HP Prepares For Total webOS Shutdown On 15 January 2015

The next few months will be sad ones for remaining fans of the ill-fated webOS platform. HP has just updated its Developer FAQ page that marks the beginning of the end for webOS, at least from its part of the webOS world. Remaining owners of (the very few) webOS devices out in the wild will soon have no place to go to, presuming they haven't left for greener pastures. However, whether or not it is really the death of webOS depends on what its new curator plans to do with the operating system.

As (quite repeatedly) mentioned, webOS has had quite a journey, passing through three companies, from Palm to HP and currently to LG. While parts of webOS will never really go away since HP has graciously open sourced them, HP doesn't plan to keep services surrounding the platform running ad infinitum. To be honest, it is quite impressive that it has kept those services intact this long.

So what does this mean for webOS device owners? The most important thing is that devices will continue running, but users will no longer be able to install new apps and will no longer receive updates. They will also no longer be able to activate devices, backup, restore, and transfer after the shutdown of the system. That date has been set to January 15 next year. Until then, users will still be able to move around and make necessary preparations, including perhaps migrating to a new smartphone. Perhaps more worryingly, password recovery will no longer be available after the shutdown, so users need to make sure they store their password elsewhere in case they get locked out and forget their password in the future.

It's not actually the end of webOS, depending on how you look at it. It is definitely the end of the webOS that was created by Palm, bought by HP, and loved by its believers. However, LG now holds webOS in the palms of its hands, but it might be taking it in directions that the platform's original proponents might not like. At the moment, it sits inside LG's smart TVs, but a recent leak revealed that the manufacturer might have ideas to bring it to smartwatches as well. webOS might still have a future, but it might not be a very bright one, nor a very open one as well.

SOURCE: HP