HP launches first version of Open WebOS in beta

Months after Hewlett-Packard originally announced the open-source version of WebOS, the beta version of the platform is on its way out.
Today's release includes two environments for developers. The first is the desktop build, which is said to provide "the ideal development environment" for designing the WebOS user experience with more features and integrating other open-source technologies on the Ubuntu desktop.
The second is the OpenEmbedded build for porting WebOS to new devices. It's equipped with an ARM emulator for running db8 and node.js services, and HP said that it included OpenEmbedded because of its "widespread community adoption" and cross-compiling support for embedded platforms.

When open-source WebOS was first announced last year, it met with a bit of a negative reaction because of criticisms that HP didn't have a clear plan for the platform as well as uncertainty about how the platform would affect the mobile spectrum in general.
HP provided a few more details in January, including the news that the first version of the platform would be available by September of 2012.