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HP Unveils WebOS Tablet, Plans WebOS Computer 148

jfruhlinger writes "As had been expected, Hewlett-Packard unveiled new webOS-based smartphones and a webOS tablet today. But in a bit of a shock, the company also announced that webOS would be coming to HP PCs. Whether this is happening in specialized products only or HP plans a wholesale repudiation of Windows, it's definitely a bold move."
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HP Unveils WebOS Tablet, Plans WebOS Computer

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  • by Jeremiah Cornelius ( 137 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @07:36PM (#35156886) Homepage Journal

    "HP! Wasn't it clear? You were our bitch!"

    • by Osgeld ( 1900440 )

      Since when, HP has offered and developed alternative OS's since they started making computers

      Or are we basing our opinion on the HP mommy bought at officemax

      • Since when, HP has offered and developed alternative OS's since they started making computers

        Sure but I don't know if you want to hold up MPE [hp.com] as a shining example of computing...

        Just kidding, HP has a great a storied history behind it and it's nice to see them trying to make something of a comeback as a company that Matters.

      • Smartypants.

        If you want to get all righteous about HP/UX or Tandem or whatever, go ahead!

        We are talking the Desktop/Portable/SMB/Home market segment here. This is an entirely different business than the enterprise computing or engineering businesses. They operate under different economics - and the former has, in the past, been very much defined by OEM alliance with Microsoft.

        Ballmer is shitting perfect, white-hot cubes about this.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Nobody will buy these. Here's their current lineup:

    • Original pre & pre plus, pixi & pixi plus: These are legacy paperweights which will not receive future updates (i.e. no webOS 2.0). All but confirmed by HP. They're hard to buy at retail (nobody is selling them) and they're yesterday's devices.
    • Pre 2: Nobody will buy this when the Pre 3 is just around the corner. Oh yeah, and nobody sells these anyway (Verizon will start selling them in the next few days; SFR in France sells it already; who else?)
    • Pr
    • by the linux geek ( 799780 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @07:45PM (#35157014)
      Why wouldn't anyone buy the Pre 3 and TouchPad when there's competition? Why do you think that people are still going to buy Android devices when there's competition from the iPad and iPad 2? Your logic seems disturbingly like Android troll logic.
      • by RyuuzakiTetsuya ( 195424 ) <taiki@nOspAm.cox.net> on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @08:01PM (#35157176)

        This is the same comment I leave to Android fanboys.

        Real artists ship.

        Show me product and a release date, not a flashy and useless bit of info about some product that might come out soon.

        • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

          by h4rr4r ( 612664 )
          • It's almost as if the parent was talking about android tablets, and not about android in general. Way to be on-topic

          • yes. But my point was that Moto, et al, need to start actually showing ship dates and hardware before going to the slick marketing campaign.

            Everyone says Apple is just marketing. They forget all that snazzy engineering stuff and showing off product in the middle. Perhaps that's part of marketing, but, show me a release date, show me a price, show me real hardware(well, HP did show a real TouchPad, Pre3 and that new phone; RIM did not with the playbook).

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        Because of price, features and companies who don't seem to hate their customers. Every iDevice costs quite a bit of money and isn't unlocked to work wherever. Not everyone is on AT&T or Verizon, nor can everyone afford to shell out $200 for the base model of the current generation of iPhone. The iPhone will never have a full hardware keyboard, despite the improvements made with software keyboard they will never match the accuracy and feel of a physical keyboard, anyone who wants a keyboard on their phon
        • by jo_ham ( 604554 ) <joham999@ g m a i l . com> on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @08:48PM (#35157642)

          "iPad ridiculously overpriced"

          Right, which is why there are so many competing tablets of equivalent featureset coming in under the iPad's price...

          Oh wait, the other thing, opposite to what I just said.

          Everyone crowed about supposed price of the iPad in the speculation and hype up to its launch, and when the actual price was announced, everyone quietly revised down their "zomg it's overpriced" by several hundred dollars. As yet we *still * haven't seen a competitor come in at significantly lower (or even a little lower) cost. If it's so overpriced, there will be a ton of tablets at a much lower price point - so far, I have yet to see that. They're all around the iPad's price or higher.

