The problem is that anything could have much more mindshare. WebOS has negative mindshare; a new product built from the ground up with modern technology actually has a better chance of success (and indeed, that's likely to happen).
I wouldn't be so categorical about that. There's at least a minority of users, most of them technical, that really appreciated WebOS for its capacity for multitasking and the UI, if nothing else [1]. (How relevant would this be in a TV OS is debatable.)
Even today WebOS remains a good platform for hacking with an unofficial app marketplace [2] that's still actively maintained and offers, among other things, two "real" Linux distributions (Ubuntu and Debian chroots). I keep a Palm Pre Plus with Debian myself for use in various experiments (like making a time-lapse camera). I got it for cheap when it was clear that WebOS is in decline but now I (along with many others who did the same) would be in the market for a new WebOS device if one came out, though probably not a TV.
Comments
The worst ending (darkest timeline?) would be WebOS not getting used for anything at all.
I'm curious to see if it will stay open-source. At this point, though, Firefox OS has much more mindshare as a full-stack mobile web OS anyway.
The problem is that anything could have much more mindshare. WebOS has negative mindshare; a new product built from the ground up with modern technology actually has a better chance of success (and indeed, that's likely to happen).
>WebOS has negative mindshare
I wouldn't be so categorical about that. There's at least a minority of users, most of them technical, that really appreciated WebOS for its capacity for multitasking and the UI, if nothing else [1]. (How relevant would this be in a TV OS is debatable.)
Even today WebOS remains a good platform for hacking with an unofficial app marketplace [2] that's still actively maintained and offers, among other things, two "real" Linux distributions (Ubuntu and Debian chroots). I keep a Palm Pre Plus with Debian myself for use in various experiments (like making a time-lapse camera). I got it for cheap when it was clear that WebOS is in decline but now I (along with many others who did the same) would be in the market for a new WebOS device if one came out, though probably not a TV.
[1] See, e.g., comments right here on HN: http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/comments&q=webos+..., http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/comments&q=webos+....
[2] http://www.webos-internals.org/wiki/Application:Preware
Open WebOS is under the Apache 2 license, so no take-backs.
Opera also has its own product for smart TVs and set top boxes, but not quite a full fledged mobile OS.