HP » TamsPalm - the Palm OS / web OS Blog

John Rubinstein leaves HP

Feb 022012

John Rubinstein has reportedly left HP. The Palm chief boarded HP when HP purchased Palm in July 2010.

Rubinstein said that he had intended moving on since before the launch of the TouchPad, but that he was asked to stick around and help them with the webOS transition.

He had told the following to All Things D on webOS

well, if HP invests in it the way it says it’s going to and they can build a community around it — and that’s not just people developing for the platform, but other companies using it — it will do well.

We wish him luck in his future endeavors..!!!

HP appoints Bill Veghte as new Chief Strategy Officer

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Jan 182012

Meg Whitmen et al have decided to fill in the vacant spot of the Chief Strategy Officer at HP. This spot was previously held by Shane Robison, who took retirement. In addition to being CSO, Veghte will also be heading HP’s Cloud and webOS open source programs.

According to the press release by HP,

HP Names Bill Veghte Chief Strategy Officer

PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 17, 2012

HP today announced that Bill Veghte has been appointed chief strategy officer.

In addition to his new responsibilities, Veghte will continue in his current role as executive vice president of HP Software.

As chief strategy officer, Veghte will be responsible for keeping HP on the cutting edge of innovation. He will work with HP’s senior business and technology leaders to help define the IT industry’s future and make certain HP continues to lead the way. Veghte’s new role reaffirms HP’s commitment to providing customers with the latest platforms, products and services needed for success in a rapidly changing world.

“Every 10 to 15 years, fundamental shifts occur in the IT industry that redefine how technology is delivered,” said Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive officer. “From mainframes to client/server to the internet, companies that identified the opportunity first and developed the right strategy came out on top. As we move forward, HP intends to stay on top, and I believe Bill has the knowledge and vision to keep us there.”

In addition to helping drive strategy for the company as a whole, Veghte will lead HP’s cloud and webOS open source initiatives.

Veghte joined HP in 2010. In the most recent fiscal year, he grew HP’s software business by 18 percent. Prior to HP, he spent two decades at Microsoft in a variety of senior leadership positions. Most recently, he managed the company’s $15 billion global Windows® business and was instrumental in the delivery and launch of Windows 7.

Nothing much to add here except we hope these changes bring some good for the webOS platform, which is now pretty “dead” dead…!!!

webOS fate to be decided in another two weeks

News 1 Response »

Nov 302011

As promised by Meg Whitman, the HP webOS decision was to be taken in 3-4 weeks. Three weeks have passed, and Meg has said in an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro that the decision will be taken in another two weeks.

She is most concerned about webOS and the 600 odd employees that formed the webOS GBU. HP might be considering Windows 8 as it’s next operating system but we can never be too sure about it. Maybe she’ll revive webOS.

Stay tuned for more..!!!

HP loses $3.3Billion due to webOS in 2011

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Nov 232011

HP has released their financial report for Q4, and the results are not quite good. HP has lost a good $3.3 Billion post taxes. Out of this, a solid chunk of $2.1 Billion was a direct loss due to killing of the webOS platform, with thanks from the Mad King (aka Apotheker).

That makes it pretty square. HP has spent a Lot of money on the webOS platform. We just hope they keep it alive.

Source

HP taking feedback of Touchpad customers, we suspect something fishy

News 3 Responses »

Nov 162011

If the blogosphere is to be believed, HP is indeed sending out feedback mails to the Touchpad customers asking them about their user experience with the Touchpad.

While it is fairly odd to collect feedback data for a canceled product, what is more odd is the fact that HP is going into the nitty gritty by asking the customers questions ranging from

ease of setup, overall performance, and the webOS user interface to the ability to personalize the device, the quality of manufacturing, and the durability of the TouchPad.

This might hint at the resurrection of the almost dead webOS. We do remember Meg Whitman needs more time to arrive at a meaningful decision concerning webOS’ fate. Maybe this survey is a tool to gauge the customers’ interest and make sure that they “do it right” this time. who knows…except for HP??

Stay tuned for more..!!!

Whitman needs more time to decide webOS fate

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Nov 102011

While everyone was skeptical that HP might soon announce a plan for it’s ill fated webOS, Meg Whitman surprised everyone (well, not everyone) by saying

It’s really important to me to make the right decision, not the fast decision.

