[PalmPixi_User23]

It depends on what you want from it. now all the cloud services have apps to go with each platform and none of them are going to make apps to webos. Therefore you will never be able to use a webos phone the same way you can a android or iphone. In that sense it is dead.

WebOs can still do all the basic things. it can make calls, email text, use (many) websites, play music, take pictures, get podcasts, keep a calender etc... All those things are based off standards that will not change till long after our phones die physically from wear and tear.

I certainly agree with xortenterprises. Well it might be dead OS in HP's eyes, but for me WebOS is still active and alive...just that it's living in between two worlds (one in deep coma state that we aren't sure when or how it will wake up and other living in a different form factor as in television). Yet WebOS still not dead completely until LG doesn't announce it otherwise. While I don't put too much faith in LG senseless future of WebOS in appliances, I'm hopeful that someday maybe someone in LG management will capable to see a much brighter alternative for WebOS with devices from tablets to phones all connected with each other seamlessly.

Now in terms of market share and developers, WebOS is certainly dead and it's so sad to admit it or even speak those words. With no hardware in sight, no developers will dare to look at WebOS let alone develop any app for the operating system. Even developers who were active had abandon WebOS, and moved on to other platform.

[LewisR]

This is always a funny question, and for me, especially humorous...

I'm the Treasurer of Warpstock Corporation, the non-profit organization which hosts the annual OS/2 and eComStation in North America. IBM declared that the "Desktop Wars" were over in the late 1990's, and essentially pulled the plug on OS/2. By 2006, official IBM support ended.

Of course, someone should tell all of the OS/2-based ATMs and fare card systems that they are no longer alive, or all of the factories still running robotic equipment (I support a couple of them - major US companies) that OS/2 is dead (not to mention all of the people who come to Warpstock and Warpstock Europe each year).

Like IBM before it, HP pulled out before the cake was done baking. That left plenty of room for other chefs to come into the kitchen and play with the batter. For OS/2, that was Serenity Systems, which introduced eComStation, which continues in new releases to this day (2.2 is in beta). This is almost parallel to LG's acquisition, except that IBM still owns the core OS/2 code (and a lot of other companies, too), and OS/2 can never be open sourced (mainly as a result of all of the outside companies who own bits and pieces of it). Open sourcing is a key differentiator, and a good reason why I expect webOS to continue for some time.

As has been said, the platform will be dead when nobody uses it anymore. Both OS/2 (eComStation) and webOS still work for me. The operating paradigm most closely matches the way I think and work, and I haven't found anything better (and I'm a Linux consultant, as well, though the eComStation desktop is my environment of choice, as is Luna on my small devices). When the time comes that either the software becomes un-fixable (I don't know how that might happen for me, but for less technically-oriented users it could) or I find something better, both of these platforms remain quite alive for me.

[joeytino]

This is always a funny question, and for me, especially humorous...

I'm the Treasurer of Warpstock Corporation, the non-profit organization which hosts the annual OS/2 and eComStation in North America. IBM declared that the "Desktop Wars" were over in the late 1990's, and essentially pulled the plug on OS/2. By 2006, official IBM support ended.

Of course, someone should tell all of the OS/2-based ATMs and fare card systems that they are no longer alive, or all of the factories still running robotic equipment (I support a couple of them - major US companies) that OS/2 is dead (not to mention all of the people who come to Warpstock and Warpstock Europe each year).

Like IBM before it, HP pulled out before the cake was done baking. That left plenty of room for other chefs to come into the kitchen and play with the batter. For OS/2, that was Serenity Systems, which introduced eComStation, which continues in new releases to this day (2.2 is in beta). This is almost parallel to LG's acquisition, except that IBM still owns the core OS/2 code (and a lot of other companies, too), and OS/2 can never be open sourced (mainly as a result of all of the outside companies who own bits and pieces of it). Open sourcing is a key differentiator, and a good reason why I expect webOS to continue for some time.

As has been said, the platform will be dead when nobody uses it anymore. Both OS/2 (eComStation) and webOS still work for me. The operating paradigm most closely matches the way I think and work, and I haven't found anything better (and I'm a Linux consultant, as well, though the eComStation desktop is my environment of choice, as is Luna on my small devices). When the time comes that either the software becomes un-fixable (I don't know how that might happen for me, but for less technically-oriented users it could) or I find something better, both of these platforms remain quite alive for me.

