This sums it up "So HP’s CEO Mr. Leo Apotheke Apotheker, if you don’t want to use WebOS in the mobile world, set it free. Let the open source community see if the old Palm OS is as good and has as much promise as so many of us thought it did"
I wonder how many people would sign a petition to support the open sourcing of WebOS.
If I where one of the purchasers of the doomed products that they terminated a little over a month after releasing I would file a class action suite on the grounds that they had to have had discussions about ending the product line before it was ever released. If they can find supporting documentation they can prove that material information was withheld that affected the purchasing decision of the consumer. This actually would be a pretty easy case to make. I would also argue that support has been dramatically affected by the fact that it is no longer a strategic offering by the corporation as such I would argue that the only remedy would be the release of webOS as an open source offering so that the implied support and future updates of the device can be restored to what was implied by industry norms. I would make the argument that the only way that I can get the support and updates that are implied in purchasing technology is for the OS to be removed from the hands of company that has shown disregard for it's obligations to do so. While it is out of the norm to be able to force a company to give away a product via a class action, I think if they argued for punitive damages in lieu of open-sourcing it, if the damages where grievous enough, HP may opt for releasing the OS over the monetary damages. IANAL but I think there is a strong case to be made and their hand could be forced on the issue.