          Your point about "finding a tool that fits" is dead on though - despite iPhone and Android, there will still be people who buy these new WebOS devices (assuming they are any good) purely because neither the iPhone nor the Android ecosystem provides what that customer is looking for.

          • We've seen a lot of cheaper tablets than the iPad - there are a lot of 7" ARM11 ones for around £100 (iPad starts at £439). We've seen more powerful ones that cost more. The reason that the iPad is perceived as expensive is the same reason that Macs have this perception: The small number of models means that you generally end up paying for features that you don't need, or not getting features that you do want.

            For a lot of use cases, a £200 netbook is a much better device than the iPad a

            • ...of equivalent featureset... ...of equivalent featureset... ...of equivalent featureset...

              Goodness, why is it anytime anyone says there's no significantly cheaper competition for the iPad, someone comes in and says you can get a 7" ARM pad for £100. Those £100 pads suck, and they're not remotely in the ballpark of the iPad. Yes, you're right, for use cases where the iPad isn't suitable, then something that's more suitable is more suitable. If you wanted a laptop, you'd be stupid to buy a

              • Equivalent feature set is a meaningless comparison. I could make a laptop that electrocutes the user every 10 seconds, and say 'no other laptop vendor has a similarly priced device with an equivalent feature set'. It would be true, but electrocuting the user every ten seconds is not a feature that anyone wants.

                Users outside the Slashdot crowd don't care about feature checklists, they care about one thing: does the device do what they need? Sometimes the iPad does, sometimes something with lower specs th

                • No, overpriced means that it's overpriced for the specifications it has. You wouldn't call a Blu-Ray player overpriced because someone bought one and only wanted to play CDs, and found out that later that they could have bought a £20 CD or DVD player instead of a £100 Blu-Ray player. Overpriced implies that, for the specifications (including build quality and eye candy) offered, the manufacturer is ramping up the price over and above the components + design + profits. Usually, if that is the
            • by jo_ham ( 604554 )

              The Nintendo DS doesn't have a 10" multitouch screen.

              The £100 tablets are not 10" either, and often have the cheaper resistive screens.

              As yet, the iPad, which is "overpriced" has no viable competitor that can match its specifications. This is either because no one wants to make something to compete with it (unlikely) or that so far, no one can match Apple's price (just check out the Xoom, for example).

              Your sample of a few being used to pay games is not definitive - games are a large part of its appeal

          • by DrXym ( 126579 )

            Right, which is why there are so many competing tablets of equivalent featureset coming in under the iPad's price...

            The Archos 101 costs 3/5 the price of an iPad and is a perfectly fine tablet with 10.1" capacitive screen, wifi, 10 hour battery life etc.. Of course you added the weasel phrase "same featureset" so you could say this is not so. After all the 8GB internal flash is less than the cheapest iPad's 16Gb and some stuff like rear camera, GPS isn't there. An the flip side it has HDMI out, micro sd, stand, USB slave / host for mass storage, greater multimedia support) that make it a wash IMO.

            The biggest issue wi

            • by jo_ham ( 604554 )

              Right, so it's *not* the same featureset - that is the point! It's cheaper because it left out the more expensive components. The bulk of the "extra features that make it a wash" are software-related - the iPad can be a USB mass storage device if Apple adds the feature, and it has video out [not HDMI, but I expect that will be in v2), and the multimedia support is a question of shipping codecs. So, the Archos is is cheaper because it has less hardware - that's not "weasel words", that's just how it is.

              The r

              • software-related - the iPad can be a USB mass storage device if Apple adds the feature

                But can you connect a mass storage device to it, which is what GP implied by "host"?

                As far as I'm aware this requires hardware. My old Archos PMA 430 has it, but as a second port (with a slightly different shape).