Well said Meg. This decision is a wise decision as per me. Unlike Leo Apotheker, who just went madly destroying everything, Meg thinks she can arrive at a worthy decision within three to four weeks.

While it was highly speculated that the brilliant webOS would be sold off to the highest bidder from an array of heavyweights, Meg responded by saying

If HP decides [to keep webOS], we’re going to do it in a very significant way over a multi-year period

…it’s a very expensive proposition, but HP can make that bet.

Well, good going Meg, is all we have to say. Hope that you take a decision that is as much in favor of HP as it is in favor of the developers who word pretty hard to keep the platform alive.

Source

HP ceases Touchpad production

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Nov 022011

HP has finally hit the kill switch. Touchpads are no more in production. After the grand fire sale, most of HP’s Touchpads were bought by junta at inhumanly low prices.

The remainder lot is currently in possession of BestBuy and it is selling it to people who buy HP PCs only.

According to an email sent out by HP

Dear Valued Customer,

Making sure customers have a positive experience when they purchase our products is a priority for us. In some cases, limited inventory makes it challenging to fulfill all customer orders. As you signed up for updates on the HP TouchPad, we wanted you to know that we are officially out of stock. Some retailers will have some stock available, but our online inventory is depleted.

Thank you for your interest in this product and the feedback you provided. Your input plays a critical role in defining our product roadmap and will help us continue to bring innovative products to market.

Sincerely,

HP

This email is an indirect proof that HP has stopped producing the TouchPads. But XDA developers have another point of view. According to them, there would be an Android version of the Touchpads, that is, if what they think is correct. Head over to XDA and read yourself.

HP loses another one, Phil McKinney decides to retire

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Nov 012011

Well, HP just lost it’s CTO. Phil McKinney has announced via his blog that he will be serving HP until 31 December 2011.

As per his blog

Earlier today, I announced that I will be retiring from HP.

This is not the traditional retirement. I’m not planning on spending my days playing golf or sitting around the house driving my wife crazy. I have far too much passion, energy and ideas to sit on the sidelines.

My definition of retirement is the freedom to write, speak, mentor, advise and teach without the restrictions of the traditional employee/corporate structure.

My passion is to help innovators get better at innovating and I’ve spent the better part of the last dozen years fulfilling that mission. My time at HP started out as an advisor on innovation that turned into a request to join for a year or so to “help grow the innovation culture at HP”. That was 9 years ago. I can honestly say that I’ve done everything that is within my power to fulfill that objective.

Phil was the person behind the teams that delivered Blackbird, Firebird, Envy 133, Gabble, Twynergy, Pluribus, Vantage TouchWall and DreamScreen.

After the retirement, he aspires to be the motivational speaker, author, mentor and innovator that the world has known him to be.

We wish him all the best…!!

Best Buy offering $150 TouchPad PC bundles

News No Responses »

Nov 012011

Retails giant Best Buy is supposedly offering Touchpad for $150 with purchase of select HP or Compaq Desktop, Laptop, or all-in-one PCs at Best Buy.

This offer begins today and will be applicable on BestBuy.com and all other brick and mortar stores. Though there is no mention on how long the offer will stay, we suspect that the offer would not last long as the Touchpads that are being offered are from the last batch in the production.

Anyways, $150 is way better than $50. Winking smile

HP’s Todd Bradley refutes webOS killing rumors

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Oct 312011

The rumor mill was churning crazy that after retaining the PC business, HP was going to kill webOS. But Todd Bradley refutes the claim.

He stamps these as “unfounded rumors”. According to Engadget

He went on to say that "accolades for the operating system are broadly known" and that the company is focusing on how to "effectively utilize that phenomenal software."

While Meg Whitman is all for webOS, rumor has it that there would be a tight lipped stance towards anything concerning webOS, at least for some time.

Apparently Meg is not dumb like Leo Apotheker (whom I like to call Aerys Targeryan, the mad king) to understand that there has been no ROI on webOS yet, and apparently a big sum was spent to set up the webOS division and on the R&D. This amount would be a blot on the balance sheets if the whole webOS thing is flushed down the toilet.

We will keep you updated, not on rumors, but on rumors that make some sense. That is what our network is all about Winking smile .

Stay tuned…!!!

