FTFA: The original Pre, launched by Palm, suffered because it was positioned as a flagship product built with cheap materials.

It really was a shame too. I had a Pre, and really liked it, except for the fact that after about 6 months, the touch screen went completely farking insane. It started opening and closing programs at random, sliding all over the place, it was a real pain in the ass. I got another one, and it crapped out after 3 months.

HP actually makes a fairly decent laptop these days, solid machines.

I love my Thinkpad, but this new Asus I have while speedy, the build quality is awful

I for one welcome this. I too have an HP laptop and love it for running Linux.

Shadyman: (All that being said, Leo should have just kept his big mouth shut and had folks evaluate decisions all they wanted before deciding either way, without wreaking havoc on their computer sales)



?

I see they are using the Netflix business model of throwing a dart at a wall of random, business-killing decisions and then walking them back a week later.

Shadyman: (All that being said, Leo should have just kept his big mouth shut and had folks evaluate decisions all they wanted before deciding either way, without wreaking havoc on their computer sales)

Leo had an agenda - he wanted to "transform" HP into a software services giant. The problem was that they already were, and a hardware vendor, to boot. Acquiring EDS, they did two things: Became the world's largest software developer and added a vast channel to sell HP equipment instead of Dell (which was EDS' hardware of choice before the acquisition).

Leo was an idiot, but given that he came from SAP, a company that makes an atrocious POS enterprise suite that none of my coworkers like to use (but are forced to) and none of our managers use (they do granular time tracking using an app built in house) because of a UI that is more at home on a mainframe than being served on the web, it's not surprising that the rash decision to bring him in ended up being a fiasco. Our public sector business had to restructure itself because we couldn't have a CEO that was a foreign national and keep those sensitive government contracts.

I predicted HP would do an about face on the decision after "careful consideration" at the end of the year... only to save face for the execs that remain on the board after Leo's firing. I'm a bit surprised they didn't even wait that long, but the stockholders are angry.

Now what do they do with the Touchpad mess? Palm still offers great value beyond the webOS it was acquired for, but they'd be lucky to get $200 million for the company they bought for $1.2 billion right now... yet it holds smart phone patents that are very strong, and the phone line is still a good one. I suspect they'll re-affirm a commitment to the phone lines, and possibly move the Touchpad hardware to PSG, re-launching it with Windows 8 in the future. Kind of sucks, as webOS is a nice OS for tablets, once you remove all the logging crap that was left in at the Touchpad launch. As for webOS, it isn't going away, and might be offered to other manufacturers as a licensed product. It will definitely remain, if only to support the Palm phones.

That's my 2 cents worth as an HP employee. I've been pretty right so far.

Abe Vigoda's Ghost: Initially priced the same as the iPad, there was no way HP was going to see good sales of the things

I honestly think that Leo sabotaged the Touchpad launch, poisoning it with a high price and unrealistic sales goals.

They have since withdrawn the fire sale, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

As for the hardware, you've obviously never handled a cheap Chinese iPad knockoff. The Touchpad is fine, though I would have added a few things (GPS on all units, not just the 64GB units, SD slots, full sized USB host connector, Samba share support and wider media support)... having Gorilla Glass puts it leaps and bounds above any tablets selling for less than $300. Some of the decisions are the result of arrogant execs imposing limitations after looking at the iPad (tiered memory with no expansion to artificially boost profit margins, as an example).

Abe Vigoda's Ghost: Loki-L: TFA:
Could HP bring WebOS back?

No, they fired everyone involved and the competent people have already found new jobs with only the incompetent remaining to be rehired. They also alienated the comunity, squndered the goodwill and scared away customers, partners and investors.

Having recently owned a Touchpad for a week, I really liked WebOS. It has a clean interface, and you could actually close apps after you were done with them. HP could probably have made a nice market share with the Touchpad. The bad news is, the actual hardware was not very good. I payed $149 for a 32 GB fire sale TP, and at that price I still did not want to keep it. It made generous use of plastic, and it felt cheap. Owners were reporting cases cracking at the speaker slots even though they were kept in protective covers.
Initially priced the same as the iPad, there was no way HP was going to see good sales of the things.

I've had mine for a little over a week, too, and haven't had any problems w/the plastic. I bought a case & a screen protector for it and it seems fine--no issues w/flimsiness at all. The issue I do have is that it's a $99 paperweight. Barely has any apps, some of the ones I want aren't free, and the Kindle app SUCKS. Screen is way too bright & I got a headache after a few pages. I bought it figuring I'd replace my old Nook & use the TP for reading & web browsing. It's a decent enough browser but I could have invested in a Nook Color to get everything I wanted and then some. And., now that WebOS seems dead, I may just post the damned thing on eBay.

imfallen_angel: brigid_fitch: And., now that WebOS seems dead, I may just post the damned thing on eBay.

If you do want to sell it, I'd be very interested... never did manage to get one and I'd love one, but dang, the scalpers are really pushing the prices way higher that I want to spend.

Well, let me give Abe Vigoda's Ghost's forum a shot first, and then try to adjust the screen brightness. If I can actually get the damned thing to do what I want it to do, I'll hang onto it.