HP Should Open Source WebOS

Recently new HP CEO Meg Whitman announced that the company will keep Personal Systems Group as a part of HP’s core, undoing the decision that caused great consternation about the technology giant’s future and essentially led to former-CEO Leo Apotheker’s ouster and Whitman getting the job in the first place.

What’s a little disappointing is that it looks like WebOS may not survive, even if the computer and peripherals business does. And that’s too bad.

I used to have a Palm Pre and thought very highly of WebOS, even if the hardware disappointed. When HP decided to buy Palm last year, I immediately thought it was a great decision and that HP had the ability to make WebOS a force in the mobile community — something that Palm couldn’t accomplish on it’s own — because if HP’s place in the enterprise.

I still think that WebOS has a lot going for it. If HP does abandon it, I hope that they might donate the code, to an organization like the Apache Foundation, and see whether developers would build off a strong core and create a TRUE open source mobile operating system.   It’s clear by speed at which WebOS tablets sold at $99 that it’s not a matter of the quality of the OS, just the opportunity it was provided.

What do you think?