HP not to won’t spin off PC division, likely to survive many more years

News 2 Responses »

Oct 282011

When Apotheker was playing Aerys II Targaryen, he made (as expected from Aerys) a decision to chop off the HP empire into fragments, aka spinning off it’s PC division.

Luckily, the Board of directors woke up on time and showed him the door and appointed Meg Whitman as the woman in charge in his stead. The lady after analyzing Apotheker’s strategy quoted

It’s clear after our analysis that keeping PSG within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees.

The Press Release quotes

HP to Keep PC Division

Continued combination of HP and its Personal Systems Group expected to deliver greater customer and shareholder value

PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 27, 2011

HP today announced that it has completed its evaluation of strategic alternatives for its Personal Systems Group (PSG) and has decided the unit will remain part of the company.

“HP objectively evaluated the strategic, financial and operational impact of spinning off PSG. It’s clear after our analysis that keeping PSG within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees,” said Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive officer. “HP is committed to PSG, and together we are stronger.”

The strategic review involved subject matter experts from across the businesses and functions. The data-driven evaluation revealed the depth of the integration that has occurred across key operations such as supply chain, IT and procurement. It also detailed the significant extent to which PSG contributes to HP’s solutions portfolio and overall brand value. Finally, it also showed that the cost to recreate these in a standalone company outweighed any benefits of separation.

The outcome of this exercise reaffirms HP’s model and the value for its customers and shareholders. PSG is a key component of HP’s strategy to deliver higher value, lasting relationships with consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and enterprise customers. The HP board of directors is confident that PSG can drive profitable growth as part of the larger entity and accelerate solutions from other parts of HP’s business.

PSG has a history of innovation and technological leadership as well as an established record of industry-leading profitability. It is the No. 1 manufacturer of personal computers in the world with revenues totaling $40.7 billion for fiscal year 2010.

“As part of HP, PSG will continue to give customers and partners the advantages of product innovation and global scale across the industry’s broadest portfolio of PCs, workstations and more,” said Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP. “We intend to make the leading PC business in the world even better.”

More information is available at www.hp.com/investor/PSG-Decision.

Richard Kerris leaves HP, Joins Nokia

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Oct 282011

Richard Kerris, the man responsible to glue HP and developers together (read as Vice president, Worldwide Developer Relations for webOS) has left HP to pursue other interests (read as a job opportunity at Nokia).

HP quotes

Richard Kerris, vice president, Worldwide Developer Relations for webOS, has decided to leave HP to pursue an opportunity outside of the company, effective immediately. We are grateful for his service and contributions he has made to HP and the webOS community.

Nine months was the time that Kerris spent with HP. The jump from the burning platform was inevitable, but no wise man jumps from one burning platform to another.

Marco Argenti, Nokia SVP of Developer and Marketplace, tweets

Great people are what makes the difference, always. I’m excited to welcome Richard Kerris in my team as Global Head of Developer Relations.

Bang…!!! The job description remains the same at Nokia, although more challenging, as Nokia is hell bent on pissing off it’s developers (Nokia World Hackathon…hint…hint).

Welcome to the jungle Kerris, is all we have to say…!!

Update time–webOS updated to 3.0.4

News 2 Responses »

Oct 192011

The already dead webOS is officially on life support. According to the Palm Blog

A new over-the-air update for HP Touchpad is now available. (For details about how over-the-air updates work, click here.)

Some of the new functionality you’ll find in the new update include:

A new Camera app for photos and video

The ability to pair non-webOS phones to your Touchpad, so you can answer calls on your Touchpad. Pairing with non-webOS Bluetooth keyboards has also been streamlined.

Support for OGG Vorbis music files

Online/offline messaging status support.

In addition to new features, you’ll also experience better performance, user interface improvements, and other enhancements such as support for accelerometer events in Adobe Flash Player, and more robust Skype video calling.

The complete changelog can be found here. This update is a sigh of relief to all those buyers who spent their hard earned money (including the lucky ones who got their Touchpads for $100) and bought a device that was killed days later.

HP launches investigation on Touchpads shipped with Android

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Oct 102011

After a few Touchpad owners were surprised to find Android loaded on their supposed-to-be-webOS-loaded Touchpads, the developers got in touch with HP to get the source code of the Android version shipped.