            • by b0bby ( 201198 )

              The biggest issue with the Archos is probably that it uses an uncertified version of Android 2.2. Even so It's a sign of things to come. When Google get their finger out and release Android 3.0 there will be numerous models to choose from and many will be perfectly functional and a great deal cheaper than the iPad.

              This is the crux of the matter - even at 3/5 the price, Android tablets are sucky because they're trying to work around the limitations of the phone-only releases. This should change this year, but right now, there's nothing that I (or, indeed, many others) want to buy. I'm waiting until the end of this year to get a tablet; I'm hoping I'll have some decent choices (Android, doubtful on the WebOS thing though I still use my Palm), but if not the ipad 2 will probably be just fine.

        • I'll tell you this, I have used Linux since 1998 and windows since it first came out, and dos before that. I work in IT and use these computers every day. I've used lots and lots of laptops. I have lots of laptops, netbooks and desktops at home in all sorts of varieties. And yet, when i go home, it's the iPad i pick up to use, sitting on the comfy couch, to do absolutely everything i need to do with my home computer. You do the math.

          • You must not be a "serious", or "hardcore", or a "real" user who needs to get any "serious work done". I suspect you and I are using the same device to have this conversation ;)

          • So how does typing work?

            Much as I like the idea of tablets, non-mechanical keyboards are totally horrible for doing any text entry longer than an SMS.

        • Every iDevice costs quite a bit of money and isn't unlocked to work wherever.

          How U.S. centric is that? In other markets the iPhone is sold unlocked. And they generally do not cost much more than other similar smartphones - yes there are cheaper Android phones but they are around equal with the cheaper prev-gen iPhones.

          Not everyone is on AT&T or Verizon

          But realistically everyone could be, those two cover everything.

          The iPhone will never have a full hardware keyboard

          A small folding Bluetooth keyboard is

        • The iPhone will never have a full hardware keyboard, despite the improvements made with software keyboard they will never match the accuracy and feel of a physical keyboard, anyone who wants a keyboard on their phone is going to have to get a non-iPhone.

          Funny, because I would be all over Palm's phones if only they'd release a model with a virtual keyboard. A keyboard that I can't fit at least six fingers on at a time is worthless to me, and I haven't found a single phone-sized Qwerty keyboard that could m

      • by mjwx ( 966435 )

        logic seems disturbingly like Android troll logic.

        Uhhh... the parent was comparing them to Android and IOS devices, how is that Android trolling?

        Is it just that you dont want IOS being able to be compared with Android? Are you that scared of it.

        Someone please mod parent retarded.

    • by aapold ( 753705 )
      You can run 2.0 on those old devices now if you're willing to do a bit of legwork. So I see no reason why they wouldn't do it themselves at some point...
      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward

        You can run 2.0 on those old devices now if you're willing to do a bit of legwork. So I see no reason why they wouldn't do it themselves at some point...

        And for the 99% of users who aren't willing to doctor their devices to install an entirely unsupported new version of the OS?

        No - if HP won't officially support it, then it may as well not happen. (And don't tell me that HP has made vague promises of some form of update in the future. Their credibility at this point is shot.) When HP took over, they promised vast engineering resources that only a corporate behemoth can provide. So the fact is that they could, but they won't.

        • It's typical HP though. Their line was "invent", it's not "The computer is personal again", why do you think they changed this? The creativity was smashed out of the company years ago and their desire to actually push the envelope and do something that will turn our heads is gone.

          This said, if they do pull their finger out of their collective arsehole maybe we might see some actual competition to the iPad - because at this stage, there's nothing that comes close on qualtiy, price or OS to the iPad.

          Sure, the

      • Jon Rubenstein just told Engadget that it's not going to happen.

        Sure, some techie type folks will put together a franken_doctor to flash their device yet, but for the vast majority of Pre owners, they are never going to get more than 1.45.

        • by aapold ( 753705 )
          Yeah I just saw that.

          the webos community at precentral [precentral.net] is up in arms. Sounds like they achieved ditching what was left of the palm fanbase.

