HP Donates To WebOS's Major Hombrewing Group

Kilrah_il writes "WebOS Internals Group is the central repository for all the homebrewing done on the WebOS platform, including apps, patches and kernels. Recently it became clear that server infrastructure would fall behind future progress in the WebOS world. 'So they asked HP's Phil McKinney, who has arranged to donate an HP Proliant DL385 2u server with 32 gigs of RAM and 8 terabytes of disk space... Notably, this is a straight-up donation, no strings attached — so WebOS Internals will remain how they always have: completely independent from the company whose OS they hack on.'"

Seems pretty logical...

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

With the Palm acquisition, HP found themselves with a fairly nice mobile OS(with reasonable prospects of also doing Meego-esque tablet/netbook stuff); but one that was more or less dead last(even WinMo6.x has a legacy base).

It seems reasonable, then, for them to cozy up to the platform homebrewers. They are the conveniently-already-self-selected group who has the greatest enthusiasm for the product. They will also be the ones who volunteer themselves to test dubiously stable new features, experiment with stuff, and so forth. A useful asset, particularly if one does not have a large group of developers who support your platform for financial reasons.

Also, since(unlike Android or WP7), HP is currently the only distributor of WebOS devices, they have comparatively little to lose if homebrew ROMs circulate around. The only issue that might induce them to take a harder stance would be if commercial publishers start crying about piracy. We'll see if that happens...

Re:So they condemned them w/ a rebranded Compaq?

[Anonymous Coward]

What he doesn't tell you is that he's a system recovery specialist, and only gets called when the machines get dead.

It's like the Maytag Repairman, nobody ever calls him when things don't go wrong.

Re:good PR but pointless.

[Kilrah_il]

So, HP doesn't fight the developers that hack their own OS. Not only that, they also donate a server to that same group... and you complain that they don't donate enough?
You are correct, total "bleh".

HP + Direction = Success

[El Fantasmo]

Glad to see the webOS internals guys getting some well deserved credit and recognition. Without them webOS would have been a waste of time.

IF HP can do what they are trying, then Apple and Android may well be playing catch up in the not too distant future. HP is creating an OS environment that can go from desktop to laptop, to touch slates to cell phones without skipping a beat. Data and applications synchronized, seamlessly across devices. Scalable at an enterprise level with enterprise tools. No hodgepodge of Windows + iOS + Blackberry + Linux each with separate management tools. It's one stop shopping with a powerhouse like HP supporting it and for consumers, supporting the home brew community.

The prospects are quite exciting. Only time will reveal the results.