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Declarations of OS Independence

Dell and HP have recently made very strong declarations of OS independence from Microsoft. Take HP first. With the buying of Palm for its webOS and the annoucement by HP that webOS would be used in not only its mobile phones [displacing Microsoft Windows Mobile] but also some of its tablets and notepads including the new Slate – this was tantamount to an open declaration of OS independence in the fastest growing IT sector mobile smartphones and smart connected devices. Infoworld has all the buzz here. At the sametime Dell has committed to the Android OS for both its Streak tablet and its lineup of new mobile phones. In sum, both vendors a)cant wait for Microsoft to get its mobile act together and b)the appeals of the customizing advantage of Android or self-owned webOS are too big to ignore.

For Microsoft, the executive blood is already on the wall.
For Apple, the critical mistakes are already being made.
For Google, there is a capacity to make big Goofles.

Yes, this is the official notice of the break up of the Windows monopoly.

9 thoughts on “Declarations of OS Independence”

  1. Declare independence from MS and swear allegiance to Google? Substitute one master for another.

    1. Yes and no. If after using Google’s android you decide you don’t like the direction Google is taking with android, you can always branch it and continue your efforts on your own.

      1. Basicaly this t”take the code wherever you want” and the Apache license which allows derived code to be closed [or open] as the creator chooses is a better “open Model”.

  2. um, don’t want to XXXXX XXX XXXXX wendell, but…

    MS charges them a ridiculous amount of money for each computer to bundle windows on them. It’s called the ‘microsoft tax’ for a reason.

    and the obligatory Wikipedia quote to highlight the ‘other’ option:

    “Android is being developed by the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 65 hardware, software, and telecom companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices.

    “Google released most of the Android code under the Apache License, a free software and open source license.”
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)


    Just a quick note to all commenters – if I have to add to many XXXX XX XXXX to a comment because of abusive or otherwise objectionable language[yes, I get to decide] – then you are wasting your time – your comment will make the Trash Bin. Your Eye Eyes Open Editor

  3. But with an Open Android and the same for most major Google APIs it is much easier for vendors and or users to fork or jump ship than in the case of the proprietary Apple and Microsoft OS offerings.

  4. Microsoft are irrelevant in the mobile market and always have been. Their biggest and only strength is the Wintel duopoly. I don’t think they ever imagined that their grip on the market could ever be subverted, so they didn’t even try to do anything about mobile devices. But here we are, and X86, Windows, and all the millions of applications people use Windows for are completely useless in mobile land.

    I’m glad Apple came along with the iPad. It’s a locked-down piece of crap, but it’s desirable, and that’s opened up a new market Microsoft cannot easily dominate or subvert (Microsoft have effectively killed off the netbook market completely by forcing manufacturers to fill them with shit Atom processors and crap amounts of RAM). Windows 7 on a tablet device? Yeah, good luck with that.

  5. Wendell, Android is Open Source, and Google has very liberal licenses for its projects. Pretty much anyone can make anything of Android they want. Not at all like Microsoft where it’s their way or the highway. Sounds like all the major vendors have finally decided to hit the highway in search of greener pastures. HP is at the largest risk with their own WebOS since not too many others will use it.

  6. Dell and HP are just beginning to get in on these markets. Of course they aren’t going to use WinMo 6, it’s ancient, unreliable, and less than 6 months from being replaced.

    The Slate was a Windows device until HP laid out the money to buy Palm and therefore webOS. It only makes business sense for them to drop Windows 7 to use an OS that costs them nothing to distribute, and that is more capable of competing 1:1 with the iPhone OS on the iPad. My question to you is why is it good from an open source perspective that HP is switching to a proprietary, closed, and very restricted OS, especially one with next to no worthwhile software, and no ability to distribute software outside of their app store.

    As for Dell, Dell has repeatedly abandoned Linux as a desktop OS, not exactly a bastion of open source ideals. They have in fact chosen Android for their new mobile division, but said mobile division is also a launch partner for Windows Phone 7. I find the fact that they’re not using a three year old, soon to be obsolete OS completely unremarkable. Especially given that in less than six months they’ll be releasing three phones that are nicer than any of their western or Chinese android offerings running a windows OS.

    As a closing thought: WinMo 6 is a more open platform than any mobile OS other than Android. Despite it being, quality wise, absolutely terrible fans of open computing should be mourning it’s demise, as it only signals the further dominance of closed channel software distribution.

    1. I agree – the HP webOS is proprietary vis a vis Google Android. But unlike in the case of Windows 7 it is “open” to HP and so they can make changes/modify it as required. But it is important to note that webOS apps are largely HTML/DOM/JavaSCript based – which is relatively standard and open. I say relatively because Microsoft continues to drag its feet on basic Web standards. Likewise only Mozilla Firefox and Adobe Actionscript have implemented the very powewrful E4X JavaScript/ECMAScript standard – nothing from IE, Opera, Chrome or Safari yet. Such a travesty.

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