Lukas Mathis gives a compelling listing of why webOS is better than the iPad for all sorts of daily tasks. He's completely right - the TouchPad was the great missed chance in the world of tablets, but its software is what made it so great, and these are all features that should be in any tablet interface.

HP today began executing its plan to deliver an open webOS by committing to a schedule for making the platform’s source code available under an open source license.

The company aims to complete this milestone in its entirety by September.

Released under the Apache 2.0 licence. It's also open-sourcing Enyo, the developer tool that lets you develop for multiple platforms, straight away.

By September, though, the whole landscape will likely look different. Will there be room for webOS then?

"After some internal debate, the company chose to have WebOS rely on WebKit, an open-source software engine used by browsers to display Web pages. [Paul] Mercer [former senior software director at Palm] said that this was a mistake because it prevented applications from running fast enough to be on par with the iPhone. But a former member of the WebOS app development team said the core issue with WebOS was actually Palm’s inability to turn it into a platform that could capture the enthusiasm and loyalty of outside programmers. There were neither the right leaders nor the right engineers to do the job, said this person, who declined to be named because he still had some ties to H.P.

"From concept to creation, WebOS was developed in about nine months, this person said, and the company took some shortcuts."

Jon Rubenstein, who then headed Palm, also gets blamed for having hardware expertise, but not enough to oversee a new OS development. Mathias Duarte, who was key to webOS, left for Google - where he was oversaw Android Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich. Fascinating read. Still, open source will get out the cooties, right?

"$1.2bn. That’s how much HP paid for Palm last year, and it’s also how much the company was trying to sell its Palm assets for over the latter half of 2011, VentureBeat has learned.

"As baffling as it may seem, HP was trying to rid itself of Palm without taking a loss on its purchase, a source with knowledge of the negotiations told us. When asked for confirmation about the pricing, an HP representative declined to comment."

Facebook laughed them out of the room.

Really smart analysis by Stephen Shankland. Lists all those open-sourced OSs and projects you'd forgotten about. Why had you forgotten about them? One guess.

Chief technology officer and ally of WebOS departs HP. He says: "My passion is to help innovators get better at innovating and I’ve spent the better part of the last dozen years fulfilling that mission. My time at HP started out as an advisor on innovation that turned into a request to join for a year or so to “help grow the innovation culture at HP”. That was 9 years ago. I can honestly say that I’ve done everything that is within my power to fulfill that objective."

"HP's PC boss Todd Bradley appeared on Bloomberg West last night to talk about the company's decision to keep the PC business.
Of note, he said yesterday's rumor in the Guardian that HP will shut down its WebOS division is completely false. Bradley said it's "an unfounded rumor."

Why yes, Mr Bradley, we are bookmarking this appearance of yours on Bloomberg TV.

"Those options could range from a sale to licensing. What to do with WebOS is just one issue facing HP as it attempts to reinvent itself. Here’s a look at the options."

"An insider has given us details from an all-hands meeting HP just held with employees in the webOS Global Business Unit in light of today’s announcement that HP will no longer make webOS devices. In the meeting, webOS GBU VP Stephen DeWitt made it clear that HP intends to continue to work on webOS and likely intends to license it. DeWitt was adamant, saying several times “We are not walking away from webOS.” He detailed a plan to try to determine what the platform’s future will look like within the next two weeks, although he admitted that “Clearly, we don’t have all the answers today.”"

"AT&T is hoping that good things do indeed come in small packages.<br />
"The company announced Wednesday that it will start selling the Veer, the smallest member of HP’s lineup of new webOS devices. The device will go on sale May 15 for $99 with a two-year contract.<br />
"The Veer will be called the Veer 4G given its support for AT&T’s HSPA network and will come in both black and white models."<br />
<br />
Interesting that AT&T is taking it (Palm's reputation took a battering from the Pre's failure to sell) and that it's pushing 4G connectivity. HP might have a success on its hands.