After the miserable failure of the TouchPad from Hewlett Packard, which featured the webOS, the computer giant dropped the manufacture and marketing of the device entirely, till the point that its price fell from around $400 to $100. That also marked the end of the webOS which was once praised but later abhorred for several reasons. However, the remnant of the erstwhile popular PalmOS is now back in an open source format, a promise that HP had made a while ago. The OS that was originally meant for smartphones is now renamed the Open WebOS 1.0.
As the name suggests this is the first open source version and there appears to be the possibility of newer versions in the future and HP has issued it to developers for porting it onto devices they choose. A demonstration by the Chief Architect of HP, Steve Winston, of the platform on a desktop PC revealed some intricate working details of it and the experience seems rather interesting. The full version of the Open WebOS 1.0 was released after a few beta launches that saw the light of the day earlier this year. HP might see this as a milestone in its achievements but most critics are skeptical about it as the company took the successful PalmOS platform and failed at implementing it effectively. HP had initially acquired Palm for $2.1 billion in 2010 and released a few modified devices that failed to perform in the market and then cut its losses by shutting shop in 2011.
Earlier this year, HP had rebranded the WebOS business as Gram, a separate company. The reason behind the split was speculated to be that HP would be able to diversify its interests and levy a more widespread focus to get Gram running independently. This was revealed in an internal email that urged employees to spread limited news about the company but not reveal too much about its working. HP decided to recruit people into Gram through its existing employees, which was the best way to keep the company quiet. It is unclear what Gram is doing right now but any possibility of HP coming up with another tablet or entering the smartphone market again would be possible only through Gram, especially if it goes public. Now that WebOS has been formally announced, HP might make Gram public soon enough.
