Instead of launching yet another Android tablet, then, HP has bet its future on Linux in a different form, and it's off to a promising start.

'A Serious Competitive Weapon'

The Linux Foundation, not surprisingly, is pretty excited about HP's bold WebOS move, and earlier today I asked its executive director, Jim Zemlin, for his thoughts about the TouchPad on this eve of its debut.

"My early assessment is positive," Zemlin said. "WebOS definitely stands out in the device as a stellar choice by HP, and the user experience is fantastic."

HP's decision to use WebOS for its TouchPad and other new devices, in fact, "shows us again that Linux is a serious competitive weapon," Zemlin said. "HP is using a Linux-based OS as the foundation of its strategy to compete in a new world of computing. That is very significant."