WebOS lives!

Sheep

Golden Member
Jun 13, 2006
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If by "lives" you mean "is a zombified corpse that no one seems to know what to do with", sure.

webOS contained some fantastic ideas that its competitors didn't have at the time (and subsequently adopted), but it's dead, Jim. If LG releases it as a smart TV app OS at all, it's not going to be the second coming of webOS. It's going to be an incredibly dumbed down webOS that will somehow have to work with a non-touchscreen device...something that sounds completely horrid to use.
 

Ravynmagi

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2007
3,102
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If by "lives" you mean "is a zombified corpse that no one seems to know what to do with", sure.

webOS contained some fantastic ideas that its competitors didn't have at the time (and subsequently adopted), but it's dead, Jim. If LG releases it as a smart TV app OS at all, it's not going to be the second coming of webOS. It's going to be an incredibly dumbed down webOS that will somehow have to work with a non-touchscreen device...something that sounds completely horrid to use.

And yet apparently LG thought this would work out better than Google TV. Says a lot about what LG thinks about Google TV. Haha.
 

podspi

Golden Member
Jan 11, 2011
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I thought WebOS was open-sourced? And I agree, WebOS might have been a great idea at the time, but I can't imagine using it on a non-touch device. Talk about missing the point...
 

Slick5150

Diamond Member
Nov 10, 2001
8,760
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I thought WebOS was open-sourced? And I agree, WebOS might have been a great idea at the time, but I can't imagine using it on a non-touch device. Talk about missing the point...

It was, sort of. They'd been rolling out Open WebOS which LG was reportedly using to start building the TV system, but then decided to just buy WebOS outright from HP to have better control of it.

They obviously felt they were making progress with what they were working on with Open WebOS so we'll see what it ultimately looks like when they release it.
 

lopri

Elite Member
Jul 27, 2002
13,287
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And yet apparently LG thought this would work out better than Google TV. Says a lot about what LG thinks about Google TV. Haha.
It probably has more to do with the rivalry between LG and Samsung. I do not like to talk about corporate politics on this board, but these two have been the largest conglomerates (along with Hyundai, SK Telecom) that have controlled large part of S. Korea's politics since the 60's. (think of money + politics + military) Globally, however, it could not have been more different how Samsung broke out while others struggled. LG could be looking for its own breakthrough.
 

Slick5150

Diamond Member
Nov 10, 2001
8,760
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Just the fact that they would have to be completely insane to spend 1 cent on making a smartphone that runs webOS when Android is available

Why? WebOS remains more intuitive after 2 years of zero development on it than Android is today in a number of areas. The obvious gap they'd have to somehow overcome is with apps, but if they can get developers on board, then sure, why not?

Samsung is reportedly looking at shifting focus away from Android and toward their own Bada, so what's to say LG won't look at doing the same with WebOS?
 

lothar

Diamond Member
Jan 5, 2000
6,674
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With this purchase what stops LG from using WebOS on a smartphone?
More than 80+% of the WebOS employees have long already transferred to another department at HP or moved on to Google and it's competitors.
LG would have to be crazy to think that they can revive WebOS in a smartphone.
 

NoStateofMind

Diamond Member
Oct 14, 2005
9,711
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More than 80+% of the WebOS employees have long already transferred to another department at HP or moved on to Google and it's competitors.
LG would have to be crazy to think that they can revive WebOS in a smartphone.

IDK a lot about the software honestly. I'm speaking merely on speculation. Whos to say that since WebOS is open source that for the past 6/12 months they haven't been developing on the backend and the purchase was just the next logical step?
 

NoStateofMind

Diamond Member
Oct 14, 2005
9,711
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The fact that hardly anyone would buy a webOS phone nowadays?

That used to be the case. IIRC WebOS' last foray into the market was Palm Pre 2 and its competitor at the time was iOS. Apple provided a smooth OS with a solid (figuratively and physically) phone. I believe that if given the right hardware and developers it can rival Cupertino's finest. WebOS wasn't ever 'bad', it just didn't have the right support behind it. HP tried to an extent but even they didn't put as much into development as Apple did with iOS. What do I know though? Hardly a software guru.
 

WelshBloke

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
31,579
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That used to be the case. IIRC WebOS' last foray into the market was Palm Pre 2 and its competitor at the time was iOS. Apple provided a smooth OS with a solid (figuratively and physically) phone. I believe that if given the right hardware and developers it can rival Cupertino's finest. WebOS wasn't ever 'bad', it just didn't have the right support behind it. HP tried to an extent but even they didn't put as much into development as Apple did with iOS. What do I know though? Hardly a software guru.

It was pretty bad on the touchpad and it was supposed to be fully supported then.
 

NoStateofMind

Diamond Member
Oct 14, 2005
9,711
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It was pretty bad on the touchpad and it was supposed to be fully supported then.

HP may have supported it the best they could. But their resources and innovation pale in comparison to LG. The reason I think LG will be able to do what HP didn't is that they already are hardware manufacturers. LCD tech (high end) is at their fingertips and is cheaper to them than contracting an outside company. So they at least have a portion of whats needed for a phone. Now I'm not positive but most likely they would use someone like Foxconn to actually build it. I admit their challenge truly lies in the software development and I think thats what they'll do. The first thing I would work on is integration of WebOS into their TVs and a new smartphone and allow them to work with each other.
 

Red Storm

Lifer
Oct 2, 2005
14,233
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Good luck getting the mobile platform devs to jump on the bandwagon. After hearing about complaints like Android's various resolutions, I have little faith in these same devs putting in effort to properly port their apps.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,688
2,810
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HP may have supported it the best they could. But their resources and innovation pale in comparison to LG. The reason I think LG will be able to do what HP didn't is that they already are hardware manufacturers. LCD tech (high end) is at their fingertips and is cheaper to them than contracting an outside company. So they at least have a portion of whats needed for a phone. Now I'm not positive but most likely they would use someone like Foxconn to actually build it. I admit their challenge truly lies in the software development and I think thats what they'll do. The first thing I would work on is integration of WebOS into their TVs and a new smartphone and allow them to work with each other.

you're crazy.
 

podspi

Golden Member
Jan 11, 2011
1,982
102
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Good luck getting the mobile platform devs to jump on the bandwagon. After hearing about complaints like Android's various resolutions, I have little faith in these same devs putting in effort to properly port their apps.

Any OS that can't run Android apps is going to have a tough time nowadays. You could say and/or iOS apps, but AFAIK it isn't reasonably (legally?) possibly to emulate the iOS runtime like it is with Android (being a VM anyway and open source).
 

boomhower

Diamond Member
Sep 13, 2007
7,228
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I absolutely loved the Palm Pre and more importantly WebOS. Big downside was the phone had crap build quality. The OS was wonderful though and I'd love to have another. I can't see anyway that it has a comeback as a phone. A smart TV OS is an unusual solution. I'm thinking they are going to be doing a motion interaction ala Kinect as a replacement for a touchscreen.