14 DAY TRIAL // The drama surrounding webOS is one that we have been keeping an eye on and it might just be tomorrow, December 10 (or today, the 9th), that HP takes a final decision regarding its fate.
According to PreCentral, Meg Whitman, the new CEO of HP, has called an all-hands meeting to figure out what will happen to Palm's operating system.
The timing is mostly in line with reports near the end of November that said a final decision would be made in a couple of weeks.
In other words, tomorrow (or today, if the news comes in quickly enough) is when people get to know whether there will ever be another webOS tablet or phone, or printer.
The operating system was acquired by HP when it bought Palm and was immediately considered for a printer line.
Last time we wrote about this was a long time ago, when it was reported that some models would show up in 2012.
This isn't much of a ray of hope for Palm's old, loyal fans, or for the people who liked the TouchPad.
On a brighter note, HP just started updating the operating system for those who do own the tablet, but that, too, does not really imply that webOS product development will be resumed.
After all, while HP has an obligation to keep supporting the OS of a product it sold (for a while), it doesn't actually have to build new items that utilize it.
HP also has to take into account how much money it lost because of this misadventure (go here to learn more about this).
WebOS is one of the two multi-billion disasters that the world's greatest maker of PCs ran headlong into this year.
As such, unless Whitman or someone else comes up with a great idea to make webOS profitable, the doors will close the same way they literally closed for retail stores.
The other potential disaster was a, thankfully averted, plan to dump the PC division altogether.