Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday unveiled a timetable for the outsourcing of webOS, which it hopes to complete by September.
HP also released version 2.0 of Enyo, the application framework for webOS.
WebOS code will be made available under the Apache License, Version 2.0, starting with the Enyo source code, which was released today. More details are available on the webOS developer blog.
"HP is bringing the innovation of the webOS platform to the open source community," Bill Veghte, executive vice president and chief strategy officer at HP, said in a statement. "This is a decisive step toward meeting our goal of accelerating the platform's development and ensuring that its benefits will be delivered to the entire ecosystem of web applications."
HP posted a chart (below) of expected milestones over the next few months, which will culminate with the expected September release of Open webOS 1.0.
After months of speculation, HP announced in December that it would open-source webOS instead of selling the platform to the highest bidder. The company said it will "continue to be active in the development and support of webOS," but handing it over to the open-source community will help improve applications and Web services for next-generation devices.
The fate of the well-received but beleaguered mobile operating system has been up in the air since August, when HP announced plans to ditch support for webOS-based devices like the HP TouchPad tablet, as well as its PC business.
When Meg Whitman came onboard as CEO, however, she reversed course and said HP would retain its PC business. During a conference call about that decision, Whitman said in analyzing its Personal Systems Group (PSG), HP explored whether webOS was tied to PSG and "the answer to that is actually no," Whitman said. HP needed a "more holistic experience around webOS," she said at the time.
The question then became, will HP keep webOS, sell it, or release it to open source? In pondering possible buyers for webOS back in August, PCMag's Jamie Lendino said the open-source option was his favorite.
"HP indicated it's already thinking of powering some printers and car tech systems with webOS. That wouldn't be open-source, but it's the kind of thing you do with an open-source OS. Why not let others do the same?" Lendino wrote. "WebOS is infinitely more usable than OpenMoko ever was. And we all know by now that while Android itself is open-source, it really isn't by the time carriers and phone vendors are done with it. It's also mired in patent licensing issues that do end up costing vendors real money."
When HP decided to open source, Lendino said it was "cause for celebration, at least for the enthusiast, developer, and phone hacker crowd." For more, see HP Makes WebOS Immortal.
