[dfwgator]

HP is essentially now a business services company, with their acquisition of EDS and now trying to acquire Autonomy. Acquiring HP gets Oracle into the game of business services, which they’ve been trying to do for a long time.

[the invisib1e hand]

wtf does hp have that oracle would want? that anyone would want, if they dump printers?

Me-no-get. Is there a "portfolio of patents," or something?

Dumping PC's is about the smartest thing they can do for themselves and for pc users.

[EagleUSA]

If HP sells the printer business, there is not much left.

[SeeSharp]

Full circle. After all these years Oracle will end up owning VMS.

[bigbob]

All depends on the price.

With HP dumping it’s POS WebOS tablet and Oracle buying Motorola Mobility, it’s clear where the future of hardware is going, and HP will not be a factor. When you can buy a new printer for the cost of an ink-jet cartridge, anyone with a brain can see that isn’t the source of HP’s value.

Fast-forward 10 years and ask the real qustion “Who owns the cloud?”. That’s what Larry Ellison is doing.

[William Tell]

I have no feel for whether this could happen, but, if Oracle bought HP for its business services and sold off its printer and PC businesses, one might wonder what would happen to the "Hewlett-Packard" brand.

Perhaps the folks at Agilent would like to have it back.