"The Linux example in particular is awful. Linux was not a product released as open source, it was an open source project from the beginning." I'm pretty sure

"The Linux example in particular is awful. Linux was not a product released as open source, it was an open source project from the beginning." I'm pretty sure that was exactly Gassée's point, though it may not have been clear enough. Linux and Webkit (and Apache, etc, etc) are very successful FOSS projects, but they grew organically out of open source and weren't closed software that was thrown over the wall of a company later in life like WebOS will be. One could point to projects that were handled somewhat like this and were still successful (like Mozilla), but IMO there's still a valid point that situations like the WebOS release result in stalled projects more often than they result in a successful long term FOSS project. Unless there is very clear and committed leadership (which would probably have to come out of whatever is left of the existing WebOS team to have any sort of authority), the project will be doomed.