[geeks] My version: The HP/Compaq Merger: Roadmaps and Food for Thought(fwd)

[Kurt Huhn]

> Managing Beyond the Server: Pay close attention to the developing concept of
> placing resource management outside the server operating system. These are
> important developments that will be part of HP's strategy moving forward.
> 
> "You can't manage our servers now, so we will shield you from the horror
> that is OpenTru64-UX."

"You don't need to know what the OS is doing, MCSEs rejoice!  You can
point and click your way through Unix!"


> 
> Linux: HP has a full-line Linux strategy based on six pillars: Managed
> Linux, Secure Linux, Pervasive Linux, Fast-Ignition Linux, Clustered Linux,
> and Standard Linux. Get to know how HP perceives its Linux strategy.
> 
> "You forgot the seventh: TruLinux".

"It's all Linux, but we've decided to slap a few marketing terms on the
front so that they seem different.  We've also decided to keep the
internal bits secret, so you have to buy the OS from us..."

> 
> Full Breadth of Technologies: HP is now a soup-to-nuts technology provider.
> The merger of the HP world and the Compaq world brings many new technologies
> to both worlds.
> 
> "Funny that they should mention the word 'nuts'..."

"We've grown too big to move quickly in any direction, so expect us to
lag behind the rest of the world and eventually stagnate beyond help. 
Sooner or later you're going to see another reorganization."

> 
> Have we, the customers, gained as a result of this merger? Time will tell.
> On paper, it seems that we will begin seeing some new gains within 18-24
> months.
> 
> "Translated: our CEO will see gains on paper and retire."
> 

"This is all smoke and mirrors.  We took the best financial illusionists
of the dot-bomb era and created a business plan based on circular logic
and concocted something so complex even Authur Andersen has no idea how
to decipher it."

> One way to look at the merger is that HP and Compaq joined forces for
> business reasons.
> 
> "Carly needed cash."
> 

"We want our board memebrs and senior management to make money. 
Cronyism isn't dead, it just got a better PR agent."

> The more interesting way to examine the merger is looking at it as the
> product of the paradigm shifts that are so prominent in the technology
> industry.  I encourage you to begin exploring and understanding the
> product roadmaps. Recall that you can get additional information under
> non-disclosure agreements (NDA). Work with Encompass so we can
> collectively provide HP with feedback about how HP is -- or isn't --
> hitting the mark, and so we can guide HP's development plans. Join us at
> the HP Enterprise Technical Symposium 2002 in St. Louis this October and
> learn the technical details of how HP is going to implement what it is
> promising in the roadmaps.
> 
> "It's on my list to attend, right after I visit a maximum-security prison
> with a gallon of K-Y and a fistful of spanish fly."

"The instant you sign a an NDA we get to call you a customer, and we can
put you on the balance sheets and into the marketing info.  People
believe this stuff, at least the people who control the money - we don't
care whether the smart ones can see through this."


-- 
Kurt
kurt at k-huhn.com
Editor: "We need a new food critic, someone who doesn't immediately
poo-poo everything he eats." 
Homer: "Naw, that usually takes a few hours."