Now HP is in the same boat with WebOS. It was a great idea that HP let fall by the way side. Now HP is not doing so well financially and is looking for ways to cut costs and save money. While they are doing this they still recognize the potential for WebOS and that is could have some life left in it. The problem is, HP just does not have the money to spend in further development on it. Well, actually that is not entirely true; let’s say instead that HP has the money, but they would be better served if this money was put into other areas of their business right now.

It that last part that probably nudged HP’s decision to release WebOS to the open source community. After all if they sit on WebOS for the next two to three years it is going to be too old to bring back. If they give it the mad, yet brilliant, minds of the open source gang we will see WebOS ported to all kinds of hardware. Not only that but I would not be surprised to hear about a WebOS-x86 project springing up.

So while some people might say that this move is too little too late, we happen to think that it was a very smart move on the part of HP. They have turned over a good product to a group that is known for creativity and ingenuity. If something amazing happens here, well they can always make a bid to buy that version back. For now they keep this OS alive for people that already own it and are ensuring that it has a future. It really makes me want to get a TouchPad now to be perfectly honest as I cannot wait to see what happens in the next few months once WebOS has been fully looked over.

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