HP makes a bold move

They won't suddenly stop selling computers with MS products. This seems more like they want to use one OS for all there devices etc.
 
With hundreds of millions of devices in the market, from printers to mobile phones, HP will become increasingly attractive to developers.
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Especially if every printer, tablet PC, mobile phone and desktop PC it produces is running WebOS..
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Hope they know what they're doing, because over the years, I had 2 of those 5610 4-in-1 Officejet printers, and neither of them would scan even simple docs. properly. Used to shrink the pages so you couldn't even see the text. Must've been Windows OS causing the problems all along !?
Since moving over to Lexmark, what a pleasure in comparison.
Don't ever think I'll bother with HP again, no matter what they make, or how good it is.
 
I think that the press and industry commentators are totally misreading the situation, as Alistair has here. I predict the WebOS that ships with HP computers will be more like those "instant-on" BIOS linux distros that some PC manufactureres shipped with a while ago. People don't make the decision buy HP products and then decide what OS to put on them, they make the decision to buy a Windows PC and then decide who to buy it from.

Those instant-on linux distros are awful - I have one on my motherboard, and by the time it's enumerated the onboard devices and got you to a desktop, it's actually quicker just to boot Windows 7 from a decent HDD.

The interopability argument is pretty weak as well - in today's world of converging standards, platforms are becoming more and more OS agnostic. It's easier to get Windows 7 to talk to a WebOS printer, than building an entire WebOS-on-PC ecosystem that then talks to the printer.

HP remains MS's biggest ally on the server side of things, and that won't change any time soon. WebOS is a million miles away from becoming a desktop replacement for Windows, and with HP's main customers being corporates, even if WebOS does ship as a default boot OS on the HDD, 99.9% of these corporates will just wipe it.

Kudos for HP for trying something bold, but I see this working about as well as Wave did for Google.
 
I hear WP7 is a pain to develop for, so there it makes sense to go with linux. I doubt thats a winning formula for the PC form factor though.

Bit annoying that the article isn't really clear as to what is being talked about. PC? Tablet? Printer?
 
BayCityRoller said:
Hope they know what they're doing, because over the years, I had 2 of those 5610 4-in-1 Officejet printers, and neither of them would scan even simple docs. properly. Used to shrink the pages so you couldn't even see the text. Must've been Windows OS causing the problems all along !?
Since moving over to Lexmark, what a pleasure in comparison.
Don't ever think I'll bother with HP again, no matter what they make, or how good it is.
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Different strokes for different folks.... I will never touch Lexmark again. It all started with my cartridges drying out* within 3 months and the poor support for Linux was the last straw for me. My HP printer just works.

*I printed about 3 or 4 pages of text - that's all.
 
BayCityRoller said:
Hope they know what they're doing, because over the years, I had 2 of those 5610 4-in-1 Officejet printers, and neither of them would scan even simple docs. properly. Used to shrink the pages so you couldn't even see the text. Must've been Windows OS causing the problems all along !?
Since moving over to Lexmark, what a pleasure in comparison.
Don't ever think I'll bother with HP again, no matter what they make, or how good it is.
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Lexmark??? :sick: You can't be serous???
 
Lexmark is the devils spawn.

My one made has no less than four dead ones. He finally saw the error of his ways and got a HP which has been trouble free.
 
The problem with HP printers is their legendarily expensive running costs. I've moved to Brother in both my SME office, and at home. The nice thing about them, is that the drum and toner are separate, so you don't have to buy the WHOLE assembly each time like most other lasers in their pricerange. Every 4 or so refills you buy a new drum for that colour, which isn't that expensive. Running costs are 1/2 to 1/3. And as printers they work great; zero issues. It's almost as if they care about giving their customers a great solution rather than trying to screw them over as much as they can.
 
elvis_presley said:
The problem with HP printers is their legendarily expensive running costs. I've moved to Brother in both my SME office, and at home. The nice thing about them, is that the drum and toner are separate, so you don't have to buy the WHOLE assembly each time like most other lasers in their pricerange. Every 4 or so refills you buy a new drum for that colour, which isn't that expensive. Running costs are 1/2 to 1/3. And as printers they work great; zero issues. It's almost as if they care about giving their customers a great solution rather than trying to screw them over as much as they can.
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I don't find HP any more expensive than other cartridges for other brand laser printers. In fact, they are generally slightly cheaper than say... Samsung Cartridges for example.
When they go out of warranty then I just buy generic cartridges. I use this company... http://www.businessimages.co.za/
And anyway, when I have stacked up a bunch of used cartridges, I just call this company and they come and buy all the empty cartridges from me.... http://www.emptycartridge.co.za/
 
Garyvdh said:
I don't find HP any more expensive than other cartridges for other brand laser printers. In fact, they are generally slightly cheaper than say... Samsung Cartridges for example.
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Yes, they're all horribly overpriced; the Brother is noticeably cheaper because of the entire architecture of the printer. The fact it's possible to build printers like, but nobody chooses to, is just indicative of the whole razor-blade model of the printer industry. Bloody agents!
 
I admit to stopping reading the article after I read, " In particular HP was always loyal to Microsoft and even in the face of new operating systems such as Linux."
 
HP aren't freeing themselves of Microsoft. They're merely putting WebOS onto their desktops as an instant-on type environment.
Will be great for tablets and devices such as that where it can benefit from touch input but it won't replace Windows as the 'real' OS.
WebOS will on a PC will be great for what the iPad is good for, media consumption. Turn it on, check your email, watch a video, turn it off.
I doubt people would be developing on it, making movies on it, playing games (other than iPad-type games) etc.

I own an HP TM2 (tablet PC) and I would love WebOS as an option for when I've flipped it into tablet mode (almost like a virtual machine or something that it switches to) but when I want to work (Office, developing, etc) I'd stick with Windows.
 
elvis_presley said:
People don't make the decision buy HP products and then decide what OS to put on them, they make the decision to buy a Windows PC and then decide who to buy it from.
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Spot on. If HP decides to stonewall all that will occur is that people who want Windows preinstalled will simple buy from a competitor.

BUT: All this means is competition.
 
HavocXphere said:
I hear WP7 is a pain to develop for, so there it makes sense to go with linux. I doubt thats a winning formula for the PC form factor though.

Bit annoying that the article isn't really clear as to what is being talked about. PC? Tablet? Printer?
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Rubbish, it's the best platform to develop for. Ever heard of Visual Studio, C# and Silverlight ?
 
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