[HH] HP's Plan to Open-Source WebOS: What's Taking So Long?

[Tom Metro]

I saw a post earlier today about HP not releasing WebOS until September,
and wondered why so long? Then I see this:

HP's Plan to Open-Source WebOS: What's Taking So Long?
http://mashable.com/2012/01/25/hp-webos-open-source-schedule/

  Hewlett-Packard just announced it would fulfill its promise to make
  the code of its dormant mobile operating system, webOS, open-source
  ... by September.

  ...it would gradually release parts of webOS to the open-source
  community over the next eight months. Starting this month with Enyo
  2.0, the webOS developer tool, HP will make individual elements
  available bit by bit.

  [webOS Nation] member gargoylejps said, "...Realize, every line of
  this code has to be reviewed to make sure its not infringing on
  someone else's intellectual property. If this were released with some
  Apple, or Google, IP in it, we could see any new device held up for,
  literally, years as they tie up things in court."

  "We've got a full development staff on it," HP's spokesman said. "1.0
  in September is just the beginning. We're going to be collaborating
  with the community. But it's tough to speculate. We want webOS to take
  on a life of its own, and there's no better way to do that than
  open-sourcing it."

OK, so I figured HP would have a few people eyeball the code to get rid
of anything embarrassing before they released it, but this sounds like
it'll be a pretty significant investment. Not simply a code dump. I
guess we can blame the lawyers for this. On the other hand, some
fleeting job security for the remaining Palm software developers.

 -Tom