HP's new Hurricane Tablet with WebOS

Gosh but I just love to see news like this. HP is apparently releasing a WebOS tablet.

And this is great news for a number of reasons..

Firstly we're going to see a device competing with the Apple iPad. I've not yet used the iPad but seriously doubt that it's a dud. The problem with the iPad is that it's all Apple. If you could load another OS on there, it's probably extremely tricky to accomplish and wouldn't have much application support. There's probably a jailbreak out there for the iPad to allow the loading of non-Apple guaranteed apps, but there's only a small collection of those also.

Without knowing what sort of application support WebOS has, it's kind of hard to make a comparison. But I really don't care.

This is a (or perhaps the) mainstream producer of commercial and home computing devices pushing aside Windows in favour of a different OS for mainstream consumption. And apparently, for the first time in about 10 years, Microsoft doesn't have a response. There is *no* Windows multi-touch operating system. If Microsoft doesn't get it's skates on, and pronto, everyone who wants a slate and doesn't buy Apple will pick up one of these HP beasties.

And HP is good at integration ware. There's going to be software all over HP PC's to help people make the most of their shiny new slates. This is going to introduce people to another option.. an operating system that's not Microsoft.

And that's the important point. Many modern operating systems (OS X, Linux, BSD, Solaris etc. etc.) are very nice and easy to use, but people don't realize it because they're so used to using Windows that they won't even try. Ever met someone who's bought an Apple laptop and used bootcamp to load Windows onto it as dual boot then never used OS X? And this despite OS X being faster, better, more secure and having better applications.

I'd guestimate that Microsoft has 1 year ... maximum to get Windows 7 running on a mutli-touch tablet, or the monopoly will begin to fold. And Windows could never die overnight, but using a different platform that's better than Windows will open people's eyes to new possibilities. And this being the only other serious tablet out there... well, people will come.

Let's tip a glass to HP!