HP continues to plot its place in a post-Windows world with the purchase of a quick-boot Linux OS. Plus: WebOS becomes a ‘Printer OS’ as printers get widgets and email addresses?
Less than two months after shelling out $1.4 billion for Palm Computing in order to pick up the company’s WebOS, HP has put an additional $14 million on the table for a second operating system.
That OS is HyperSpace, a lightweight Linux-based operating system developed by BIOS maker Phoenix Technologies as an embedded ‘pre-boot’ environment for Windows laptops and desktops.
Similar to HP’s existing proprietary QuickWeb environment, and competing platforms like Splashtop, HyperSpace gives uses a near-‘instant on’ access to Web browsing, email and multimedia functionality without waiting for Windows to load.
If HP proceeds with a Windows 7 version of its Slate project we’d tip HyperSpace to be baked into the device. More interesting will be if HyperSpace is rolled into WebOS to create a slate which can go from a cold start to surfing in under five seconds.
But before we see WebOS in slates we’re likely to see it on printers. HP has also provided the first firm details of its plans for WebOS, with company chief Mark Hurd telling a media and analyst conference call that “we expect to leverage WebOS into a variety of form factors, including slates and Web-connected printers.”
In other words, the colour touchscreen that’s already found its way onto many HP printers will soon sport an interface to the printers’ own operating system, potentially with an array of downloadable widgets and ‘printer apps’.
These Web-connected printers will even sport their own email inbuilt address, so that users can print documents and photos from their netbook or smartphone by simply emailing them to the printer. HP’s ePrint system removes the need for drivers and a direct USB or network connection to the printer.
The printer will be password-protected and be accessed “through the cloud”, says HP, with each printer’s address made “obscure by default” to protect against reams of spam spilling out onto the floor surrounding your printer.