HP puts Open WebOS into beta

MAKER OF EXPENSIVE PRINTER INK HP announced on Friday that it is putting Open WebOS into beta test status.

The company said in a blog post that the Open WebOS operating system (OS) had reached its first beta release build. The beta test versions are considered to be among the final steps before webOS will be released by the company as an open source operating system.

"Eight months ago we announced our ambitious plan to make WebOS available under an open source licence and bring the innovation of the WebOS platform to the open source community," the company said in a post to the Open WebOS project blog.

"We are proud to have hit another milestone with today's beta release."

HP announced late last year that it would transition its WebOS software to open source. The plan included a roadmap that would gradually see various components of the operating system released as open source over the course of 2012.

The beta release includes the addition of both the Desktop and Openembedded build environments. The company said that the tools will better allow developers to port applications to WebOS and manage components that previously had been released through the Open WebOS project.

When it does reach general availability, Open WebOS will mark the latest phase in what has thus far been a tumultuous journey for the mobile operating system. Originally developed by Palm, WebOS was first touted as a potential saviour for the struggling mobile pioneer.

When Palm was acquired by HP, the WebOS operating system was cited as a key component of the deal, only to be thrown into limbo when HP canceled its mobile hardware operations.

HP did not provide any update on a reported plan to spin off its WebOS operation. Earlier this month, a WebOS news blog cited internal company documents to report that the WebOS division will be rebranded as 'gram.' µ

This article was originally published on V3.