The OS is fine. The issue is their two phones which suck hardware wise. I’ve been lucky for the first 9 months of ownership and didn’t have any issues (which is why I defended it). Now though, it’s starting to break down like crazy.
I’m sure HTC or Google could take some pieces of WebOS and implement them into Android or Sense. I haven’t yet played with an Android/Sense phone (I know you told me to check out the Eris) but does Android have universal search? That is one thing I use ALL THE TIME on my phone.
Palm has like 13 pages of patents from what I’ve read. I’m sure someone could put some of those to use on other platforms that maybe they weren’t able to mimic/copy without getting sued.
As far as WM…I hate that ‘home screen’ of theres (the squares). That crap is UGLY.