HP's TouchPad strategy has been the butt of plenty of jokes since the company announced it would stop manufacturing the product. The HP 3000 community got an early start on the humor, more than a year ago. In the very week when HP announced it would purchase Palm and the TouchPad's WebOS, HP 3000 developers and veterans cracked wise about how long it might take to give WebOS the same kind of demise that HP lashed onto MPE.

In April of 2010, the 3000-L mailing list veterans commented on the prospects for a new OS at HP. The company hadn't even announced a TouchPad at that time. But the skepticism seeped swiftly from a group of people who'd seen the worst happen to an HP product. "What a handy way to wipe out WebOS," started the comments. "Can HP actually go anyplace with WebOS?" Tracy Pierce asked. "The old HP could have, but the old HP seems to have been dead for at least 10 years."

Olav Kappert, who's now offering 3000 consulting at $35 an hour, lobbed out first with "Now if only HP could put MPE or Unix on them. Or should I say, when will HP discontinue support for the new OS?"

Duane Percox of K-12 software vendor QSS had a few more details to consider, all of which look crucial in hindsight, 16 months later. To start, Percox pegged the Old HP's spotty record in software.