According to CMtouchpad

HP distributed modified Linux kernel as part of the Android that shipped on at least three units (location is known, users requested the source from HP – confirmed).
This is a clear GPL violation on HP part, so hopefully we can pursue on this.

There is a detailed discussion on this issue which is a serious blot on HP’s so called stringent quality control. HP has launched an investigation to get to the root of this blunder.

HP Palm doesn’t support Android and has not authorized anyone to provide consumers with the Android OS for Touchpad, either separately or loaded on the device. Additionally, anyone who loads Android on their Touchpad voids their warranty.

When the matter was pursued by GPL advocates, the following email was sent by Oleg Drokin to HP

That is not my question.
It seems HP have distributed copies of Linux Kernel software on some units shipped with Android operating system.
I hold a partial copyright to that software and my code is included in the resultant binary.
This Linux kernel version included (and I got a copy of the binary to verify) is significantly different from the kernel sources distributed by HP.

I am in contact with several persons that have received this Android OS from HP on their new Touchpad tablets and requested the source.
As such we are asking HP to provide the source of the aforementioned Linux kernel software to fulfill
HP’s legal obligations under GPL license.

Thanks.

In response to the ongoing hubbub, HP’s Director of Open Source Program Office, Phil Robb replied,

It’s nice to meet you. I too am an open source advocate.

Let me begin by saying that HP is a proud and committed member of the open source community, and the Linux development community in particular. We take our participation and obligation to this community, and the licenses associated with its software very seriously.

As for the Touchpad units that have been allegedly purchased with a version of Android on them, we have begun an internal investigation on this within HP. We have confirmed that HP never authorized the distribution of any version of Android on the HP Touchpad. In addition, from a review of our manufacturing process, we believe that all Touchpad units have been shipped out of manufacturing with the webOS operating system only, and that no Touchpad units were shipped with Android, even by mistake. Hence, we presently believe that some person or persons unknown may have facilitated the delivery of these Android-based units strictly against the policy and authorization of HP.

Regarding your specific request for source code below, I must decline at the present time. HP has never authorized the distribution of any binaries for Android in association with the HP Touchpad. Therefore, HP is not under any license obligation to provide any corresponding Android source code to you. Hopefully, this doesn’t come across too harsh. As always, any member of the public can access all open source software source code distributions and other open source software licensing information for the HP webOS software products at any time at http://opensource.palm.com/.

For those of you in the development community actively working to port Android to the Touchpad, we applaud your efforts. HP has a strong commitment to your freedoms as a developer and technology enthusiast. It is your device and you can do with it what you want. If you want to put Android on your Touchpad, or Meego, or one of the altered webOS kernels from webOSInternals.org, you are welcome to do so (at your own risk of course). While HP supports your freedom to do this, we are not part of the community behind such efforts. HP believes that the version of webOS that we deliver on the Touchpad is a superior user experience for our customers, and the best development platform for today’s and tomorrow’s mobile applications and services. WebOS is where HP spends its development and support efforts.

Thank you very much for bringing this matter to our attention. As you know, it is a significant detriment to HP and HP’s participation in and relationship with the open source community to have non-authorized Android software delivered on HP Touchpad devices. If you can provide any information that will help us track down who is providing these unauthorized Touchpads and where they might be coming from, I would greatly appreciate it.

Best regards,

Phil.

Now logically, if the issue was found in any Touchpads before they left the distributors/retailers, the implications could be very serious because it is HP’s duty to check on everything including the licensing.

This would be very hard to prove that HP has shipped the devices with Android pre-installed. I am no legal expert but this seems the a case of foul play for sure.

Stay tuned for more

Source

Older Entries

TamsPalm – the Palm OS / web OS Blog

John Rubinstein leaves HP

HP appoints Bill Veghte as new Chief Strategy Officer

webOS fate to be decided in another two weeks

HP loses $3.3Billion due to webOS in 2011

HP taking feedback of Touchpad customers, we suspect something fishy

Whitman needs more time to decide webOS fate

HP ceases Touchpad production

HP loses another one, Phil McKinney decides to retire

Best Buy offering $150 TouchPad PC bundles

HP’s Todd Bradley refutes webOS killing rumors

HP not to won’t spin off PC division, likely to survive many more years

Richard Kerris leaves HP, Joins Nokia

Update time–webOS updated to 3.0.4

HP launches investigation on Touchpads shipped with Android

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