I always thought IBM gave in too quickly. They had a window right before Windows 95 launched and I remember their ads - Nuns talking about software - were everywhere but once Win95 shipped they seemed to have lost steam right when they needed to push forward. It would have been interesting had they stuck with it longer. Of course the same could be said for HP

[eblade]

This is always a funny question, and for me, especially humorous...

I'm the Treasurer of Warpstock Corporation, the non-profit organization which hosts the annual OS/2 and eComStation in North America. IBM declared that the "Desktop Wars" were over in the late 1990's, and essentially pulled the plug on OS/2. By 2006, official IBM support ended.

Of course, someone should tell all of the OS/2-based ATMs and fare card systems that they are no longer alive, or all of the factories still running robotic equipment (I support a couple of them - major US companies) that OS/2 is dead (not to mention all of the people who come to Warpstock and Warpstock Europe each year).

Like IBM before it, HP pulled out before the cake was done baking. That left plenty of room for other chefs to come into the kitchen and play with the batter. For OS/2, that was Serenity Systems, which introduced eComStation, which continues in new releases to this day (2.2 is in beta). This is almost parallel to LG's acquisition, except that IBM still owns the core OS/2 code (and a lot of other companies, too), and OS/2 can never be open sourced (mainly as a result of all of the outside companies who own bits and pieces of it). Open sourcing is a key differentiator, and a good reason why I expect webOS to continue for some time.

As has been said, the platform will be dead when nobody uses it anymore. Both OS/2 (eComStation) and webOS still work for me. The operating paradigm most closely matches the way I think and work, and I haven't found anything better (and I'm a Linux consultant, as well, though the eComStation desktop is my environment of choice, as is Luna on my small devices). When the time comes that either the software becomes un-fixable (I don't know how that might happen for me, but for less technically-oriented users it could) or I find something better, both of these platforms remain quite alive for me.

I've always wanted to try OS/2 on modern hardware, but it seems like eCS is always waaaaaaaaaaay behind the curve in software support. Last time I looked at toying with OSes for fun and entertainment (yeah, i'm fkin weird like that), both Solaris and eCS did not support SATA and I had just upgraded to SATA drives. Oops That's been a few years, though, perhaps I should give them a look again. It'd be nice if Serenity offered a nice VM image to run in an emulator, just to give it a spin... :-) I suspect, though, that at this point, I'd be really hard pressed to be able to really use OS/2 to any degree.. sigh.

[Grabber5.0]

I have a box of OS/2 Warp floppies and nothing it will run on. I tried on a 486 before I trashed it but it wouldn't install for some reason.


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[joeytino]

I have a box of OS/2 Warp floppies and nothing it will run on. I tried on a 486 before I trashed it but it wouldn't install for some reason.


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The floppies(or the drive even) may be shot. We had a few here at work and nothing could read them. After 20 years the coating is likely failed. Even professional audio tapes are starting to go and they have to bake them in special ovens so they can play them. Sometimes only once, so consumer grade stuff is likely a lot less hardy and once the oxide starts going it does not take much to gum up the drive heads. Like everything else, the cheaper the media, the less likely they will survive long into the future.

[18istheman]

I joined this forum back in 2007 (when I was still sporting a Treo). Over the years (even in WebOS early days) several posters where claiming WebOS is dead. I remember calling them morons. Fast forward to 2014 and here we sit, still hanging out in WebOSNation. Since then (I'm not going to list all of WebOS' history) we have OpenWebOS and WebOS in TVs (although, I think I read you can't really tell its WebOS). Nothing is happening in OpenWebOS and even if there were you can't use it on Verizon and WebOS in a TV, although nice, doesn't really count in my book.



So, my question. Is WebOS officially dead yet?



I'll start. I think WebOS has been in Hospice for a couple years now and its currently lingering in a coma on life support. Once something is dead, its dead and ain't coming back. They are rare, but on occasion you read those stories about some poor sole being in a coma for 20 years and then all of a sudden awakened. Therefore, with hints (even though they aren't really official hints) of LG releasing a WebOS phone you can't claim WebOS is officially dead.



