HP readies fresh WebOS update

CEO's verdict on OS' future due next week

HP CEP Meg Whitman is expected to announce the fate of WebOS next week. If the claimed imminent release of version 3.0.5 of the tablet'n'phone operating system is correct, the omens for the OS may be good.

HP released WebOS 3.0.4 in October and its successor's first Release Candidate has just been issued to developers, PreCentral reports.

Like the previous version, WebOS 3.0.5 is all about fixing bugs rather than adding new features.

Of course, if HP really wants rid of WebOS, why bother devoting resources - programmers, update servers and such - to the operating system's upkeep?

We'll know soon enough. At the end of November, Whitman said she will pronounce her verdict on the future of WebOS. Some 600 software engineers and other WebOS workers are awaiting the announcement with some trepidation.

"We should announce our decision in the next two weeks," she said in an interview published on 30 November by French paper Le Figaro. ®