          As a pre+ user, it certainly changed my mind about getting one of these. How can I trust them to support these devices down the road?
    • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @09:34PM (#35158074)

      You are highly underestimating this event. I would put it as beginning of the end of Microsoft dominance in PC business. The Apple has shown that Windows is not necessary, however, majority of buyers are in enterprise where Apple has low penetration and also Apple can't make low cost computers or provide enterprise level customization/support/consulting. If HP can make as cheap laptop using WebOS as they are making Windows one, then they have a serious chance of penetrating enterprise market. Here are few reasons:

      -- Most enterprises now a days use web based apps for majority of their business. Only requirement is a browser like FF.
      -- Windows have too many security issues. Since it was virtually everywhere, it is compatible with all viruses out there. For WebOS, they will have to start from fresh. Also, employees download lots of junk uncertified software. If HP locks down WebOS like iOS, then only HP app store apps can be downloaded and expectation is that like Apple, HP will screen and limit apps on its store.

      • by hitmark ( 640295 )

        And for those companies that need Windows still for something or other, they can rack up some hardware and run it via a citrix session or similar inside webos.

    • by CAIMLAS ( 41445 )

      I, for one, am quite pleased that the Pre line isn't dead. I plan to buy a Pre of some variety as my next phone.

      You see, I've not yet taken the $50+ a month plunge to get a smartphone. I still have a stupid 'free' phone, and pay a relative pittance each month. But I'd like the features of a smartphone; for what's available, the Pre seems the best bet in terms of "going to work and not piss me off".

      I should note that I'm not a 'technology dinosaur' - I'm a sysadmin, deal with fun things like multiplexing, ZF

      • I, for one, am quite pleased that the Pre line isn't dead. I plan to buy a Pre of some variety as my next phone.

        You see, I've not yet taken the $50+ a month plunge to get a smartphone.

        {snip} When I decided to replace my beloved-yet-obviously-headed-to-hospice Nokia E90 Communicator (Symban is not dead yet, but it sure does smell funny), I found a plan which does not require selling my firstborn... VirginMobileUSA. Five hours of voice/month, unmetered texting and data = $25/mo sans contract, and the Samsung Intercept (Eclair only so far) without subsidy was just a year's worth of credit card points at Le Target.

      • I don't own a TV

        I'm sure if HP WebOS locks up about 90% of all folks like you, they will sell possibly hundreds of phones!

    • I think that there's still a niche in in this market for something that's more polished than Android, but more open than iOS. None of these devices are going to be barn burners out of the gate, but if HP can establish itself there first, with time and patience I think they could grow to a genuine contender in this market space

    • by DrXym ( 126579 )
      I think webOS is a nice OS. I just don't see how a single model of phone and a single model of tablet is supposed to compete with a multitude of other devices all running more popular operating systems. It didn't happen with previous Palm devices, so what's going to change this time around.

      I think the best thing HP could do is licence out webOS and grab itself a partner or two. Nokia might be a good choice simply because they're floundering too. Together they might be able to make enough of a splash to ta

    • Veer's not a competitor for the iPhone 5, high-end Android etc., it's a competitor for the Xperia X10 Mini I keep seeing all over the place. Since Nokia fucked their transition to touchscreens, there's not been too many low-end, cheap, small smartphones, so it's a market HP could really make a killing in.

      • Veer's not a competitor for the iPhone 5, high-end Android etc., it's a competitor for the Xperia X10 Mini I keep seeing all over the place. Since Nokia fucked their transition to touchscreens, there's not been too many low-end, cheap, small smartphones, so it's a market HP could really make a killing in.

        Yeah, but it therefore competes with the (now) $49 iPhone 3GS, in addition to a bunch of cheapish Android phones. And at some point, I would imagine there's going to be a massive BB Torch firesale... I mean, come on now...

