Hewlett-Packard has announced the Open Source Project on webOS. The code will be available under an open source license but it seems that it is yet to be finalized what license will be used.

WebOS may be more clever that we esteem. The Linux-based OS with a rocky history has officially risen from the ashes of HP’s TouchPad bungle to be reborn as an open source project.

Various versions of WebOS have been featured on several devices, including Pre, Pixi, and Veer phones and the HP TouchPad tablet.

From Press Release:

HP today announced it will contribute the webOS software to the open source community.

HP plans to continue to be active in the development and support of webOS. By combining the innovative webOS platform with the development power of the open source community, there is the opportunity to significantly improve applications and web services for the next generation of devices.

webOS offers a number of benefits to the entire ecosystem of web applications. For developers, applications can be easily built using standard web technologies. In addition, its single integrated stack offers multiplatform portability. For device manufacturers, it provides a single web-centric platform to run across multiple devices. As a result, the end user benefits from a fast, immersive user experience.

“webOS is the only platform designed from the ground up to be mobile, cloud-connected and scalable,” said Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive officer. “By contributing this innovation, HP unleashes the creativity of the open source community to advance a new generation of applications and devices.”

HP will make the underlying code of webOS available under an open source license. Developers, partners, HP engineers and other hardware manufacturers can deliver ongoing enhancements and new versions into the marketplace.

HP will engage the open source community to help define the charter of the open source project under a set of operating principles.

The goal of the project is to accelerate the open development of the webOS platform:
HP will be an active participant and investor in the project
Good, transparent and inclusive governance to avoid fragmentation
Software will be provided as a pure open source project

Ubuntu Linux 11.10 officially Launch, Ubuntu is now entirely running smooth, but for those without the hardware to power all those flashy 3D effects, a special 2D version of Unity has been included, meaning that users will have a more consistent experience from here on out.

Ubuntu 11.10 aka Oneiric Ocelot New Applications:

• Chromium Internet Free
• Blender Graphics Free
• Inkscape Graphics Free
• World of Goo Games $19.99
• BEEP Games $9.99
• Braid Games $9.99

Chromium is the open source web browser project from which Google Chrome draws its source code. The project’s hourly Chromium snapshots appear essentially similar to the latest builds of Google Chrome aside from the omission of certain Google additions, most noticeable among them: Google’s branding, auto-update mechanism, click-through licensing terms, usage-tracking, a built-in PDF viewer and bundling of the Adobe Flash Player. Chromium uses the WebKit layout engine.

Blender’s features include 3D modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, rigging, water and smoke simulations, skinning, animating, rendering, particle and other simulations, video editing software, compositing, and the ability to create interactive 3D applications, video games, animated film, or visual effects.

Inkscape is a free software vector graphics editor, licensed under the GNU General Public License. Its goal is to implement full support for the Scalable Vector Graphics 1.1 standard. An Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.

Inkscape is cross-platform and runs on Mac OS X (typically under X11, although the underlying GTK+ toolkit can be compiled to run natively under Quartz),Unix-like operating systems, and Microsoft Windows. Inkscape’s implementation of SVG and CSS standards is incomplete. Most notably, it does not yet support animation. Inkscape has multi-lingual support, particularly for complex scripts, something currently lacking in most commercial vector graphics applications. The word Inkscape is a portmanteau of the words ink and landscape.

Installing Ubuntu 11.10 aka Oneiric Ocelot:

Installing Ubuntu can be done by anyone with a pulse who knows how to burn an image to a CD or USB stick. Once upon a time, say the 20th century, Linux was hard to install. Now, anyone can do it. Don’t believe me? Download a copy of the new Ubuntu for yourself and follow along my installation path in Gallery: Installing the latest Ubuntu Linux: Ubuntu 11.10 and you’ll see what I mean.

Brand new Interface
Both Ubuntu and Windows 8 will built a brand new interface.
Windows 8 new interface supports gestures, snap, pin, cloud apps, new concepts like a basket for files you'll want to share between apps and services, and a hidden task bar on the right side of the screen. In addition to the development screen, Microsoft showed Windows 8 running on tablets from Samsung and Lenovo. This interface overhaul, possibly the most radical update since Windows 7, is virtually unrecognizable from the most recent OS update, Windows 8.

The improved Unity interface that will be introduced with the Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) release on October 13th, features a richer set of "Scopes and Lenses," instead of the old "Places" function, looking and blazing fast. The Unity panel has been also improved for the Ubuntu 11.10 release, by integrating the Dash into the Unity launcher to preserve the top left corner for closing/maximizing/minimizing windows. The Dash will be colored based on desktop wallpaper. The same will happen to the login screen (e.g.: when choosing a user, the login screen will be colored based on the user's wallpaper and palette).



The boot time
Comparatively, the boot time with Ubuntu is quicker than Window 8. Ubuntu is faster on both old and new hardware whereas Windows 8 is faster than Vista on old hardware.

Software Applications
For software applications you need to download applications in the lines of iPhone to perform certain operations on Ubuntu. You can download these applications from Osalt. Ubuntu offers Open office for word processing and Gimp, photo editing software. These are open source software. Ubuntu handles mail through ‘Evolution’ client. It is difficult to install Skype or Google Earth by average users in Ubuntu. It has to improve in this aspect. With Windows 8 you need to purchase MS Office or you can install free software, Open Office or Gimp. Outlook works as email client in Windows 8. Windows 8 comes with windows live messenger and Internet Explorer 8.

Cloud integration
Windows 8 and Ubuntu 11.10 will both be tightly integrated with the cloud. Windows 8 will be able to pull photos from the cloud, share and upload them instantly. Ubuntu 11.10 on the other hand will feature Ubuntu One online backup service with 5 GB cloud storage leaving behind Microsoft in the cloud wars.

Updated Default browsers
Windows 8 will ship with Internet Explorer 10 while Oneiric will include the improved Firefox 7.0.

App Stores
The Software Center has been part of Ubuntu for quite a while, but it wasn’t as appealing as many new users would expect it to be. With 11.10, that is about to change because a completely revamped app store will be a part of the desktop. On Windows 8, there will be a Windows store, allowing users to download and purchase new applications for their desktop.

New login screens
Both Ubuntu 11.10 and Windows 8 will include a new and improved login screen. They both are beautiful, but I still prefer the clean new LightDM login screen.

Ubuntu 11.1 aka Oneiric Ocelot would not include the classic GNOME desktop as a fall back to Unity, unlike Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal. Instead, 11.10 will include a 2D version of Unity as a fallback for computers that lack the hardware resources for the Compiz-based 3D version.