After months of sitting on its hands, Hewlett Packard has decided to take its WebOS platform public. That’s a strategy I suggested the company take four months ago, and indicates HP couldn’t find a buyer for the operating system that was at the heart of its Palm acquisition. That’s no surprise, of course — WebOS is a two-time loser in the marketplace, then lost value with each day HP let it rust. I don’t expect the platform to suddenly catch hold now, because developers and handset vendors have much more attractive options to choose from. But at least now WebOS has the tiniest glimpse of hope, which is more than it would have had if HP had continued to sit on it.