    • by digsbo ( 1292334 )
      I guess you haven't seen HP aggressively promoting their TouchSmart line of home PCs. In a bizarre cross-branding effort, HP sponsored a special event on "Project Runway" where a bunch of designers used TouchSmart PCs and special software to create their own fabric prints. Ina strange segment Vera Wang was shilling for HP "making the computer personal again". Touchy-feely computers which are easy to use and require no keyboarding skills, etc. My wife thought it was interesting (even I thought it was pre
  • Cool (Score:5, Insightful)

    by the linux geek ( 799780 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @07:44PM (#35156996)
    If the price is right, I'll probably end up getting either the Veer or the Pre 3. Both of these look like really nice devices, and the OS is the nicest of the recent-generation ones I've used.

    I think the long-term success of the platform really depends on how soon HP gets these out the door - "early spring" and "summer" are vague terms. If they wait until August for the Pre 3 and the TouchPad, I think they really lose an opportunity. If the Veer is out in March and the Pre 3 and TouchPad follow in June, HP's in good shape. The hardware's looking great and the OS is superior to almost anything out there right now; they just have to make it happen.
    • HP has a long ways to go, but they might be trying to create another Appleesque system - smartphone / tablet / PC (later on) running a limited OS which would be just perfect for most of the limited users out there in Box-o-rocks land. According to TFA they're adding some social networking (which will of course fail), yet another movie portal (likewise) and partnering with Skype to counter facetime. Whether or not anyone is interested in the latter remains to be seen but at least they're going to try to pu
    • The "long term success" (as you put it) of the HP WebOS platform will not be greatly influenced by "how soon HP gets these out the door". Their timing is already "not optimal" as others here have pointed out. If they make their vague ship dates, they're competing with iOS 4, iPhone 5 and iPad 2. HP's offering might be reasonable compared to other products in the phone and tablet market, but is unlikely to provide a compelling alternative to iOS. The problem will be that HP will have a difficult time kee
      • The Android lead might be on a foundation of sand, however. Nearly every Android user I meet likes their 'droid, a few dislike it, and none love it. This is a distinct contrast with Blackberry and Apple, most of whose customers profess to love their phone (with the notable exception of folks using Blackberry touch screen devices).

        ^This

        2 years ago my wife and I both had iPhone 3Gs, but couldn't stand using AT&T. We switched to Verizon when Motorola launched the Droid. For over a year I was content with mine, but she hated hers with a passion. We ordered her an iPhone 4 the day the pre-orders went up. After two days of playing around with it myself and remembering just how much more polished of an experience iOS is, I ordered one for myself too. It's unlikely either of us will try something else within the next two years or s

  • February - HP to dump Windows for Linux-based WebOS on their PCs

    March - HP's WebOS to be a Splashtop-esque minimal system to compliment Windows on their PCs

    April - HP drops Splashtop-esque WebOS minimal system from their PCs

    • I know what you mean. I get why you might use a cloud-oriented OS on a phone or even a tablet, but I wonder who they think the market is for a PC running WebOS. It certainly isn't me.

    • I doubt that we'll even see WebOS on an HP PC until June or July, and even then it will be an embedded dual boot option with Windows 7.

      Microsoft doesn't have anything to worry about... yet.

  • Why announce now? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by gstrickler ( 920733 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @07:54PM (#35157098)

    The products aren't finished, the OS isn't ready, and announcing now does absolutely nothing to slow down the iPad. The Moto Xoom is overpriced, which will self limit it's sales. The Samsung Galaxy Tab is notably smaller, different market segment. And no one else is actually shipping a competitor. A pointless pre-announcement with no pricing, insufficient product info, and no product for an unspecified number or months. Way to kill off sales of current WebOS phones and have essentially no impact on the competition.

    Is HP trying to kill WebOS before it has a chance to succeed, or are they just clueless?

    • Why announce now? It's not about selling a product to consumers. It's about selling a brand to investors.
      • by Pulzar ( 81031 )

        Why announce now? It's not about selling a product to consumers. It's about selling a brand to investors.