Sent from my DX4860 using Tapatalk

Is WebOS dead? This opens up a Terry Schiavo-like debate on mobile OS and what it really means to be "dead." WebOS is and has essentially been on life support for quite sometime now. It's being artificially kept alive by a diminishing, yet enthusiastic, fan base.

iOS has stolen most of the best parts of WebOS anyway...cards format, swiping to access phone settings(though still haven't gotten away from the ugly home button). Anything we see actual WebOS incorporated into will most likely bear little resemblance to the WebOS we knew and loved.

Like most, I have fancy notions of it making a return to the smartphone platform, but we all know that in reality it won't ever happen. The business moves way too fast and it's already way too crowded. It's an iOS and Android world, like it or lump it.

In the end, what really killed WebOS was a lack of apps. People buying a smartphone want it to be able to do EVERYTHING from ordering a pizza, to getting the weather, to making an e-deposit into your checking account, to streaming a live cricket match from Bangladesh. As a loyal WebOS disciple (Pre Plus and Pre 2), I did my best to convince friends, family and co-workers to also get the phone. Their response was always the same: slick looking phone, fun OS...what kind of apps does it have?

The Pre/WebOS was also hurt by some other goofy things. The headphone issue. Re-booting taking several minutes (longer than an actual computer). Battery drop. No GPS on VZW. Etc.

[miles4000]

I got an unopened box OS/2 Warp plus an old PS/2 model 70. At the time the model 70 listed for about $10K. I thought that most ATMs running older OS's were using Windows, not OS/2.

[eblade]

oh, no, there's a fair chunk of ATMs out there in the world still running OS/2. I've even seen some OS/2 Warp based ATMs in the not too distant past (within the last 10 years) .. I've seen a couple of Windows based ATMs.. but I have only been able to tell what OS they run if they're in some kind of maintenance mode, or in the case of the Windows ones, sitting at a blue screen.

[fatclue_98]

If it can still access the internet and fetch email, it's technically very much alive. But so is a Palm Treo. I'd venture to say Palm OS has more functioning apps than webOS. But if it makes anyone happy I'll quote Dr. McCoy - "he's dead Jim".

[Buddy1969]

... But if it makes anyone happy I'll quote Dr. McCoy - "he's dead Jim".

Or that one: "I'm a doctor, Jim, and not a smartphone expert" ... hrhrhr

[HelloNNNewman]

What other "webOS products" have been CONFIRMED they are working on?

I think he's referring to a whole line of televisions running webOS with the announcement that they will put it on all of their sets next year.

[purplepansy]

I had a dream last night that my Veer cracked and I had to decide between android and apple. Shiver!

Android?

[Buddy1969]

Android?

Yes, Android. I own a Nexus 5 now and must say KitKat is quite nice on this. AND I've seen presentations of Android L ... more cards, more notification-options ... very "WebOS" ...

I guess there is only one way to spell "Duarte": W-E-B-O-S ...

[Saijin_Naib]

Figures that the same people who would use and love OS/2 are the same people who would use and love webOS.

I found another support group!

(Former eCS user as a daily-driver, previous versions were not supporting my hardware anymore )

[flipper369]

I have been over the years using Android and did flirt with webOS with my Palm Pre on Sprint but ditched it as I really didn't like it. I got a Palm Pre 2 for 35 bucks today and am ashamed I ever got rid of it. Many things in my life have changed over the last few years and I've even started using Linux(Ubuntu 14.04, Mint 17(Cin), and Knoppix 7.2). Is it dead? For some maybe. For me I have a whole new world to explore and I'm more alive with webOS than I've ever been before. Be well my new friends. Godspeed

[HelloNNNewman]

Welcome back to webOS, Flipper! To be fair, the difference between the build of the Pre and the Pre2 is night and day. The Pre2 should have been their launch device from Day 1 - if it had, the would probably be a different story for Palm. But... glad to see you enjoying webOS! It truly is a fantastic OS.

[Saijin_Naib]

I regret selling my Pre2/Veer/Pre3, but I needed the money.

