As smartphones get more and more robust, hackers are looking for new ways to get the most from what have become powerful mobile computers. Manufacturers want to keep that from happening, though, which is why we have situations like the strict lockdown on the iPhone’s OS. There is one OS that still gives hackers the freedom they desire: Palm’s WebOS. With news that Palm could potentially be purchased, it’s sad to think this might all go away. In the meantime, though, it’s pretty damn cool.

It turns out WebOS can be hacked to run virtually any Linux program. The proof of concept was done by installing OpenOffice on a Palm Pre. A Pre people! Okay, it’s not that exciting, but it is a neat discovery, even if it doesn’t have much practical application.

The hack is much more involved than typical homebrew installs. You have to root the phone, install a new windows management system, modify the startup system, and then install everything using Debian. Why you would do all of this is beyond me but just knowing that you can has to feel good, right? Right guys? Palm users? Palm does have users…right?

Source: PreCentral

According to Bloomberg, Palm is for sale, and the top candidate might not be somebody you’d expect. HTC is currently the target of an Apple lawsuit claiming 20 counts of patent infringement on iPhone IP. Buying Palm could give Google’s handset maker of choice the patents it needs to fight the Apple suit. Smart play, fellas.

HTC isn’t looking for hardware – it needs an operating system. As it stands, only Google and Apple have what is considered a modern mobile operating system (sorry, RIM, you aren’t even close). Unfortunately, HTC would probably only use the purchase to give it enough patents for a war with Apple, not because it actually thinks WebOS will go anywhere. Palm didn’t sell nearly enough handsets to keep the world interested in WebOS.

HTC wants to avoid is a costly licensing settlement with Apple that could affect profits far into the future. Spending several hundred million dollars on a dying company could be the cheap alternative it’s been looking for.