTML, which is really close to C++.

Re:Say what?

[Tacvek]

You mean like all the many independent app stores that previously existed for the PalmOS, Windowm Mobile, and Symbian OS, but are being phased out in favor of Apple style APP stores?

Or how about independent app sales by the application developer, who you pay with a credit card, and they send you the app, or more commonly they send you an unlock code for the app, which is publicly available shareware style?

Those systems work well, except that the average moron that buys an Windows Mobile based phone from HTC have no idea they can just go online and download any Windows Mobile 6 compatible application they find.
For whatever reason that concept just does not occur the the average idiot. I don't know why. Whenever I get a new device where I might be able to run software from the Internet, one of the first things I do is go looking around at what is available. I'm guessing most readers of this site are like this too.