        It's also about selling the brand to consumers. Building up the public image of a new product well before it is released is a very common strategy in the industry. Not everybody has Apple's loyal following that will buy a new product the day they hear about it for the first time... and even in the case of iPad, the hype for Apple's tablet was building up for a year even if Apple wasn't "officially" annou

    • by jc42 ( 318812 )

      The Moto Xoom is overpriced, which will self limit it's sales.

      Oh, I dunno; it might sell pretty well to the folks who keep telling us "You get what you pay for". ;-)

      You'd think that by the time people were old enough to learn to use slashdot (8 or 9?), they'd have learned that very often you get a lot less than what you pay for.

      OTOH, lots of folks just buy whatever product has the most and/or the flashiest ads. HP still has a pretty big marketing budget.

    • Current sales of WebOS devices, which is really just limited to phones, is probably quite anemic. The original Pre didn't sell as well as hoped, which is why today there was an HP event instead of a Palm event. Millions of people still buy an iPhone during Q1 and Q2, despite the fact that Apple releases a new one every year. This will have about as much impact on sales of the Pre, which is to say it will have some, but their sales are already so low that it likely doesn't matter.

      They have almost nothing
    • They're presenting now so they can get developers started. They got burned royally when they shipped Pre with hardly any apps.

    • Why announce now? My guesses:

      1) Get out in front of Nokia's restructuring announcement, so people know that there's something "exciting" coming from HP in the next few months. Nokia - I expect - will more or less announce that they're scrapping MeeGo and Symbian and moving to Windows Phone 7 on their smartphones.

      2) Get your hat in the ring before the press spends weeks reviewing Apple's iPad 2 & iPhone 5;

      3) Get their name in the papers: "Forthcoming Android AND WebOS tablet computers look to chall

  • by Junta ( 36770 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @07:59PM (#35157166)

    No video-out (at least no talk of it). If they wanted to do business, the ability to do video-out to project might have been a nice bonus, not to mention set-top application.

    Pre 3's resolution is lower than the Atrix and iPhone 4. RAM lower than the Atrix.

    There may be a chance that between the reduced ram and screen size/resolution, they can out-battery the Atrix, which may be the reason for going light on those specs relative to the cutting edge.

    No LTE or WiMax radio capability mentioned. This is a very strange omission.

    WebOS on a regular 'computer' seems disinteresting. I'm a fan of WebOS as an excellent compromise for multitasking management given a small form factor, but I'd much rather have traditional window management on my desktop/laptop.

    On the good news, they *finally* got an auto-focus camera (that was one hardware feature that was needed to do all sorts of things along the lines of barcode recognition). The screen resolution is a nice bump and is at least in the ball-park of Atrix and iPhone 4. The 1.4 GHz snapdragon seems pretty good. The 'tap to share' seemed a decent enough story on owning the 'family' of products, but I still can't be bothered to care about any tablet.

    • Ah, but the processor is faster than the Atrix*. 1.4GHz Snapdragon has the potential to be quite impressive, especially if they've done substantial microarchitectural improvements since the last-generation Snapdragons.

      * The Tegra 2 isn't actually that fast. It's dual-core, but on a mobile phone you almost never have a case when you have two different CPU-bound threads - additionally, the cores themselves are crippled, as they don't have the NEON or VFP extensions. Nvidia's strategy with Tegra seems to b
    • by psoriac ( 81188 )

      At least for the tablet device, there's been talk of video-out support when docked to its inductive charging station.

    • No video-out (at least no talk of it). If they wanted to do business, the ability to do video-out to project might have been a nice bonus, not to mention set-top application.

      On the other hand, most business-grade projectors nowadays feature network support (sending video feed over TCP/IP).
      As the devices are all networked and really rely 100% on a cloud approach (they don't even have memory card slot, they rely on saving the data to servers), that would probably the preferred route for video too.

      Now the biggest challenge isn't the video-out port itself, but the ability to send screen feed, And sadly most WebOS application don't use the regular X-Window interface, but the proprie

  • They announced all this happy goodness for a SUMMER release.