Every day, I sigh a sad sigh for having sold the only mobile os & hardware combo that got everything right.

However, I'm being sneakysneaky and trying to work some of the cooler aspects of webOS into FireFoxOS by pestering people, so don't completely lose hope yet :P

[LewisR]

I've always wanted to try OS/2 on modern hardware, but it seems like eCS is always waaaaaaaaaaay behind the curve in software support. Last time I looked at toying with OSes for fun and entertainment (yeah, i'm fkin weird like that), both Solaris and eCS did not support SATA and I had just upgraded to SATA drives. Oops That's been a few years, though, perhaps I should give them a look again. It'd be nice if Serenity offered a nice VM image to run in an emulator, just to give it a spin... :-) I suspect, though, that at this point, I'd be really hard pressed to be able to really use OS/2 to any degree.. sigh.

I build modern systems running eCS. eCS has ACPI and AHCI support. SATA drives are legacy, now. We have support for SSDs which emulate "standard" architecture. Audio is handled mainly by UniAUD, which is based on ALSA. IBM developed a useful video driver architecture (GRADD) and we have SNAP and Panorama which utilize it to support modern video hardware and video modes (Panorama supports more widescreen modes than SNAP).

We have new NIC drivers available, too. In short, unless the hardware is exotic, it likely can run eCS on bare metal.

We will likely see USB 3 support in the near future. A little late, I grant you, but there are people actively working on this.

Installing eCS in a VM is also possible, and there is even a special installer mode for configuration inside a VirtualBox VM. I use OS/2 (eCS) every day - in my business. My web server, hosting over 40 virtual hosts, and my email server (CommuniGate Pro) runs eCS. People pay me to host on that box. Hard pressed to be able to really use OS/2? You have got to be kidding me...

We have OpenOffice for OS/2 (3.20 is GA; version 4 is in beta). We have OpenJDK 6 for OS/2 (not the latest OpenJDK, I grant you, but quite usable). We have Flash. We have ESR builds of Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey (again, not bleeding edge, like on the tier-1 platforms, but quite usable - I am posting this from SeaMonkey on my ThinkPad running eCS 2.1).

What webOS needs is something like that. IBM pulled out of active OS/2 support in 2006. Thousands of ATMs, ticket kiosks, and factory machines are still running on OS/2. So, does OS/2 need IBM to survive? Only for the purpose of licensing. In the case of webOS, HP sold the technology to LG, and was able to open source it (something which IBM could never do with OS/2, due to the rat's nest of licensing issues surrounding the code: Microsoft still owns considerable portions of it). I'd say that by comparison, webOS is doing quite well, and if eCS is any barometer, the weather for webOS looks pretty good.

Cheers!

[LewisR]

Figures that the same people who would use and love OS/2 are the same people who would use and love webOS.

There is a reason for that. As we know from OS/2, it's about the one killer app. For OS/2, that killer app is the desktop. Nothing to this day comes close to the Workplace Shell as a desktop environment. Period.

On the phone (and tablet), nothing comes close to the intuitive feel of webOS.

(Former eCS user as a daily-driver, previous versions were not supporting my hardware anymore )

You should try a recent build (2.1 or 2.2 beta II). Likely we can get you running. In the next room, I have a client's quad-core i7-based machine running eCS on a pair of mirrored SSDs. Boot time is under 30 seconds from cold start to usable desktop. Windows just gets more and more bloated (though I understand that with Windy 8, one may choose from one of three different colors for the background, and arrange the tiles in any order one chooses...how cool is that?). I also consult on Linux (I'm Novell certified, so spend most of my time in that universe in SuSE, where my preferred desktop is KDE...but still not as much at home - even in 64-bit - as when I sit down to my Workplace Shell environment).

Sorry, all; I sound like a broken record. The point of this thread is whether webOS is dead, not OS/2. As I use both - every day - I guess I'm the wrong person to ask. As OS/2 runs apps ported from Linux, built with gcc (and REXX and Perl and php), and so much of webOS can be configured and contorted via javascript, it's hard to see how either platform could become totally unusable unless the hardware moves so far from where it is now that booting becomes an issue, and in that case, there is always virtualization.

Cheers/2