7. WebOS, where art thou?

7. WebOS, where art thou?

Has there ever been a piece of software so critically lauded yet so badly handled than WebOS? When HP swooped in to buy Palm and its slick operating system, many rejoiced.

It's hard to imagine they are now. The only time people clamored for an HP WebOS product was when the company offered the TouchPad tablet for $99, igniting a fire sale that drew in an army of bargain hunters. But HP couldn't even get that right, leaving many angry customers with cancelled orders and seeing its own Web site crash under the heavy traffic--a major black eye for a company that's supposed to offer the kinds of IT services that prevent such an occurrence.

Wait, there's more! When then-CEO Leo Apotheker opted to give up on the consumer business, he put the fate of WebOS up in the air. New CEO Meg Whitman has opted to keep the PC business, but WebOS remains a question mark. (Not to mention a $3.3 billion mistake). Please, Meg, let's give the tech industry some clarity on this before the end of the year.

--By Roger Cheng