OFFICIAL: webOS Open Source Roadmap Update

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Back in December, we announced that webOS would be going Open Source (thumbs up from me). Now, we have an official word from the webOS Developer blog: Enyo, the JavaScript app framework, is now available for download right here.

Here’s the gist, from the developer blog:

In December, HP announced that webOS would be made available under an open source license, with continued support from HP. We’re proud of webOS and its potential to harness web standards to improve the next generation of applications, web services, and devices.

Today, we’re taking the next step on this journey by releasing Enyo, our JavaScript app framework, under open source licensing, allowing developers to distribute their Enyo-based webOS apps across other platforms. In this post, we’ll also provide a first look at our open source release roadmap.

In any large project, it’s imperative to communicate the plan for achieving the project’s goals. This plan is usually presented in the form of a roadmap, which outlines the steps necessary to achieve project goals and shows the path forward. For an open source project to be a success, that roadmap must be public so all contributors have a sense of where the project is headed.

In subsequent posts, and on the new Enyo website, we will share more details about our roadmap for webOS, including our plans for release phases, governance, tools, documentation, and more. So with that in mind, let’s step into an overview of some of the pieces of the release plan.

Our first contribution is Enyo, our lightweight, cross-platform framework aimed at mobile devices and web browsers.

This initial open source release includes Enyo 1.0, which allows current developers of Enyo apps for webOS devices to distribute their apps to other platforms. While this release is not intended to be expanded any further, there is considerable utility for our current developer base in releasing it.

Today’s release also includes the core of Enyo 2.0, which will be the foundation for Enyo going forward. It expands Enyo’s “write once, run anywhere” capability to even more platforms, from mobile devices to desktop web browsers. It works on many of the most popular web browsers, including Chrome, IE 9, Firefox, and Safari.

While 2.0 does not yet include any UI widgets, the core will support a wide variety of libraries and add-ons. A UI widget set for 2.0 will be released in the near future.

Upcoming releases include our distribution of WebKit, which will support not only HTML5, but also Silverlight and Flash through the use of plug-ins. It will enable the rendering of webpages to HTML Canvas and 3-D textures, and will support a wide range of application interfaces, including multi-touch.

We will also release a new kernel based on the Linux Foundation’s standard kernel. As we continue through the roadmap, you will see enhanced integration with JavaScript through register callbacks and custom multi-process architecture for security, load balancing, and recovery availability.

Look for us to introduce LevelDB to replace our prior database.

Along the way, we will also share our tool sets, and we expect that many of you will want to share yours as well.

In closing, I want to thank the great engineers who have worked with me on creating the open webOS roadmap and let you all know that we look forward to collaborating with the community. As my friend Eric Raymond stated as I embarked on the open source adventure, “It takes a village to create a complete solution.”

As I’ve said many times before on the blog, I’m a huge proponent of webOS. It goes without saying (but I’m saying it anyway) I can’t wait to see what the community does with the platform next!

(also, I found this handy list breaking down what’s next)