The company makes Isis (webOS Browser) and QtWebKit available

Feb 15, 2012 21:31 GMT  ·  By

HP is working on releasing its webOS platform under an open source license, and has just announced advancements in the area.

The company has made the February Open webOS releases official, which include extensions to QtWebKit, Isis (web browser), integration with JavaScript core, UI Enyo widgets, and its governance model.

The Isis (webOS Browser) and QtWebKit appear to have drawn the most attention in this release. The new Isis browser was benchmarked and is said to be very fast when compared to the previous software included in the platform.

The application comes with a fast render pipeline and JavaScript execution profile and offers support for HTML5 and CSS3. Through offering support for a wide range of standards, it enabled developers to come up with applications for more platforms.

“We are also providing enhanced support for legacy products like Adobe Flash and other Netscape Plug-in API (NPAPI) plugins to allow them to run in non-X11 environments,” HP notes.

“In combination with the rest of webOS, we will be providing a complete browsing experience that can be deployed on mobile devices and other form factors.”

There is also the QtWebKit (a.k.a. "Cute" WebKit), which was open sourced by Nokia not too long ago. Through moving webOS to this port of WebKit, HP is aiming at increasing web site compatibility and overall performance.

“To stay at the forefront, webOS required a fast, standards-compliant web browser engine to provide the core of both the standalone browser and the rendering technology for the platform and its apps. For this reason, we chose QtWebKit to power the next generation experience for webOS,” HP explains.

“QtWebKit offers unrivaled speed and standards compliance while providing a powerful and fast platform for Enyo and apps. WebKit is also the point of integration between the underlying System Manager, which will be open sourced later this year, and the web rendering layer of webOS.”

HP is determined to offer more info on its plans for the open sourced webOS platforms in the near future, so stay tuned for more on the matter.