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HP To Put WebOS On PCs In 2012
Stenchwarrior writes "Hewlett-Packard's chief executive officer Leo Apotheker announced that WebOS will be on every PC that HP ships in 2012. The move is intended to attract more developers and push the operating system from mobile devices onto desktops. Apotheker made the announcement during a presentation to HP's staff in India, according to a report by Bloomberg. It's not likely that WebOS will supplant existing operating systems on PCs, but rather would run on top of Windows to be able to launch WebOS apps. HP had previously announced its plans to push WebOS onto PCs last month, but, at the time, the company didn't reveal the scope of its commitment to the operating system. We now know that HP means each and every PC it sells starting in 2012 will have WebOS installed."
...Yet they will not take even consumer friendly Ubuntu seriously. IS the idea of Linux as a consumer friendly OS a dead end?
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
I am with ya on that, this move is completely beyond comprehension, not only does it seem pointless but if you have dealt much with HP software over the years the last thing you would want from them is more of it.
Aaaaand... One more reason why my first task on any new OEM PC boils down to "wipe and reinstall the OS".
I honestly don't know if I "like" WebOS or not yet, but if I want a Windows PC, I damned well want a Windows PC, not a frankenbox designed to push some crack-addled CEO's latest cross-marketing wet dreams on an otherwise unwilling audience.
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No matter what a PC comes with, the first thing I do is slash and burn and install whatever I want. There's no way I'm going to put up with all the bloatware and possible malicious software the vendor installed.
This is running on top of Windows, though.
It'd be like driving a Lamborghini on a canoe.
Trolling is a art,
This likely is a boardroom decision that is devoid of engineering input. And given HPs cooperate culture lately it does not surprise me one bit.
It is however very sad from a company that was founded by engineers.
Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
This brings up several questions. WebOS is a dedicated touchscreen app. Using one of those OSes with a mouse is much less appealing and doesn't feel as productive. Ever tried running the iOS emulator (comes with the SDK) or somesuch? It's just not meant for it.
Also, wouldn't you have to recompile all the apps? ARM is a different processor
Everyone seems to be coming up with something like this. And I think it's all to encourage you to stay within the owner's ecosystem where they make the rules and skim the profits of everything that comes through.
Apple iStore started it.
Then Steam. GamesForWindowsLive is an obvious ripoff. Apple is offering more and more stuff, Facebook wants to start offering credits or something like that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_Credits App Stores, Paypal, etc. it's the wave of the future.
Everyone wants to be the broker through which you do all your stuff. I kinda hope that they all screw off and drop dead. I don't need any more middle men between me and my destination.
Maybe the marketplaces will proliferate to the extent that none of them can become truly mandatory. Or maybe one day you'll choose between the 300 different app markets that do all sorts of shit and you'll have to be careful to shop out the one with the best terms. Or maybe you'll have to join a bunch of them (that product you just bought requires you to join another one, please generate ANOTHER unique username and password!) and you'll have to manage all 300 digital identities.
Perhaps you can see how excited I am.
-- "Oh. This guy again."
Surely you jest? They sell more than anyone else.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
I think I didn't get it before, but WebOS is a hit/miss in Spanish speaking countries as it's an homonym with "Huevos", which is slang for "balls".
As in "Tienes WebOS?". Ah, yes... I don't see a good future launching WebOS either.
I'm also a happy Pre user, and looking forward to the Pre3/Touchpad combination. I'll be happier if WebOS for the desktop will be available for installation on other vendor hardware, as a lot of people like or are locked into Dell, Lenovo, or Toshiba, or build their own.
Those who question the installation of WebOS on HP systems in large part haven't seen what HP is trying to do with it. The concept is closer to consumer cloud computing than anything else that I've seen. While certain services will allow you wide access to one type of data (Box.net for files, webmail for e-mail, etc.), HP is going for total data availability from any device (at least if it's running WebOS). You can have local copies if you wish, but the data will be synchronized across a wide variety of devices. In the future, if it pans out, then I'm sure we'll see WebOS TVs, tables, walls, or refrigerators (or maybe even toasters) to make it so we never have to do much more than turn around to access our data.
Personally, I'd love to have the option of synchronizing it with my choice of hosts, or with my systems at home if I choose to keep things out of someone else's hands. The options are important, and if it means paying a few bucks for it, I'm OK with that.
I don't know if WebOS will be the platform to make this happen the way that it needs to. It may be that Apple will come up with something similar by utilizing their new data center. Google, of course, has been pushing to become the world's data repository. Some other party could come up with something that does it better. Everyone is pushing everyone else, and it makes it an interesting time to watch it all unfold.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
Give this guy irony points. My HP desktop has nannyware built into it that forces me to reinstall the operating system if I install anything that modifies the MBR (e..g, most distros of Linux, as dual boot). Nobody has yet shown me how to disable that, and several attempts have only caused me to, yup, reinstall the software. The only way around this is to install Linux outright, and throw my Windoze disks out.
This is what should and probably will happen.
I would be ecstatic if my next laptop gave me the option to press one button to launch windows or one button to launch an "instant boot" version of webOS. webOS would be much easier on the battery and, under most normal situations, webOS would offer all I need. A web browser and a few distractions.
It will never supplant a full blown OS and that's not the goal. But it would be great for those moments when you just want to reply to some e-mails real quick or browse the web.
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
Recently some of my in-laws brought me their new HP notebook complaining that it was (of course) slow, and that intermittently they could or could not load their pictures onto it. Turned out that it was one of these notebooks HP had shipped with the webos as some kind of pre-boot setup and my less than technically savvy family members weren't able to tell when they were in windows (yes, a nightmare unto itself) or were in the webos. The solution was to backup their data, wipe the machine and install stock Windows 7 from scratch. They haven't had any complaints since.
HP, this does not bode well!
It's not going to be installed on top of windows.
It's going to be instant-on.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/13/hp-picks-up-phoenixs-hyperspace-hypercore-and-flip-instant-on/
You do know that WebOS is the successor of PalmOS, and was acquired by HP when they bought Palm and replaced all the HP and Compaq handheld devices, right? What they're doing is saying "Guess what... all those apps you have for your mobile device will now run on your HP desktop as well -- and have full access to the same data pool."
WebOS is no discount OS -- it's version 2 of the first successful handheld OS out there (NewtonOS doesn't count), updated to take advantage of the latest and greatest technologies (if you consider cloud computing great, that is). Its pedigree is older than Symbian, and it has retained a strong developer following from the PalmOS crowd. This means that it isn't as open as Android, and isn't as closed as iOS -- it's the happy medium. HP is banking that this will help them gain a large marketshare in the ubiquitous computing market.
Sounds like you keep re-installing the same crappy nag-enabled OEM software. Get a real copy of Windows and you'll be happy (assuming Windows is your thing that is).