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"Palm’s unparalleled webOS platform" Question: is Palm's web os platform really unparalleled? Or is it quickly falling behind the race that is now dominated by

by jxcole 16y ago

"Palm’s unparalleled webOS platform" Question: is Palm's web os platform really unparalleled? Or is it quickly falling behind the race that is now dominated by iPhone and android?

mrkurt 16y ago
It still curb stomps iPhone OS and Android in a number of ways. The card based interface and notifications are unparalleled (IMO).
cookiecaper 16y ago
webOS was definitely the most promising of the platforms imo. It never saw much adoption because the political approval/development process at Palm was horrible even if you tried really hard to get your apps on it (see jwz) and it was only available on the one not-very-popular phone. I'm happy to see someone who might do something decent with webOS take over.
locopati 16y ago
afaik webos has the best multi-tasking system out there and the easiest entry point (since it's just js, css & html)
- megablast 16y ago
  I would not say it is easy to get into. When I first tried creating an app using the SDK when it first came out, there was no good debugging, lots of things going wrong for me with no way to see what the problem was. Uncomparable to Xcode environment.
- aschobel 16y ago
  "Best" in what sense? Android's life-cycle and Bundles makes a developer think about saving app state information from day one. Something as simple as a configuration change, rotating orientation, recreates your Activity. Since creating and destroying your activity is such a common occurrence you are forced to save the state info. When the OS needs to kill a background activity to free up space it tends to work. Really good YouTube video explaining this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL6gSd4ugSI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL6gSd4ugSI
  - armandososa 16y ago
    I think it's "Best" interface-wise. The cards metaphor is awesome.
    - aschobel 16y ago
      It's a fabulous metaphor, but "Can't open any more Cards" really detracts from it. Palm may have nailed the UX, but Android nailed the engineering.
  - SomeCallMeTim 16y ago
    I get that a lot of people like WebOS, but as a developer it seems like the worst POSSIBLE thing that could happen is for a third mobile OS to actually get traction. Back in the days when Palm ruled the PDA market, things were good, but they're hanging out in fourth or fifth place these days. Regardless of merit of their respective UIs, the absolute best thing that could happen to the mobile space is if one completely open mobile OS became completely dominant. And pretty much the only reasonable contender for that role is Android.
jsz0 16y ago
WebOS is unique but I wouldn't be generous enough to say unparalleled at this point. I don't think either Android or iPhone have leaped too far ahead in the last year. Android 2.x offers very little in terms of new end user features over 1.x and iPhone OS is evolving at a faster pace but if you take multitasking out of the picture (which WebOS already had) it's only an incremental improvement. The big issue of course is third party interest where the iPhone is way out in front of the pack.
- sandipc 16y ago
  I would put both Android and iPhone OS 'way out in front of the pack' in terms of 3rd party development, if the 'pack' is Windows Phone 7 and WebOS
c00p3r 16y ago
Open source packages and linux kernel compiled together - really really unparalleled. No community, no support, no market, just a plain cognitive dissonance.

by jxcole 16y ago

"Palm’s unparalleled webOS platform" Question: is Palm's web os platform really unparalleled? Or is it quickly falling behind the race that is now dominated by iPhone and android?

mrkurt 16y ago

It still curb stomps iPhone OS and Android in a number of ways. The card based interface and notifications are unparalleled (IMO).

cookiecaper 16y ago

webOS was definitely the most promising of the platforms imo. It never saw much adoption because the political approval/development process at Palm was horrible even if you tried really hard to get your apps on it (see jwz) and it was only available on the one not-very-popular phone. I'm happy to see someone who might do something decent with webOS take over.

locopati 16y ago

afaik webos has the best multi-tasking system out there and the easiest entry point (since it's just js, css & html)

megablast 16y ago
I would not say it is easy to get into. When I first tried creating an app using the SDK when it first came out, there was no good debugging, lots of things going wrong for me with no way to see what the problem was. Uncomparable to Xcode environment.
aschobel 16y ago
"Best" in what sense? Android's life-cycle and Bundles makes a developer think about saving app state information from day one. Something as simple as a configuration change, rotating orientation, recreates your Activity. Since creating and destroying your activity is such a common occurrence you are forced to save the state info. When the OS needs to kill a background activity to free up space it tends to work. Really good YouTube video explaining this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL6gSd4ugSI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL6gSd4ugSI
- armandososa 16y ago
  I think it's "Best" interface-wise. The cards metaphor is awesome.
  - aschobel 16y ago
    It's a fabulous metaphor, but "Can't open any more Cards" really detracts from it. Palm may have nailed the UX, but Android nailed the engineering.
- SomeCallMeTim 16y ago
  I get that a lot of people like WebOS, but as a developer it seems like the worst POSSIBLE thing that could happen is for a third mobile OS to actually get traction. Back in the days when Palm ruled the PDA market, things were good, but they're hanging out in fourth or fifth place these days. Regardless of merit of their respective UIs, the absolute best thing that could happen to the mobile space is if one completely open mobile OS became completely dominant. And pretty much the only reasonable contender for that role is Android.

jsz0 16y ago

WebOS is unique but I wouldn't be generous enough to say unparalleled at this point. I don't think either Android or iPhone have leaped too far ahead in the last year. Android 2.x offers very little in terms of new end user features over 1.x and iPhone OS is evolving at a faster pace but if you take multitasking out of the picture (which WebOS already had) it's only an incremental improvement. The big issue of course is third party interest where the iPhone is way out in front of the pack.

sandipc 16y ago
I would put both Android and iPhone OS 'way out in front of the pack' in terms of 3rd party development, if the 'pack' is Windows Phone 7 and WebOS

c00p3r 16y ago

Open source packages and linux kernel compiled together - really really unparalleled. No community, no support, no market, just a plain cognitive dissonance.