No corp is going to open source their proprietary technology when they stand to make money from selling it. There won't be an open source mobile OS, the best we can hope for are OSes with browser shells (Boot 2 Gecko) and html5 as the platform.

> when they stand to make money from selling it.

Really? Seriously? Who would buy WebOS today? I'm all ears. I'm sure HP is too. Not only has it failed to gain a foothold under two separate companies, there is no successful licensed (more than $0 cost) mobile OS on the market today. You have two vertically integrated (AAPL and RIMM), and one free one (Android). Windows Phone is not as much of a failure as WebOS, but that doesn't exactly make the job easier for WebOS's next owner. It just means they have to fight even to be #3.

Come to think of it, open sourcing the whole thing could be a good move. It's the Netscape strategy all over again. It wouldn't really make HP any money, though, so they won't.

I have a hard time with the WebOS failed to get a foothold under two separate companies.

HP never really tried. $1.2B and then trashing it so quickly? That's not trying.

This was a perfect opportunity to take the time and do it right. A company that was/is good with hardware, now has a great mobile OS. It had some time to take the loss financially with success of other areas (laptops, enterprise software, etc).

There are more buyers than just those who aspire to compete with the big dogs. WebOS has application far beyond just mobile OSes. Even PalmSource was sold and Garnet OS was in development until just a couple of years ago. There are thousands of potential buyers that have nothing to do with the smartphone wars.