    By the time it's available, it'll look old and stale, we'll all be familiar with the NEXT version of Android, and Apple will have sold another 10 million units.

    Tablets have been the 'next big thing' for a good 18 months, when will they actually be DELIVERING these things?

  • On a computer I can see why you would scream about the specs. On a smart phone though, quit being a twit. It is about ease of use and what you like. The Pre was released with specs that were right on par with the iphone 3g when it dropped. Palm did drop the ball by not bringing the Pre Plus out when the iphone 3gs was dropped. The Pre 2 has a 1 gig proc and 5 meg camera and all the other buzz word Apple and Android fans are throwing around. It seems to be VZW fault that it is not launched. I think the bigge
  • I used to work for Palm. They were idiots then and they're idiots now. Much like RadioShack they are a fixture that remains in business despite a business model should have driven them out of business decades ago. Every time I walk by an empty RadioShack in the mall with half a dozen "Salesmen" standing around bored, I think to myself "WTF?!?" Same goes for the empty Palm display at BestBuy.
  • I understand the need to build up hype but as others have said, doing it 6 months ahead of time will just kill your momentum. Announce things when they're ready.

  • http://www.businessinsider.com/hps-webos-pcs-will-run-on-windows-not-replace-it-2011-2 [businessinsider.com] :

    But in fact, WebOS won't be replacing Windows. After the event, a spokesperson explained that WebOS would probably ship as a customized user interface running on top of Windows, very similar to HP's TouchSmart today. So Microsoft will still get its Windows revenue -- for now.

    In the long run, though, HP's move is still bad for Microsoft. Developers build for the platform that lets them reach the most users. Five years ago

  • HP's acquisition of HyperSpace Linux last year, combined with today's webOS on PC announcement, makes me suspect that they will be using it as a fast boot option on their computers similar to ASUS's Express Gate.

  • Thinking about Minority Report and how the computers/storage devices shown in the movie scaled so cleanly. Maybe this is the opportunity for HP to write a UI like that around WebOS. Make it so all three devices use the same desktop and allow you to seamlessly move data and applications between them.

  • by flimflammer ( 956759 ) on Thursday February 10, 2011 @04:17AM (#35160050)

    Whether this is happening in specialized products only or HP plans a wholesale repudiation of Windows, it's definitely a bold move.

    Does anyone aside from the submitter *actually* think there is even a remote chance that this is going to be more than a few specific machines? The very idea that HP would start replacing Windows with WebOS is hilarious at best, delusional at worst.

    • not WebOS as a main OS.

      but WebOS could be successful on laptop as an alternate fast boot environment (like SplashTop) to quickly get to web,mail and chat.

      WebOS could also be used as a power saving OS running on a separate low power chip (like Dell's full Lattitude ON in E4x00 running on an ARM chip)

      i could definitely imagine such usage.

  • by MasterOfGoingFaster ( 922862 ) on Thursday February 10, 2011 @09:52AM (#35161914) Homepage

    Hey, if HP offers a touch screen "PC" with WebOS that includes a 5250 emulator (old IBM terminal) then they'll sell well to a lot of big companies.

    Now, if you add the ability to use NFC to detect my badge and switch to my session, you've got a winner.

    I know companies that will buy pallets of these things. We need less than a PC, easier than a keyboard/mouse interface, and totally locked down. HP has a lot of experience with thin clients and this could be a wonderful option.

  • HP hired the guy from Nokia that was the driving force behind Maemo. He's really good. Really. I get the feeling that there have been dirty tricks going on at Nokia for a while, like destroying Maemo for the non existent and basically useless on the ARM MeeGo. I think it was a Microsoft plot leading to what is about to happen, but then I wear Tinfoil.

    In any case, WebOS is now something to watch.

     

  • Five years ago, this would have been a hot topic with flames about Linux, OS/2, Bill Gates, DOS, etc. Now, no one cares what the OS is as long as they can accomplish what they want to do with the device.

Riches: A gift from Heaven signifying, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." -- John D. Rockefeller, (slander by Ambrose Bierce)

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