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There was WebOS. Which I felt was really ahead of its time. But an OS takes time to develop because of the chicken and egg problem. Once Hurd was fired it no lo

by yardie 8y ago

There was WebOS. Which I felt was really ahead of its time. But an OS takes time to develop because of the chicken and egg problem. Once Hurd was fired it no longer had C-level interest. They sold it to Samsung, who renamed it Tizen. The UX designer went to Android. And the engineers were scattered across the mobile ecosystem.

maxsilver 8y ago
I agree that WebOS was great and ahead of it's time, and agree with almost all of the above. But just for clarity: HP sold webOS to LG (not Samsung), and it (mostly) kept it's webOS name through various aquisitions and rebrandings. See http://www.lg.com/us/experience-tvs/smart-tv-features http://www.lg.com/us/experience-tvs/smart-tv-features and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebOS#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebOS#History Samsung's Tizen is it's own thing -- not some acquisition or rebranding of webOS.
- yardie 8y ago
  Wow it didn’t realize that and you are correct. Was using a SmartTV and the interface felt awefully close to WebOS that I thought it was a derivative.
AdmiralAsshat 8y ago
WebOS was an acquisition from Palm, however. And they dumped it almost immediately after the Touchpad and the Pre3 sales tanked.
- yardie 8y ago
  They dumped it because of Apotheker. This was Hurd’s project and once he was out they firesaled the whole line. It didn’t even have enough time to make a sale. That’s when I HP was in real trouble. Instead of pursuing new markets in mobile they retreated back to PCs, printers, and services. They were trying to grow into a market o it’s way to stagnating.
toyg 8y ago
> There was WebOS. That was 20 years after Windows came on the scene. Parent poster was wondering why 1980s/1990s HP let Microsoft commoditize hardware (courtesy of IBM). I think the answer is the same as for IBM: old management who couldn't see the revolution coming. After 40 years of Cold War, where the business landscape had been more or less stable and consistent, people struggled to conceive the notion that fundamental shifts could happen.
MBCook 8y ago
I do wonder if WebOS had a chance. There was so much overhead in the UI I’m not sure it would have gotten to the point where performance was good enough before it failed anyway. Today it wouldn’t be an issue, but in ‘09 or ‘10 it was non-trivial. Great UI design though. I’m still amazed how long it took for others to steal the card metaphor and some of the other great features. Like the Touchstone. We’re finally living in that world most of a decade later.
- lostgame 8y ago
  I absolutely loved and kind of miss my Pre. :)
Yhippa 8y ago
I still haven't seen anything as fluid to use on mobile as webOS. Android Pie gestures still don't do it justice. I thin in 2018 we finally have the hardware to see the true potential of webOS but it's too late.

by yardie 8y ago

maxsilver 8y ago

I agree that WebOS was great and ahead of it's time, and agree with almost all of the above. But just for clarity: HP sold webOS to LG (not Samsung), and it (mostly) kept it's webOS name through various aquisitions and rebrandings. See http://www.lg.com/us/experience-tvs/smart-tv-features http://www.lg.com/us/experience-tvs/smart-tv-features and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebOS#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebOS#History Samsung's Tizen is it's own thing -- not some acquisition or rebranding of webOS.

yardie 8y ago
Wow it didn’t realize that and you are correct. Was using a SmartTV and the interface felt awefully close to WebOS that I thought it was a derivative.

AdmiralAsshat 8y ago

WebOS was an acquisition from Palm, however. And they dumped it almost immediately after the Touchpad and the Pre3 sales tanked.

yardie 8y ago
They dumped it because of Apotheker. This was Hurd’s project and once he was out they firesaled the whole line. It didn’t even have enough time to make a sale. That’s when I HP was in real trouble. Instead of pursuing new markets in mobile they retreated back to PCs, printers, and services. They were trying to grow into a market o it’s way to stagnating.

toyg 8y ago

> There was WebOS. That was 20 years after Windows came on the scene. Parent poster was wondering why 1980s/1990s HP let Microsoft commoditize hardware (courtesy of IBM). I think the answer is the same as for IBM: old management who couldn't see the revolution coming. After 40 years of Cold War, where the business landscape had been more or less stable and consistent, people struggled to conceive the notion that fundamental shifts could happen.

MBCook 8y ago

I do wonder if WebOS had a chance. There was so much overhead in the UI I’m not sure it would have gotten to the point where performance was good enough before it failed anyway. Today it wouldn’t be an issue, but in ‘09 or ‘10 it was non-trivial. Great UI design though. I’m still amazed how long it took for others to steal the card metaphor and some of the other great features. Like the Touchstone. We’re finally living in that world most of a decade later.

lostgame 8y ago
I absolutely loved and kind of miss my Pre. :)

Yhippa 8y ago

I still haven't seen anything as fluid to use on mobile as webOS. Android Pie gestures still don't do it justice. I thin in 2018 we finally have the hardware to see the true potential of webOS but it's too late.